S. Corey Clyne

Digital History

The Normandy Breakout

The D-Day landings in France on June 6^th, 1944 provided the allies with several obstacles and had proven costly in human life. Once ashore in France the American soldier faced a larger challenge in the Bocage region in the France countryside. The ancient earthen mounds the French farmers had created around their fields were ready made fortresses for the German Army. The American Army only overcame this challenge by the development of new tactics that were developed by the men at the sharp end on the battle.

Primary Sources

1. The Challenge of the Bocage.

• 3^rd Armored Division History foundation, http://www.3ad.com/ (accessed October 2, 2012)

1. Spearhead in the West is a unit digitized history of the 3^rd U.S. Armored Division published after the war by the unit and provides general background into to the Bocage challenge via first person reports. This will illustrate the issues and methods to overcome the Bocage.

• The Indians School of Journalism, Ernie Pyle,  http://journalism.indiana.edu/resources/erniepyle/wartime-columns/a-slow-cautions-business/ (accessed October 3, 2012)

1.  Ernie Pyle was a journalist who spent time in the Bocage region as an imbedded reporter for the Washington Post. He describes the challenges and the tactics used by the Germans.
2. New Tactics and innovations.

• Lone Sentry Photographs, Documents, and Research on World War II. http://www.lonesentry.com/combatlessons/index.html(accessed, October, 2012)
  • This information packet was produced by the army and based on the experience of the Bocage. It will demonstrate the cooperation between infantry and tanks.
• Lone Sentry Photographs, Documents, and Research on World War II. http://www.lonesentry.com/normandy_lessons/index.html(accessed October 1, 2012)
  • This “Lessons Learned” is a digital copy of one measure of communication the army used to overcome the Bocage. Those information packets give tactical information to the soldiers bust the Bocage.

 

•  83^rd Infantry Division Documents.http://83rdinfdivdocs.org/accounts/Capt_Folsom-Hedgerow_fighting_near_Carentan.pdf(accessed October 3, 2012)
  •  This artifact is a prepared officer school briefing on how to fight in the Bocage. Illustrations show tactical changes that the infantry units adapted to fight a combined operations war in concert with tanks, artillery and Infantry.
• WWII in Color. http://www.ww2incolor.com/us-armor/USAAStLop56b-vi.html(accessed October 4, 2012)
  •   Picture of one style of hedgerow cutter.

1. The Breakout! The attack on ST. Lo, Operation Cobra.

• General Corlett Foundation. http://www.xixcorps.nl/Battle_of_St._Lo.htm(Accessed October 2, 2012)
  •  U.S. Army study of the breakout. Compiled shortly after the battle. It is full of first person accounts of the events and must be used as a primary source. Historical interpretation is regulated to a secondary source.
•  83^rd Infantry Division Documents. http://83rdinfdivdocs.org/documents/329th/AAR/AAR_329_JUL1944.pdf(accessed October 1, 2012)
  •  This is an after action reports of the 83^rd Infantry Division in July attack. It explains improvised tactics and weaknesses and strengths of soldiers in the hedgerows.
  • http://83rdinfdivdocs.org/documents/331st/AAR/AAR_331_JUL1944.pdf  331st Regiment 83^rd Division after action report of breakout phase. Expresses difficulty in hedgerows and overcoming them.

 

 

Conclusion

Examining the events in First Army sector before the Operation Cobra breakout illustrates an army in transition. It was an Army made mostly of green soldiers thrust into the hell of combat in the worst possible of environment. Through leadership, innovation and adaptation it overcame the enemy and the environment. The leadership reacted to the crisis, sought-out resolutions from their subordinates that included members of the entire army. The resolutions were implemented with hedgerow cutters, combined arms operations and tactics using the resources at hand and from the available inventory. The army adapted to the changes in the conditions of war and with the capture of St. Lo the Bocage of France was left in the rear view mirror.

 

 

 

Secondary Sources

 

Doubler, Captain Michael D. Closing with the Enemy How GIS Fought the War in            Europe. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1994.

1. Mr. Doubler details combined arms combat developments of WWII and his work will be used to explain how changes came to the army to fight in the Bocage region.

 

Perret, Geoffrey. There’s A War to Be Won, The United States Army IN World War II.        New York, NY: Random House, 1991.

1. Mr. Perret is a well know historian educated at Yale University. This work is an overview of the American war effort. It details equipment, Tactics and events in the Bocage of France.

 

Reflections

Researching for primary Sources on the internet can be rewarding, disappointing and frustrating. As the world embraces the digital age and it’s limitless information the researcher is deluged with results from his or her search requests. The surplus of information has to be filtered by the researcher and then re-filtered to find the useful information. How to know what is a useful primary source will remain the responsibility of the researcher.

For the class project to build a digital research plan I chose a topic that I was very familiar with. I chose to digitally research the American Breakout from Normandy in World War Two. I conducted a few searches and was pleased with the amount of information that was available. I have been a World War Two hobbits literally all my life and in my search I was offered hobby sites for scale modeling, war gaming and topical blogs or chat groups on my subject. After searching or filtering out these sites I came up with a few promising artifacts.

The primary documents I found that enhanced my research were the after action reports of the 83^rd Infantry Division. I found these documents on the 83rds historical association’s site under documents. As digitizing documents becomes easier for the common person to post the historian will be able to access records that have been long forgotten. These documents will need to be scrutinized to guard against forgeries and errors.  This is not new to historians who have had to interrogate their evidence to be considered professional in their methodology as a common task. Government archives will always be the more reliable source however, the process is slow for their collections to be fully digitized. Smaller historical organizations or even collectors are posting documents on the web for consideration and with caution these documents can be beneficial.

The search for primary sources on the web can yield good information but I did find it very limited. Until the larger archives, The U.S. Army Research Center at the Army War College for example becomes fully digitized the researcher will still need to physically visit the archive to complete their research for primary sources. Another negative element of digital research is the need for better filters to find what you are looking for. I went to several of the larger archive sites and ran their search engines and was amazed at what came up. Items that really had no connection to my subject filled the screen.

The search for digital primary sources on the web can yield amazing treasures but should not be considered the end all too historical research. The process will change and develop over time an as more archives become fully digitized. As with any primary document whether digitized or not it will be the Historians responsibility to apply methodology and scrutiny to verify its authenticity and usefulness.