British Churchill Crocodiles supported the U.S. Army in the summer of 1944 during the fight over the Normandy hedgerows or 'The Bocage Country' and used a squadron during the fighting at the Battle for Brest, notably aiding in the defeat of a Fallschirmjäger garrison at the siege of Montbarey fortress on 16 September 1944. The US Army received a smaller American designed flamethrower mounted upon the M4 Sherman tank during the same month of September 1944, assigned to the US Army's 70th Tank Battalion, the flamethrowing tanks went into action on 18 September 1944, where it was found that the weapons had a very short range as compared to the British "Crocodiles", and consequently were not very popular amongst US troops.