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| 9th
Infantry Division — World
War II — Normandy, France |
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Foxholes
still abound in Le Bois du
Hommet, Normandy, France,
also known as the Hommet Woods
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According
to Emile Hardelay, caretaker of Le
Bois du Hommet, or the Hommet Woods,
the foxholes depicted in this photograph
were dug by American GIs because the
Germans commonly dug their foxholes
closer together.
By July 13, 1944, the Hommet Woods
appeared to have been cleaned of the
enemy, but heavy fighting continued
in the nearby villages of Le Hommet,
Le Hommet d'Arthenay and Les Champs
de Losques.
During the liberation of Le Hommet,
Pierre Hebert, of La Landelle, France,
said the Germans became even more
intolerable as their goal of world
domination came to a crushing halt.
"During that fight, one German
vehicle needed water, so the Germans
asked for a jug of water, so I got
him a jug for their cooling system,"
Hebert said with translation by Claude
Heller. "And the German wanted
to make a hole in the jug with his
gun. He put one bullet in the jug,
and when he did my dog started barking.
The German wasn't happy with that,
so he killed my dog. He even wanted
to take my father's veal for eating
and pulled a gun on my father."
During the two-day bombing of Le Hommet,
Emile Hardelay said the village residents
— once they were able to leave
the bomb shelter — discovered
52 dead cows. He said the 9th Infantry
Division told the residents not to
leave the cattle because they would
get diseases, so the residents buried
the cows in myriad shell craters.
"After Le Hommet was delivered
at about eight in the morning on July
13, 1944, the Ricans also found
seventeen Germans hiding in a trench,"
Hardelay said with translation by
Claude Heller, who explained residents
of Le Hommet commonly referred to
the Americans as Ricans for
short. "The Germans decided to
surrender and they broke their rifles
on the road in front of my home.
"The Germans were then under
American control, and they were taken
to a local sawmill, searched and controlled.
The Ricans got their knives
and gave them to us. Then they brought
them to a house on the other side
of the road, and the Ricans
gave to each German prisoner a pack
of cigarettes and something to eat.
That was a very generous move from
the U.S. soldiers, but in their place,
I would not have done that, because
the Germans were not so fair to the
Ricans when they held them
prisoner." [ story
continued . . . ]
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