American soldiers ashore pushed rapidly northwestward along the coast of the Cherbourg Peninsula, to capture the port of Cherbourg, sorely needed as a terminal to replace the temporary harbor behind a jury-rig breakwater of sunken ships at the landing beaches. The Nazi garrison at Cherbourg put up a last-ditch stand, however, and on June 27th, forts on the outer breakwater and a few coastal batteries still held out. The Navy sent a curiously composed task force to reduce the forts. With the destroyer _Shubrick_, the Navy sent six PTs to deal with the holdout Germans. It is hard to understand what PTs were expected to accomplish against heavy guns behind concrete casemates. Perhaps the reputation of the PT commander had overpowered the judgment of the Navy brass, for it was none other than Lieut. Commander John Bulkeley, hero of the MacArthur rescue run and the New Guinea blockade, come to try his mettle in European waters. Leaving four PTs with the destroyer as a screen, Bulkeley, in 510, with 521 in company, cruised by the forts and sprayed them with machine guns at 150-yard range. The stubborn Nazis poured out a stream of 88-mm. shells and hit 521 hard enough to stop her dead for five minutes while a motor machinist mate made frantic repairs. Lieut. Commander Bulkeley ran rings around the stalled craft, laying a doughnut of smoke around her for a screen. The _Shubrick_ herself was taking near misses from shore batteries, so the skipper recalled the PTs and departed the scene. The two “bombardment” PTs followed suit, having accomplished little except to exercise the crew. Fortunately no American sailors were hurt in this most inappropriate use of PT capabilities. Even after the Allies had taken the whole Normandy coast, the Germans clung to the offshore Channel Islands of Jersey, Alderney, Guernsey, and Sark. On Jersey, they maintained a base for small craft which made annoying nightly sorties. To seal off the Jersey base, the Navy ordered PT Squadrons Thirty and Thirty-four to patrol nightly from Cherbourg to the Channel Islands in the company of a destroyer escort for backstop firepower and for radar scouting. [Illustration: ENGLISH CHANNEL] NETHERLANDS BELGIUM FRANCE PT 509 SUNK BY MINESWEEPER PTs 510 and 521 “BOMBARD” FORTS RICH SUNK BY MINES On the night between August 8th and 9th, the _Maloy_ and five PTs were patrolling west of Jersey. The weather was good all night, but shortly before dawn a thick fog settled over the sea. At 5:30 A.M. the radar watch on the _Maloy_ picked up six German minesweepers.