'NORMANDY COMBAT' by Don Burgett

Normandy hedgerow fighting

      "Small private wars erupted to the right and left, near and far, most of them lasting from fifteen minutes to half an hour, with anyone's guess being good as to who the victors were.  The heavy hedgerow country muffled the sounds, while the night air magnified them.  It was almost impossible to tell how far 

Normandy hedgerow fighting

away the fights were and sometimes even in what direction.  The only thing I could be sure of was that a lot of men were dying in this nightmarish labyrinth.  During this time I had no success in finding anyone, friend or foe.  To be crawling up and down hedgerows, alone, deep in enemy country with a whole ocean between yourself and the nearest allies sure makes a man feel about as lonely as a man can get."

                                                                                -- before dawn June 6, 1944, Donald R. Burgett, 101st Airborne, 506th Regiment,

CURRAHEE!  A Screaming Eagle at Normandy, pg. 89

See original images at:

www.americanveteranscenter.org/avcvideo/world-war-ii/?nggpage=4

www.stolly.org.uk/ETO/threegisadvancealonganormandyhedgerow.html