James T. Lingg - WWII
Page 12 - Advancing in France, 10 July to 19 July

On the 10^th, we finally reached what we were supposed to reach the first day, June 6^th, which was Forest Cerisy. Apparently they had changed objectives after they found out how bad the initial assault ended up being. But from that point on, we were moving quite rapidly. We finally reached the small town of Caumont on 11 or 12 July. The town was not really defended. The enemy had pretty much withdrawn.

This allowed us the comfort of going back into the town, if you didn't mind getting shelled, to visit some of the wine cellars which we enjoyed tremendously. The Germans shelled the town quite frequently. There were no civilians there. All the civilians had been evacuated out. From about the 12^th of July until about the 14^th of July, we remained holding that one point patrolling and drawing in replacements and equipment.

The British on the left were having a terrific battle back in the Caen area, on the right side of our line were the Americans. We were tied in with the British. We rode motor patrol with them in the Jeeps. They used our Jeeps mostly. We rode motor patrol on the roads just behind the lines to make sure none of the enemy infiltrated. We were almost shoulder to shoulder.

During that time we were at Caumont, we watched a saturation bombing by the British to help clear up the line. VillersBocage was bombed. There must have been hundreds of airplanes flying in one after the other bombing this small area. It was really a show. Most of the time, we were just sitting there watching the enemy and he was just sitting there watching us.

I was on forward OP (outpost) in front of the town of Caumont. In our position were three foxholes with two men in each. One man observing in the direction of the enemy with the other sleeping. After a night guard, when I woke up, it was a very warm afternoon. The young man in my hole, supposed to be observing towards the enemy, was laying flat on his back asleep. I dug him in the ribs with my M-1 rifle to wake him up and, as he woke, I told him if he ever went to sleep on an outpost with me again I would probably kill him. To my knowledge this young man never liked me from that day, but I doubt he ever went to sleep again when he was supposed to be observing the enemy. He apparently cried to my Squad Sgt. and he was never placed on OP with me again.

On July 14, we left the line at Caumont and withdrew for refitting, rest and training near a tiny little Norman village of Colombieres. We were billeted in a barn filled with fresh smelling hay and it was like heaven for us farm boys.