The bombardment of Cherbourg took place on June 25, 1944, during World War II, when ships from the United States Navy and the British Royal Navy attacked German fortifications in and near the city, firing in support of U.S. Army units that were engaged in the Battle of Cherbourg. In doing so, the Allied naval forces engaged in a series of duels with coastal batteries and provided close support to infantry as they fought to gain control of the city. The bombardment was initially scheduled to last just two hours but it was later extended by an hour to support army units attempting to break into Cherbourg's city streets. After the bombardment, German resistance lasted until June 29, when the port was captured by the Allies. Afterwards, the task of clearing the port for use lasted several weeks.
When the Allies secured a bridgehead in the Normandy landings, the Germans adopted a strategy to bottle up the Allied forces in Normandy and deny them the nearest major port at Cherbourg to starve them of supplies. By mid-June U.S. infantry had sealed off the Cotentin Peninsula, but their advance had stalled and the Germans began to demolish the port's facilities. In response, the Allies renewed their efforts to capture the city, and by June 20 three infantry divisions under General "Lightning Joe" Collins had advanced within a mile of German lines defending Cherbourg. Two days later, the general assault began and on June 25, a large naval task force began a concentrated bombardment of the town to help neutralize the threat of German coastal artillery and to provide support to the assaulting infantry.
The task force was divided into two groups, each consisting of a variety of warships including battleships, cruisers, destroyers and minesweepers. Each ship was assigned a series of land-based targets. German shells were accurate out to , and in some cases they were able to bracket the radically maneuvering ships. Several Allied ships were holed, but faulty ammunition hampered German efforts. In several encounters, after being hit the heavy ships were able to withdraw after Allied destroyers obscured them with smoke.
After the action, Allied reports agreed that the most effective aspect of the bombardment was the fire that was provided by the small ships. Under the direction of army spotters, these ships were able to engage point targets up to inland, which proved invaluable in providing close support to the assaulting Allied infantry. In contrast, while the force's heavy guns disabled 22 of 24 assigned navy targets, they were unable to destroy any of them and, consequently, infantry assaults were required to ensure that the guns could not be reactivated.
Background Once German commanders assessed the Allied assault at Normandy as the primary invasion, they sought to limit the lodgment while they prepared a counter-offensive. To preserve naval assets, the Cherbourg-based German E-boats were transferred to Saint-Malo. Four destroyers from Brest made for Cherbourg to follow the E-boats, but they were sunk or disabled. By June 14, the Germans were attempting to deny the Allies use of Cherbourg's major port facility by blocking, mining and demolishing its harbor. The violent English Channel storm that thrashed apart the artificial port Mulberry A raged until June 22. Logistic movement ashore was temporarily crippled, and the Allies desperately needed Cherbourg's port in their possession.Morison (2002), pp. 175, 195–198
From June 18 the Cotentin Peninsula was sealed off by Allied infantry, but the German line was stabilized and the American advance stalled. Cherbourg held a garrison of 40,000 with a new commander (as of June 23), GeneralleutnantRankin (2001), p. 315. Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben. Hitler believed that the Allied invasion would fail without Cherbourg, and ordered it be made impregnable, awarding it "fortress" status. The American ground forces would lose over 2,800 dead and 13,500 wounded conquering it.Morison (2002), pp. 195–198
The Germans had emplaced coastal guns in and around Cherbourg in twenty casemated batteries—fifteen were or greater, and three were . There were many guns, some of which could be trained inland towards advancing infantry. To support the ground assault, Rear Admiral Morton Deyo began putting together a naval bombardment plan on June 15. While planning went forward, a late June storm raged in the English Channel, scattering Deyo's task force out to open sea and into British ports; they reassembled in Portland Harbour, Dorset. On the Cotentin Peninsula, the U.S. Army VII Corps advance, after some progress, was stalled by entrenched German resistance. The proposed naval bombardment was complicated, because the advance of the 9th, 79th and 4th divisions had brought them to within a mile of the city. An army liaison officer aboard representing General "Lightning Joe" Collins (VII Corps) expedited communications between different services and commands. The navy-only operation with a three-hour bombardment was shortened to ninety minutes. The targets were limited to those chosen by the army.
Combined Task Force To support the Allied advance over the Cotentin Peninsula and their planned assault on the German fortifications, on June 25, 1944, a bombarding force (CTF 129, Twelfth Fleet) was organized under the command of Rear Admiral Morton Deyo, USN. It was to suppress coastal batteries that the Germans might turn on advancing infantry, and support infantry calls for fire. The navy was additionally tasked to coordinate with the army air force bombers to interdict ammunition resupply and, as infantry closed, follow direction from spotter planes.COMNAVEU (2006), chronology: p. 224; ships assigned to task force: p. 444.
Battle groups 1 and 2 The task force was divided into two divisions: Battle Group 1 and Battle Group 2. Battle Group 1, under Deyo's command, was assigned to bombard Cherbourg, the inner harbor forts, and the area west towards the Atlantic. Group 1 consisted of the battleship , the cruisers , , , and , and six destroyers: (flag), , , , , and .Rosco (1953), pp. 361–362. Rear Admiral Carleton Fanton Bryant's smaller Battle Group 2 was assigned "Target 2", the Battery Hamburg, which was located near Fermanville, inland from Cape Levi, east of Cherbourg. Nevada in Group 1 was to use its main battery to silence what was described as "the most powerful German strongpoint on the Cotentin Peninsula". Battle Group 2 would then complete the destruction, and pass westward to join Deyo's group. Bryant's Group 2 consisted of the battleships , , and five destroyers.Morison (2002), pp. 198–200 These were (flag), , , (pennant), and .Rosco (1953), p. 361
Air and naval support To clear the path to the shore for the task force, US Minesweeping Squadron 7 and the British 9th Minesweeping Flotilla were tasked with sweeping lanes ahead of them for mines. Channel "L" was extended beyond the extent used for D-Day landings along east and north coasts of Cherbourg to protect Task Force 129 closing in for bombardment. The minesweepers repeatedly came under fire from shore batteries during their operations. During the bombardment, as the batteries were silenced, minesweepers cleared channels towards the harbor seaward from the 10 fathom line.COMNAVEU (2006), pp. 444–445. Overhead, General "Pete" Quesada's Ninth Air Force was tasked with providing fighter cover. Additional aircraft provided antisubmarine and combat air patrols. Grumman TBF Avengers of the British Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, supplemented an additional British six-destroyer anti-submarine screen and the British 159th Minesweeping Flotilla.Morison (2002), p. 198.
Fire control measures As a result of pre-bombardment concerns by ground commanders, all planned long-range shots on seaward batteries were cancelled and it was decided that only call fires would be delivered. Inter-service negotiations made three batteries dedicated navy targets and added any batteries firing on the ships. The ships were to have spotter planes over Cherbourg targets. During ship approaches from 09:40 until 12:00 they were to fire only if fired on. Infantry fire-coordination was provided in the air and on the ground. P-38 Lightnings of the Ninth Air Force flew from southern England for naval combat air patrol, fighter-bomber strikes and on-call close support of the infantry. Collins, commanding VII Corps, arranged for shore fire control parties to join infantry units as they approached German fortified objectives.Morison (2002), p. 200; destroyers listed in Rosco (1953), pp. 361–362; minesweepers are found at COMNAVEU (2006), p. 444.
During the Normandy landings the standard operating procedure for "shore fire control parties" (SFCP) called for nine per infantry division. A naval gunfire liaison officer was attached to each regimental fire control center. A naval gunfire officer was attached to each divisional headquarters in charge of all shore parties in his division.COMNAVEU (2006), pp. 224, 469.
Every firing ship was provided with an army artillery officer to maintain current information about the position of Allied troops, and to determine whether to fire at any given target at the time. The army liaison officer decided the safety of firing at each target, while the "ship itself controlled the fire". The SFCP observed the fall of shot and corrected fire with a clock code.COMNAVEU (2006), pp. 469–473. The SFCP operation in the field was not without danger. Germans were able to locate radios in the medium frequency and take them under fire in seconds. "In all cases, it was the responsibility of the ship to determine whether any given shoot would endanger allied personnel or positions." This was possible because each bombarding ship was provided with an army officer who tracked positions of Allied forces ashore.
Air spotters operated in pairs, one as a spotter, one as an escort, each capable of both missions. Each pair could communicate with one another and with the same ships. Every bombarding ship was provided radio capability to communicate with all varieties of aircraft radios. The third method of fire control involved a combination of air to ground to sea communication. "Army air observation" planes spotted for a control party on the ground. They relayed the information to the ships taking fire missions.
Bombardment
Initial stages At 09:40, Group 1 made landfall, about north of Cherbourg. Leading minesweepers cleared approach channels for both battle groups with Group 2's column steaming parallel several miles to the east. They arrived into the seaward fire support areas without being fired on or receiving any calls for fire. As noon passed at eight bells, the task force plodded towards the in-shore fire support areas at the minesweepers' speed. German salvos from a village west of Cherbourg at Querqueville began falling among the deployed minesweeper flotillas. Four British Fairmile C motor gun boats began making a smoke screen for the approaching minesweepers. HMS Glasgow and with Spitfire spotters began returning fire on the German batteries firing on the minesweepers. In just thirty minutes, every minesweeper had been straddled with battery fire, though none were hit. Deyo recalled them, and they would lay-to out of range for the rest of the action.Morison (2002), pp. 200–205.
At 09:55, Bryant's Group 2 entered Fire Support Area 2. Spotter planes for Texas and Arkansas were on target, ready to open fire, and operation plans called for Nevada to begin firing on Target 2, Battery Hamburg. Deyo's flash message surprised Bryant cancelling Nevadas long-range bombardment, postponing his open-firing until noon at shore request or in self-defense, and Group 2 was to join Group 1 by noon.Morison (2002), p. 206