The destruction of 1944

THE CHURCH OF SAINT ANDRÉ OF VIERVILLE

destroyed and rebuilt

How and when was the church of Vierville destroyed?

On June 6 in the early afternoon, the Americans occupied the center of Vierville with a few hundred infantrymen, without heavy weapons or vehicles. Their leader, Colonel Canham (of the 116th Regiment) was isolated, controlling only 200 men from the 1st Battalion and 500 Rangers. His only radio in condition was that of the liaison officer of the 743rd tank battalion, a unit that had remained on the beach and could not be reached. General Cota (of the 29th Division) had left on foot to the beach by road, looking for his other landed units.

It was in this confusion that the church, which did not concern anyone in Vierville, was bombed.

At 1:50 p.m., a helmsman of the LCI 538, then off the coast of Omaha Beach, sent an optical message to the destroyer "Harding" who was crossing in front of Vierville looking for objectives. No ship had secure radio connections with troops on land.

" According to information from the observation teams on land, we believe that the bell tower is an artillery observatory. Can you destroy it?"

Answer of the "Harding": "Which church is it?"

"Vierville" answered the LCI 538

"Don't you want to talk about Colleville?"

"Colonel Houston (??) Said no"

The "Harding" insisted: "Where do you get this information?"

Answer: "From Colonel Houston"

The "Harding" reported the request to the Command of the Advanced Observers of the O Force. He responded 5 minutes later, granting permission to shoot at the church for 1 minute, then indicating that this church had already been shot and that no more than 1 minute of ammunition should be devoted to it.

The operation report of the "Harding" notes, "At 2:13 p.m., opened fire at 3200 yards (2900m) and completely demolished the church, used 40 shots (of 127mm), all on goal."

Although Major Reed (??) Of the Rangers subsequently indicated to the "Harding" that 4 German machine guns were in the bell tower, it seems that the information was completely false. It was obviously impossible to install 4 machine guns in the bell tower and the Americans who controlled the center of Vierville, certainly did not ask for its destruction. None of the Americans who were there thought that the bell tower was home to Germans

As for whether all the blows were to the goal, it is certain that the church received many shells (except the choir, it was completely destroyed, the bell tower shot down on the nave). The neighboring presbytery received several shells in its roof, and the Colliers house, 100m ahead, was also destroyed.

On the Viervillais side, we kept the memories of Jeanne Coliboeuf, reported by Michel Hardelay: "Jeanne heard the tinkling of the bells when they fell with the arrow of the bell tower and said to her husband (Louis Coliboeuf was a field guard, in charge of ringing the bells): "You will not have to ring the Angelus and probably those to come for a long time".

Michel Hardelay tells what happened a few days later, on June 9:

"Shortly after the end of our lunch we heard the bom-bom near a heavy machine gun. I got on my bike and went to see what was going on.

The gravedigger was digging a grave for the husband of the postwoman (dead on June 7 in the bombing of the crossroads by the Germans) who had to be brought back in the late afternoon when a bullet whistled in his ears and crashed into the bottom of the almost finished grave. According to the impact, the blow could only come from the top of the bell tower staircase. Father Hélène, who did not want this tomb to be his, jumped out of the hole and warned the Americans.

They sent a half-track on the spot, and he shot (with the heavy 12.7mm machine gun) through the fine killers illuminating the staircase. I was assured that then a black man had climbed the tower...and had killed or completed the German who was supposed to be there since Wednesday evening (June 7), having come with the enemy counterattack and being responsible for informing his people about the movements of the U.S. units. But it was not the last German hidden in the municipality. Indeed, on July 6, a German, tired of waiting for the return of his people and also having finished the provisions accumulated in his cache, came out of it, located in the current campsite and went to a black man in charge of handling a balloon."

Testimony of Jeanne Le Large, who, in early 2016, remembers very well the reconstruction of the church and the circumstances of its return to service:

"I arrived in Vierville in April 1956, I knew the masses in the wooden chapel for 2 years and the recommissioning of the church from the Solemn Communion in May 1958 (communion of Louis Laronche, Colette Dumont, Marie-France Skrzyniarz............ among others). Our parish priest, Abbé Chemin, died in early February 58. The burial had taken place exceptionally in the church because all the furniture was still missing.

In June 1957 (we were still in the wooden chapel), for the "Fête-Dieu", Abbé Chemin asked that a rest station be installed in the church. Mrs. Hardelay and her team of ladies abundantly flowered the church choir (see the photo below). Jean-Paul Hausermann, assisted by Monique Campserveux and Jeanne Le Large, took care of the carpet of flowers in the nave and the transept (happpiness of the parish priest, wearing the Blessed Sacrament, to carefully tread this pretty work ................) and then say "It was my 3 young people who did this!" .