Church - Sainte-Mère-Église, Normandy France

Sainte-Mère-Église, Normandy France

Sainte-Mère-Église was the scene of intense fighting in the night of june 6, 1944 when US parachute forces landed here. U.S. 82nd Airborne and U.S. 101st Airborne Divisions were given the task to secure the main road on Cotentin peninsula for the landing forces landing on Utah and Omaha.
Sainte-Mère-Église was one of their main objectives as it is on this road from Carentan to Cherbourg.

A famous incident during that night involved paratrooper John Steele of the 505th PIR, whose parachute caught on the spire of the town church. He hung there limply for two hours, pretending to be dead, before the Germans took him prisoner. Steele later escaped from the Germans and rejoined his division. The incident was portrayed in the movie The Longest Day by actor Red Buttons.

In memory of this event a puppet is still hanging from the tower. The stain-glassed windows of the church also depict scenes from the battle.

Shot with a Nikon D610 and tonemapped using three handheld shots, augustus 2017

See my Omaha beach photo's for more viewpoints, panorama shots and notes on the fighting on D-Day

Taken in: France / Basse-Normandie / Ste.-Mère-Eglise (show map)

Taken on: August 13, 2017

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Sainte-Mère-Église

Utah Beach

Sets appears in: • Battlefields • Utah beach and the Cotentin Penisula

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Camera: Nikon D610, f/5.6, 1/1250 sec, 24mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D610
Lens:	24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/1250)
Focal Length:	24mm
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Spot
White Balance:	Auto
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 7.2 (Windows)
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