Battle of Bloody Gulch

Battle of Bloody Gulch
Part of the Battle of Carentan and the Battle for Normandy

The Battle of Carentan
Date13 June 1944
Location
Result American victory
Successful defense of Carentan.
German counterattack repulsed.
Belligerents
 United States  Germany
Commanders and leaders
United States Maxwell D. Taylor
United States Howard R. Johnson
United States John H. Michaelis
United States Robert F. Sink
Nazi Germany Friedrich von der Heydte
Strength
3 parachute infantry regiments
60 tanks (2nd Armored Division)[1]
1 parachute infantry battalion
1 Waffen SS motorized division
12 tanks[1]
Casualties and losses
32 killed
73 wounded
4 tanks destroyed
43 killed
89 wounded
2 tanks destroyed

The Battle of Bloody Gulch took place around the Manoir de Donville or Hill 30 (U.S. Army designation), about 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of Carentan in Normandy, France, on June 13, 1944.

It involved elements of the German 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division and 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment, and the American 501st, 502nd, and 506th Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIR) of the 101st Airborne Division, reinforced by elements of the 2nd Armored Division and the 29th Infantry Division.

During the battle, the manor house of Manoir de Donville was the headquarters of the German forces. American soldiers nicknamed the road running past the manor "Bloody Gulch", after a place mentioned in the popular western movie Destry Rides Again.

  1. ^ a b Band of Brothers – Tank Scenes Explained. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22.