The road entering
from the right is from Utah Beach, 4 miles northeast. On D-day, resistance
along the road and adjacent fields were costly to Colonel Robert Sinks's
506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. German Colonel van der
Heydte, commander of the 6th Parachute Regiment was headquartered in
Ste Come du Mont half a mile north of the intersection. Fighting around
the important corner lasted several days until the Germans were forced
to withdraw westward, their only line of retreat. From here the Americans
pushed south to Carentan and north to Ste Mere d'Englise opening up
the advance from the Utah beachhead.