A month after the initial D-Day landing in Normandy, France the U.S. Army was facing some of the hardest fighting of the war.
At the time, The New York Times called this phase of the battle "hedge to hedge" fighting as soldiers fought through the hedgerows of rural France. For others, it became the siege of La-Haye-du-Puits, a town in Northern France.
By July 3, a fresh offensive kicked off, with the allies pushing outward from their beachheads, as more troops and war material flowed in behind them. The allies needed space, they needed to break out of their containment at Normandy and set the stage for further offensives aimed at driving the Nazis out of France and all the way back to Berlin.
This task fell to the 79th and 90th Divisions as well as the 82nd Airborne, all of whom had their work cut out for them having to assault uphill and around a large marsh in the low ground, all while the Nazis had sufficient time to prepare their lines of defense. Twelve Nazi divisions lay in wait, including several SS Panzer units.
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On July 4, 1944, hundreds of American soldiers lay dead as they clashed against the German forces. The 90th Division alone lost over 500 men that day.
On America's Independence Day the troops suffered under enemy artillery barrages and fought yard by yard, making slow but steady progress. When some units were stymied and stopped by the Nazis, other American units would push ahead from elsewhere on the front lines.
By July 7, American troops were entering La-Haye-du-Puits with the Germans either withdrawing or being killed in place. However, the fighting was far from over with the Germans still occupying the highest piece of terrain in the area, and further fighting to be done as the allied forces moved deeper into France.
But, the main objective of expanding their frontlines beyond the narrow confines of the beaches of Normandy had been accomplished.
The battle that started on July 3, the carnage that ensued on July 4, and the subsequent fighting through the seventh constituted a tough five days of combat that came at an incredible price for the U.S. Army but set the stage for victory.
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