Battle of Normandy & the Liberation of Coutances

✔ Southern Manche frontline history · ✔ Allied breakout fought minutes from the gîte
✔ Real villages, real terrain, real consequences
✔ Ideal for WWII enthusiasts, descendants, and travellers who want context, not crowds

Home · Availability · Book Now · Contact Us · Location · Reviews

First published: October 2025

Last Updated: January 2026

The Battle of Normandy (6 June – 25 August 1944) was one of the most decisive campaigns of the Second World War. While many visitors focus on the D-Day landing beaches, the fiercest and most strategically important fighting unfolded inland — across the fields, hedgerows, lanes and towns of La Manche.

From Carentan to Saint-Lô, Marigny, Roncey, Périers, Montcuit and Coutances, this landscape — including our own village of Nicorps — lay directly in the path of the Allied breakout. What happened here shaped not only the outcome of the campaign, but the physical and emotional landscape that still defines this part of Normandy today.

This blog traces the five major stages of the Battle of Normandy, with a particular focus on the American advance through southern Manche, the liberation of Coutances, and how events unfolded in and around the lanes, hills and farms surrounding the gîte.

🗺️ Operation Overlord & the Postponed D-Day

The Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France began under the codename Operation Overlord. Initially scheduled for early June 1944, the landings were postponed by 24 hours due to rough seas and poor visibility. Weather conditions were marginal, and launching earlier would likely have resulted in disastrous airborne drops and naval landings.

The decision to go on 6 June was taken under enormous pressure and uncertainty. It altered the course of the war. But while the landings dominated headlines, they were only the opening phase. What followed inland was slower, bloodier, and far less predictable.

⚔️ Phase 1: Widening the Bridgehead (6–13 June)

After securing the beaches, Allied forces pushed inland to expand their foothold. One of the most critical objectives was Carentan, located around 40 minutes from the gîte. The town was essential for linking Utah and Omaha beaches into a single continuous front.

American paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division fought intense house-to-house battles to seize the town. The surrounding Douve Valley had been deliberately flooded, forcing movement along narrow causeways dominated by German artillery. German resistance included Panzergrenadier units and paratroopers supported by well-positioned guns.

Carentan was finally secured on 12 June after days of brutal fighting and flanking manoeuvres supported by U.S. tanks. The cost was high, and the battle offered an early indication of the attritional warfare that would dominate the weeks ahead.

🛡️ Phase 2: Consolidating the Bridgehead (14–24 July)

By mid-June, Allied momentum slowed dramatically. The Normandy bocage — dense hedgerows, sunken lanes and enclosed fields — proved ideal defensive terrain. Progress was measured in fields rather than kilometres.

The countryside around Roncey, Marigny, Montcuit, Périers and Nicorps saw daily artillery exchanges, tank engagements and sniper fire. German formations including the 2nd SS Panzer Division “Das Reich” and the 17th SS “Götz von Berlichingen” entrenched themselves across the hills and woodland of southern Manche, using every lane and field boundary as cover.

Saint-Lô, often referred to as the “Key to Normandy”, was almost entirely destroyed. By mid-July, more than 95% of the town lay in ruins following sustained bombardment aimed at German strongpoints. Many civilian warning leaflets failed to arrive in time.

In the aftermath of the fighting, the Memorial Hospital of Saint-Lô was constructed with U.S. military support — a gesture of goodwill that remains symbolically significant today.

During these bombardments, residents of Nicorps — including those who once lived here — took refuge in the deep stone cellar of the main house, now known as La Ruche, beside what is today the Ursula gîte. These events were not distant. They happened here.

🔥 Phase 3: Operation Cobra & the Breakthrough (25–30 July)

After weeks of attritional warfare, Allied commanders launched Operation Cobra — a breakout strategy spearheaded by American forces. On 25 July, around 3,000 bombers struck German positions south of Saint-Lô.

The bombardment was devastating, but not without tragedy. Friendly fire incidents killed hundreds of U.S. troops, including General Leslie McNair. Even so, German defensive lines collapsed under the combined pressure of air power and ground assault.

In the days that followed, American troops — aided by Sherman “Rhinoceros” tanks equipped with hedgerow-cutting prongs — punched through the German lines. Towns and villages such as Marigny, Montcuit and Périers became scenes of intense tank battles, roadblocks and house-to-house fighting.

Columns of U.S. armour rolled through Roncey, forming what became known as the Roncey Pocket — a trap that destroyed thousands of German vehicles and artillery. This collapse of German resistance unfolded just minutes from the gîte and marked the decisive rupture of the southern Manche front.

Nicorps lay directly within the breakout corridor. Tanks, supply columns and artillery moved through the surrounding hills and lanes toward Coutances. Elements of the 116th Panzer Division “Windhund” attempted to regroup in nearby high ground but were intercepted as the advance gathered pace.

🏙️ Liberation of Coutances (28 July)

By 27 July, American armoured units had outflanked Coutances, advancing from Tessy through Montpinchon and past Nicorps. On 28 July 1944, the town of Coutances was liberated.

General George S. Patton passed directly through the town during the advance south toward Avranches. Today, Coutances commemorates this moment with Avenue Général Patton — a reminder that liberation moved through the town itself rather than around it.

🪖 Phase 4: Operation Bluecoat & the Push East (30 July–7 August)

While American forces surged west and south, British units launched Operation Bluecoat from the Caumont area toward Vire. The aim was to draw German reserves away from the collapsing front near Coutances.

German formations including the 116th Panzer Division and elements of the 1st SS Panzer Division “Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler” were drawn into heavy fighting east of the gîte area, preventing effective counter-attacks against the Cobra breakout.

🪤 Phase 5: The Falaise Pocket (8–21 August)

The final phase of the Battle of Normandy culminated in the encirclement of German forces near Falaise. Canadian and Polish units closed the trap, killing or capturing more than 50,000 German soldiers.

With Normandy secured, the road to Paris lay open. The capital was liberated four days later.

🕊️ Memorials in Every Village

Across Coutances Mer & Bocage, almost every village church maintains a memorial to the fallen. In Nicorps, a monument stands in the churchyard of Saint Corneille — modest, permanent, and easy to overlook unless you know it is there.

These memorials are not attractions. They are part of everyday life.

⚰️ War Cemeteries Near the Gîte

🇩🇪 Marigny German Military Cemetery (20 minutes)

More than 11,000 German soldiers are buried here, many killed during fighting around Saint-Lô, Roncey and Montcuit. It is one of the largest German cemeteries in Normandy, stark and deliberately restrained.

🇺🇸 🇬🇧 Allied Memorials & Local Sites

• Roncey Pocket Memorial – small plaque near the village centre
• Montcuit Hill – site of tank engagement and German retreat
• Memorial Hospital, Saint-Lô – post-war U.S.-funded hospital built on heavily contested ground
• Coutances Cathedral – used for triage during the liberation

📍 Local WWII History Highlights Near Our Gîte

• 🏙️ Carentan – 40 minutes (intense airborne and urban fighting)
• 🔥 Saint-Lô – 35 minutes (nearly destroyed; strategic turning point)
• 🚜 Marigny – 20 minutes (centre of German defensive line)
• 🎖️ Roncey – 12 minutes (encirclement of retreating German forces)
• 📍 Nicorps – 0 minutes (within the breakout corridor; La Ruche used as shelter)

Whether you are a WWII historian, a descendant of veterans, or simply curious about the stories beneath the landscape, southern Manche is one of the most layered and emotionally resonant areas of the Normandy campaign — and all of it lies within a short, manageable distance of our gîte.

Ready to explore Normandy?