The Battle of Saint-Lô was a battle fought between the United States and Nazi Germany for control of the French city of Saint-Lô in Normandy from 7 to 19 July 1944.
Saint-Lô had come under German occupation on the night of 17 June 1940 during the Battle of France, as the city was strategically located at a crossroads. In July 1944, as the Allies battled their way through Normandy towards Paris, the US First Army moved on the city to cut off German reinforcements in Brittany from the front. American bombers began attacking the city's railway station and power plant on 6-7 July, but the wind's scattering of American evacuation fliers meant that civilians were not alerted to the pending attack; over 200 prisoners were killed in the bombing of the local prison. Soon after, the 29th, 30th, and 35th Infantry Divisions of the US Army attacked the city, which was defended by the German 352nd Infantry Division and the 3rd Division of the II Parachute Corps. The 29th Infantry Division took heavy casualties while attacking through the hedgerows to the northeast of Saint-Lô, but American bomber and tank support enabled the Allies to advance into the city. The 29th Infantry Division captured Saint-Lô after fierce fighting, and the recently-killed Major Thomas D. Howie of the 116th Infantry Regiment's "lost battalion" was carried into Saint-Lô to symbolically be the first American soldier to enter the city. The Americans followed up this victory with Operation Cobra from 25 to 31 July 1944, with their Normandy breakout starting at Saint-Lô.
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