Hello. Thanks for allowing me into the forum! I will be making a trip to Normandy in September and will be visiting St. Mere Eglise. I am looking for any information as to the location where Lt. Wray ambushed the CO and headquarters staff of the 1st Battalion, 1058th Grenadier Regiment on June 7th, 1944. Phil Nordyke gives a good description of the route taken by Wray in his book "All American All The Way" on pages 568 thru 572. If anyone knows of the exact location through previous visits or has a familiarity with the fields around St. Mere Eglise any and all help will be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Jeffrey
Hi Jeffrey, Thanks for bringing up LT. Waverly Wray because I enjoy this topic and I have some theories about it and have shared emails with Phil Nordyke, who is also a member of this forum. First off, I think you have your pages confused because pages 568 thru 572 are about operation Market-Garden and not June 7th, 1944... I think you are referring to pages 304 thru 309. Another battle took place directly across the N13 highway that you can read about on pages 314 thru 320. The road the tanks moved onto to flank the Germans is very identifiable on Google maps as the "Route du Haras" and they turned right onto the "Sigosville" road. That Sigosville road use to run directly across the N13 to and it is this road that the Germans were moving towards from the north, when the Waverly Wray action took place. Now the exact location of where the German headquarters staff was is still open to much speculation, but my thoughts, and Mr Nordyke's thoughts are that it was near and/or south of the two snaking hedgerows to the north. My thinking is that Lt Wray's ambush of the German Battalion took place from behind one of the hedgerows to the north of the "Rue du Petit Riou" and what would have been the continuing Sigosville road running north. Maybe we can post a June 1944 aerial to help identify these locations as they appeared back then. John
Thanks so much. I have spotted the two snaking hedgerows and roads you are referring to. This information is quite helpful. Am looking forward to visiting this location as well as the actions of Lt. Turnbull's holding force!
Hi Jeffrey, Welcome to the Forum and I hope the trip you plan will be enjoyable and productive. Since you will be in the area, another thread titled 'Otis Sampson and the Horsa Glider' may be of interest. It includes some work on Lt. Turnbull's position. Regards, Pat