The 175th Infantry Regiment lands in Saint-Laurent on June 7
and crosses Vierville and Gruchy, on the way to La Cambe
The movements of June 7
The castle of Gruchy, PC the company 9/726, which defended the Percée and Englesqueville
During the war
General Gerhardt (cdt the 29th division, PC in Vierville on June 7) began the landing of his 3rd regiment, the 175th, in the afternoon of June 7, in Saint-Laurent.
The 175th was immediately directed to the Vierville valley. "The 175th walked in loose formation on the beach and was targeted by sniper shots" remembers J. Milnor Roberts, Gerow's aide-de-camp. "But much worse, the soldiers walked in the middle of the bodies of the guys who had been killed the day before, and these guys carried the badge of the 29th. The young people walked among the corpses of their comrades. The time they arrived in Vierville, they were upset."
Captain Miller led Company F/175 (minus a mysteriously lost section) to the West, at the foot of the cliffs. Captain Jimmy Hays, of the regimental HQ, saw Miller and warned him: "Everything is changed. Colonel Goode was right. You can forget the initial plans. We have to go to Gruchy, there on the map" showed Hays.
The 175th finally reached the Vierville road on foot, where it mixed in the afternoon with a large flow of troops and vehicles rushing down the climb.
At the top of the valley, the men of the 175th changed course to the West to get out of Vierville. It was at sunset (10 p.m.); as the sky darkened, the regiment walked another 2 km and turned south to the small hamlet of Gruchy. They had a short moment of rest before leaving for Isigny, via La Cambe, on a night walk.
Second Lieutenant William C Frodsham Jr, 175th Infantry Regiment, Company G.
"Lying quietly in the gathering area in Gruchy, many men were sleeping. It had taken 12 hours to disembark, leave the beach and reach Gruchy. We were now 450 meters inside the Normandy lands. Shortly after 8:00 p.m. Captain Slingluff, my company commander gathered the Section Chiefs. An order had arrived from the Division Headquarters: the 175th Infantry had to leave the gathering sector, make movement in order to take and defend Isigny without delay. We moved at 9:30 p.m., the 2nd Battalion leading, Company G at the front, with the 3rd Section, mine."
During their stop in Gruchy, the 175th Americans met Loÿs' family at Gruchy Castle. Madame de Loÿs told the Americans the presence in the basement of the castle of many wounded Germans, who remained there after the retreat of the Germans.
You will find below the 2 stories, that of Madame de Loÿs and that of the American officer, Captain Miller.
Beyond Vierville, a French woman with her little girl addressed Captain Miller (it may have been Madame de LoÎs)
"Les Boches! The Boches!" explained the French woman, signaling Miller to follow her.
Miller took some men with him and followed with caution, beyond a large castle (Gruchy?) and up to a small ravine. The Americans heard complaints in German from a well-hidden tunnel at the bottom of the ravine.
Miller and 2 men jumped in, their weapons ready. They shouted at the entrance of the tunnel: "Achtung!, Raus! Get out!" Complaints again. Miller and his men slowly entered the tunnel, turned a corner, and found themselves in a large underground room, face to face with a German nurse.
Screaming "Kamerad! Comrade!" the Germans raised their arms in the air. Several wounded were lying there. Apparently the place must have been a PC. As the German defenses collapsed, the General Staff had to leave quickly, leaving behind the untransportable wounded.
Souvenirs of the De Loÿs family, on June 7 at the Château de Gruchy (this document is the continuation of the recation of June 6)
Excerpt from "Le jour le plus Fou" (by E.Coquart and P. Huet, at Albin Michel)
(June 7)
Early evening.
Guy tries a new food outing.
He runs through the park plowed by bombs and shells, but passing in front of the entrance gate, he sees the silhouette of a soldier who, motionless, is parked on the side of the road
(it's most likely June 7, because the Americans didn't pass Vierville before 7)
He (Guy)notices immediately that he does not wear a German helmet, no English helmet, with this shape of inverted bowl that he saw drawn on Nazi propaganda posters. A lightning deduction crosses the young boy's mind: he is an American!
Guy stops sharply, tries to get in touch, shouts at random a few words of sympathy. But the soldier, with a gesture of his arm, signals him to leave. Guy goes back down at full speed into the underground. Excited to the extreme. But empty hands.
"You have nothing?
- No, well if... I have news: the Americans are here."
No one but Mrs. de Loÿs heard.
"You go back up there," she orders her son. You get in touch with them, you inquire. Finally, you manage. But above all, don't tell them anything about what's going on here. Not before I had time to prepare everything."
Guy rises to the surface. This time cross an entire patrol of GI's exploring the park. He feels them nervous, tense, ready to shoot at the slightest alarm. In his school English, he manages to explain himself, to assure them in particular that the castle is empty of any occupant. They invest the house, collect some trinkets in the process, which makes the teenager better understand why his mother has long put the valuables in a safe place. Inspection done, the soldiers relax, settle in the rooms of the castle, wallower in the armchairs. Rest...
Tireless relay, Guy returns to his mother as discreetly as possible.
But anyway, no one pays attention to him. For how much longer? Being in this underground with this twenty German soldiers is like sitting on a barrel of dynamite. At the first clumsiness, everything risks jumping. Mrs. de Loÿs chooses to reveal the presence of the enemy to the wounded. In the castle, just above their heads: "facing them", she told them,"would be suicidal, would be like being massacred. It's hopeless. And then, you have to think about civilians, women, children."
She parliaments. She smells the infantrymen of the Wehrmacht at the end of the roll, tired, worn out.
"If you go, you will be taken care of. Your hardest hit comrades will certainly be evacuated."
The soldiers talk to each other. They are apparently unwilling to fight, but also not convinced to stay alive if they surrender. Propaganda has done its job.
One of the Germans breaks away from the group and gives a last and - amazing - condition: "We agree, but a German soldier cannot surrender to the enemy with weapons in hand."
Mrs. de Loÿs does not bother to epilogue on the external and derisory signs of honor: «Q'that doesn't matter, she exclaims, it can be arranged. The other exit from the underground overlooks the woods. Nearby, next to the washhouse, there is a well you just have to throw your weapons in."
The soldiers ask for a new time of reflection and, after another conciliabule, finally agree to surrender without fighting. Under the leadership of the castle, they leave the underground in single file, sneak into the thickets, swing their rifles and other war tinkets into the well. Back in the shelter, they wait wisely.
Mrs. de Loÿs then summons her favorite liaison officer "It's over. You can go, they are ready."
Guy returns to the Americans. Delicate mission: it is not a question of being mistaken, of making them believe that a few meters from them, about twenty enemies are waiting for them, ready to jump on them. Guy explains himself slowly, laboriously, but manages to make himself understood: the allies descend into the underground, pick up the Germans gently. As promised by Mrs. de Loÿs, the most serious injuries were immediately evacuated to a British hospital. Among them, of course, a man with a burst skull that had impressed Guy so much. He will survive.
A year after his capture, he will write to Mrs. de Loÿs to thank her for saving his life by tying him to his stretcher. For a long time, every end of the year, the miraculous of June 6 will send a Christmas card to the castle of Gruchy.