with the 101st Airborne Division and provide them tank support as the paratroopers secured the causeways leading inland from the beaches. The following day, the medium tank companies assisted the 8th Infantry Regiment in consolidating the beachhead by clearing the pockets of German resistance in and around Ste. Mère Église and linking up with the 82nd Airborne Division, preparatory to the push toward the port town of Cherbourg. Although the 70th Tank Battalion was one of the most experienced tank battalions in the U.S. Army at this point, the 4th Infantry Division was new to combat and the infantry-tank coordination was at first tenuous. But, within the first few weeks in Normandy the two arms were coordinating their maneuvers much better. Following the consolidation of the initial invasion objectives, the 70th Tank Battalion continued in support of the 4th Infantry Division as they moved northward to take the port city of Cherbourg, which fell on 27 June. The 4th Infantry Division was recommitted in the main line of advance at the base of the Carentan peninsula, near Sainteny on 6 July. The 70th Tank Battalion moved with the division and engaged in brutal fighting in the hedgerows, made worse by heavy rainfall. After sustaining heavy casualties, the division and the battalion were withdrawn from the line on 15 July to rest and refit preparatory to playing a key role in the breakout from Normandy. The 4th Infantry Division was one of the assault divisions for Operation Cobra, the planned breakout from Normandy. Following the disastrous air bombardments of 24–25 July 1944, in which the 70th Tank Battalion only suffered minor material losses, the 8th Infantry Regiment began the assault across the St. Lô-Périers road. Initial progress was slow, just 2,500 meters on 25 July, and 8,000 meters the next day, but even these gains were quite large compared with the advances in the Norman hedgerows. The VII Corps commander committed the armor units to breakout on 27 July and with that German resistance crumbled. Once the breakthrough had succeeded, the 70th was taken out of the line in order to perform much needed maintenance on their vehicles, and for the battalion, beginning with Company C, to begin receiving new Shermans mounting high-velocity 76 mm guns. The 70th began the race across France, at times halting only because they had outstripped their supply lines. By 24 August, the battalion was on