U.S. troops had been fighting inside Cherbourg for 26 hours. But on the city's perimeter were Maginot-type forts, begun by Vauban in the 17th Century, improved by Napoleon in 1808, perfected by Todt in the 1940s, which still blazed with bitter resistance. Spectacled Major General Manton S. Eddy, commander of the 9th Division, stood with one of his regimental commanders on a hillside near Octeville, on the southwest approaches to the port.
The General and the Colonel were peering over the barrel of a machine gun which was firing across a large quarry. Following...
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