GRAIGNES, OKEFENOKEE AND THE ALAMO

           There is a small town in the southern swamps of the Normandy peninsula, called Graignes (GREN YEA). It holds a story unknown to most but to the most industrious historian or that rare WW II veteran of the 507th PIR still alive. Graignes is a living symbol of the best of the Norman French and their unceasing affection for those young soldier-liberators that joined them on the 6th of June 1944, by chance, not choice. The history is of two peoples that came together by chance and found common cause. No better example exists for why the invasion took place.

           South and slightly west of Carentan, a key objective of the Normandy invasion, is a large swampy area akin to our Okefenokee Swamp and of only slightly less size. To the French, it is simply known as Le Marais-the wet lowland residue of the passage to the north by the Douve and Merderet Rivers and their interconnecting offspring. It is a boggy land, cut with many canals and creeks with small standing plots of relatively firm ground that has been farmed for centuries by people who enjoyed and prospered in the fetid and protective isolation. The air is heavier than the rest of the peninsula, the humidity fed by the copious quantities of open and near-stagnant water. On a warm day, the air hangs heavy and one can see the density currents rise from any open plot.

           If you visit today, it has many similarities with our own Southern swamps. The trees tend to blot out the horizon. The light as it filters through the woods casts an amber hue on whatever it strikes. The ground is a bit soft, bereft of rocks and the surface fast dries into powder. The roads trace darkly through the woods and are quickly lost to view. There is a distinct feeling of loneliness and isolation. The small villages and farm communities are lost to view but to the immediate entrance a visitor may make in a chance encounter. To the unknowing visitor, it would be virtually impossible to visualize the significance this place holds for American history.

           Approximately in the center, on the largest and firmest ground, lies the small village of Graignes. Inhabited probably since the time of Vikings, it offered safe haven off the path of surrounding and competing forces and civilization. At the very highest point, less than 15 feet above sea level, rests the church. Constructed over time since the Medieval period, its present structure rises on the foundation of the original as soldiers found it on 6 June 1944. Why and how it is a new building is the story.

           Attached to the 82d Airborne for the D Day invasion, the 507th PIR was the last regiment to be dropped. Its troop carrier elements had no previous drop experience and flew into the peninsula under a disastrous combination of bad weather, low ceiling and a fully aroused German anti-aircraft force. Elements of the 507th were scattered from the tip of the peninsula near Cherbourg literally to Omaha Beach and the English Channel. Those few sticks that dropped where they were supposed to, discovered their drop zone to be in the middle of the Merderet swamp. The majority of the 507th that survived the night did so because they were misdropped on or near the 505th drop zone near St Mere Eglise. Part of this regiment had an unusual experience and created their own Alamo at Graignes with the fervent support of a people they had never previously met.

           At approximately 0200 6 June 1944, 12 sticks (20-23 paratroopers per stick) of 3-507th PIR landed relatively close together in the swampy land well south of Carentan. In the early morning light, small groups of soldiers were able to see the steeple of the Graignes church and moved toward it as if drawn by a magnet. By 1000, 25 soldiers led by Captain Brummitt emerged on the edge of town. With them were an unusually large quantity of weapons and ammunition bundles-the residue of a regiment-machine guns, mortars and ammunition for both.

           By 1200, Major  Johnson, also from the 3-507th arrived with more soldiers. The officers had a short debate. The Captain thought it best to move immediately north toward Carentan and linkup with elements of the 101st. The Major thought that too risky and believed it best to hold until relieved. Besides, Graignes was at the confluence of the few road nets that laced the area-all of which ended at Carentan-the headquarters of German defenses between Omaha and Utah beaches. 

Graignes quickly became an Alamo position with outposts guarding each road, machine gun positions and mortar pits dug and forward observers placed in the church tower. Over the rest of the day and night, small groups of soldiers emerged from the swamps and coalesced on the position. By nightfall of 6 June, 182 soldiers including 12 officers, manned the perimeter. Some were equally mis-dropped soldiers from the 101st.

Early in the morning of 7 June, the Major met with the Mayor, Msr Voydie, and the two attendant priests. He asked for the support of the village in retrieving supply bundles from the swamp and assistance in collecting food for the soldiers. He also asked permission, albeit a bit tardy, to use the church for his headquarters and medical collection point. The Mayor and priests readily agreed but Voydie tempered his decision by saying it needed a vote of all the town because of the potential consequences of a German re-occupation.

Quickly, the town assembled in the church, virtually 100% from the documented reports. The mayor described the issue and recommended support to the Americans. The parish by show of hands unanimously agreed and the die was caste. This was despite the certain knowledge of intermittent Gestapo presence and strict wartime occupation rationing and monitoring at the outlying village markets. Known or suspect support to the invaders would result in instant death.

Madam Boursier, owner of the only café/restaurant, assumed the task of food collection and distribution. The men and boys deployed throughout the area to collect supply bundles in the swamps. A considerable quantity of material was recovered-medical supplies, food, ammo, commo wire, telephones and weapons-however, no radios.

Madam B organized two food deliveries each day, personally taking it around to each position to insure equal rationing. The wives each added a little bit to the whole by buying just enough extra so as not to arouse suspicions. Throughout 8 and 9 June, this pattern was repeated without any contact with German forces. On 10 June, things abruptly changed.  

Mid-morning on 10 June, the FO in the church steeple saw a German column approach in administrative order, clearly not expecting resistance. The FO immediately notified the defending road block which laid a Ft Benning perfect linear ambush virtually wiping out the column. As dark fell, around 2300, Germans began probing Graignes on all the road nets but made no significant entry. Ominously, one of the German’s shot in the night had papers indicating he was from a recon element of the 17th SS Panzer Division.

At 1000 on the 11th, the town, augmented by many Catholic soldiers, entered the church-now an active aid station and command center-for Sunday mass. Partway through the service, a villager burst through the door shouting that the Germans were attacking. The soldiers raced to the rear of the church, grabbed their weapons and bolted through the door to their positions. Mortar and artillery fire began to land in the village and small arms ricochets rattled off of the stones and slate roofs. The villagers, at the suggestion of the mayor, decided to remain inside the church and wait out the attack.

By 1400, the Germans were spotted in a distant field establishing a battery of 88’s. At the same time, a determined infantry attack hit several points. The Germans combined mortar and artillery attacks throughout the village but were unable to break the defensive lines. However, US casualties began to mount and they were collected by villagers and soldiers and deposited inside the church-now a fully engaged casualty collection point. The two village priests, augmented by their aged housekeepers, assisted the few medics and 3-507th doctor in treating the increasing flow.

As night fell, the villagers dissipated back to their farms or chose to remain with friends inside the village. Defenders clearly heard sounds of mechanized vehicles. The German artillery and mortar elements began to heavily engage the village. The primary target of the artillery was the church steeple which they hit on successive occasions killing the FO party and Major Johnson thereby destroying the most effective fire support for the defenders. The successive barrages also materially reduced the mortar crews who were dug in within the church cemetery. The loss of the previously very effective indirect fire materially reduced the ability of the 3-507th to defend its out posted positions.

Regardless of the loss of mortar support, the defenders still exacted a very heavy price from the attackers. The narrow roads and limited dry ground forced the Germans to attack on restricted terrain making them very vulnerable to the paratroopers ability to use interior lines and the firepower of the machine guns and BAR’s. Hundreds of German bodies littered each lane as the afternoon wore on. However, the sheer weight of arms began to take a toll. One by one, each roadblock began to disintegrate under a combination of casualty attrition, very effective German indirect fire and masses of German infantry. By 1700, much of the village had been captured. Captain Brummitt, now in command, ordered the survivors to escape and evade into the swamps and move North to Carentan where it was assumed the 101st would be.

At 2200, life in Graignes changed dramatically with the arrival of the headquarters of the 17th SS Panzer Division. The unit had suffered a very embarrassing near defeat from a force of less than 200 paratroopers. It counted more than 500 KIA in the approaches to the town and were treating more than 700 WIA. The Commanding General arrived at the church in a very ugly and vengeful mood.

Quickly, Germans took the wounded, the medics and the doctor to the edge of the swamp and executed them in two groups. Separately, they marched the two priests into the rectory and summarily executed them. They then burned the remainder of the church and rectory but not before shooting the two old lady housekeepers in their bed. Sweeping through the town, they rounded up 44 villagers.

They were herded into the remains of the church and the SS began individual interrogations to determine who were the village leaders. In particular they wanted the name of the mayor and those that supported the US soldiers. They knew full well that the Americans had to have had significant local support to be as disposed as long as they were. Despite a nights worth of threats and beatings, not a single one of the 44 villagers gave up a name.

Frustrated at the lack of cooperation, the Commander ordered the village to be ransacked. Houses were broken into, windows, furniture and possessions were destroyed or appropriated.  Any food was taken and clothes burned or torn apart. On the 13th , the village was put to the torch. The villagers were prohibited from attempting to stop the flames.

The fire consumed 66 homes, the village school, Madam Boursier’s café and the furniture, pews and remains of the church. More houses were scorched or intentionally damaged. By the end of the day, only two of 200 houses remained unscathed. The now homeless villages gathered what possessions they had and moved to outlying farms to shelter with friends and an uncertain future.

On the 13th, at an outlying farm, the most distant from the village but still less than a mile away, the Rigault family began its morning routine. The two daughters, Marthe and Odette,  moved from the house to tend the livestock and the barn. Odette noticed several furtively moving paratroopers on the edge of the farm where the land falls off into the swamp. On her own initiative, a girl of 13, she ran to the soldiers and led them into the barn. Pointing to the hay loft, she motioned them up the ladder and raced to the house to inform her parents. Over the course of the day, she and her sister walked the swamp edge and recovered more soldiers, always pointing them toward the barn. By late afternoon, 21 soldiers were in the hayloft. Mrs Rigault began to feed them what little food the family possessed. Always mindful of possible German observation, she distributed the food in small hidden quantities on the girls who disguised their movements as part of the daily farming routine. On several occasions, Germans came through checking for Americans but the family always appeared to be isolated and alone.

The soldiers had hoped that the 101st would eventually move through this area. By the 15th, the troops agreed this was probably a forlorn hope. One of the soldiers was a Louisiana Cajun who was enlisted to talk to Msr Rigault about the best route through the swamp to Carentan. Msr Rigault went to several of his outlying neighbors to develop a plan of assistance. He engaged a 15 year old boy, Joe Folliot, who was very familiar with the confusing maze of canals, creeks and outlets that characterized the ancient swampland.

At 2200, Joe appeared at the edge of the farm with a punt boat that could hold 5 soldiers. He began the long process of poling through the swamp, landing the troops on a spot past the German outposts and pointing the direction of Carentan. This process continued throughout the night. Several times soldiers tried to give Joe money or a small gift and he consistently refused with a whispered Merci American. Merci American. By the 16th of June, 150 3-507th troops had gained the front lines of the 101st. The remainder  from the 182 that assembled at Graignes on the 6th of June.

The troopers of the 101st might have provided the Graignes survivors a warmer reception had they known how important the stand of the mis-dropped 3-507th  troopers were to their own survival. The 17th SS Panzer Division had been ordered to reinforce the German headquarters at Carentan. It never got there before the 101st was able to capture the city on the 12th of June. The chance encounter at Graignes, the intense combat and inordinate casualties, kept the division from reinforcing the city. Had it passed through Graignes without incident, the 101st would have had a much more difficult if not problematic outcome.

History and memory took a long pause at this point. The war went on, peace arrived and the town of Graignes managed its rebuilding isolated as always from the rest of the world. The quiet rural life went on with neither the American survivors nor the villagers aware of the destinies of the other.

1984 brought a dramatic change to this mutual ignorance. Several survivors from the 507th,  led by ex-Lt Frank Naughton, made a first return to Normandy. They had made a decision that they had to visit Graignes where they had experienced one of the most dramatic moments in their lives. There, they met the Rigault sisters, Marthe and Odette,  now married and middle-aged-but still cognizant of the individual soldiers and overjoyed at their return. For the first time, the sisters and the villagers learned of the fate of the soldiers they had harbored and the soldiers of the consequences of their support.

The sisters introduced the vets to the mayor, priests, villagers and newly rebuilt church. The town spontaneously celebrated the vets return. The vets were overwhelmed at the reception, especially in light of the price the village had paid for its momentary generosity. 

The vets returned to the US buoyed by the spirit they had just seen and petitioned the Secretary of the Army, John Marsh, to recognize the village and what it had done at so great a price. Jack Marsh was both a dedicated historian and airborne qualified. He studied at length the slim material available regarding Graignes, questioned survivors and concluded that what occurred there was truly unique and demanded recognition.

On 6 July 1986, Secretary Marsh visited Graignes with a number of 507th vets and presented 11 villagers with the Distinguished Civilian Service Award of which six were posthumous. The church was re-dedicated and a plaque describing the events was posted on its side. A Mass was held both to celebrate and remember.

Now, most of the village survivors of that day reside in the cemetery. However, every D Day period, the younger generations of Graignes assemble by the church and remember the events of that day and the memory of their predecessors who made a good but costly decision and the soldiers they helped. Sometimes a vet or active duty US element participates and sometimes not. It makes no matter, the village remembers what it did and why it did it and that is all that matters.