CARENTAN. The approach to Carentan from the east is blocked by the Vire-Taute Canal. U. S. forces advancing to secure the bridge on the road from Isigny met with enemy resistance from the houses and hedgerows on the east bank and it was not until midnight of 10 June that the enemy was driven out and defensive positions were established by U. S. troops. Other U. S. troops moved along the Bassin à Flot and crossed the canal on 12 June, moving rapidly into the center of Carentan which by then was ringed by attacking troops. This trap was closed too late to capture most of the German defenders, who escaped to the south during the night of 11–12 June.] [Illustration: FRANCE U. S. TROOPS MOVING INTO CARENTAN, 12 June (top). A 105-mm. howitzer M3 firing at enemy positions during the fighting at Carentan (bottom). During the night of 11–12 June, Carentan was set ablaze by artillery and naval gunfire, and early on the morning of 12 June U. S. troops entered the town. Its fall marked the effective junction of the two U. S. beachheads and the linking up of the two corps of the First U. S. Army.] [Illustration] [Illustration: FRANCE U. S. PARATROOPERS PATROLLING THE STREETS OF CARENTAN in a captured German Volkswagen (1. Pkw. K. 1 (typ 82)) (top). Airborne troops in a jeep towing a British 6-pounder Mark III antitank gun in Carentan (bottom). The enemy counterattacks against the U. S. forces in Carentan were unsuccessful in their attempts to recapture the city, but were persistent enough to limit the U. S. advance to gains measured in hundreds of yards. However, on 17 June 1944 U. S. troops reached the west coast in the vicinity of Barneville, cutting the German forces into two groups, one south of the Carentan-Barneville line, the other in the Cherbourg area.] [Illustration] [Illustration: FRANCE DOUGLAS A-20’S DROPPING BOMBS on a probable flying bomb launching site. The first flying bombs fell on England during the night of 12–13 June 1944, and the regular attacks began three days later. The smallness, the effective nature of camouflage, the comparative mobility, and the ease with which the V-1 launching sites could be repaired made effective bombing attacks on them difficult.] [Illustration: FRANCE PART OF A GERMAN ROCKET INSTALLATION captured by U. S. troops. Many of these flying bomb sites were captured by the Allies as they advanced. Although the air force had destroyed some by bombing, most of the sites were taken by advancing troops and destroyed.] [Illustration: FRANCE