Aerial reconnaissance
On June 9 the 101st Airborne Division finished its consolidation. A slow advance off Omaha Beach concerned Allied commanders that German divisions moving towards Carentan might block the merging of the two beachheads, and VII Corps ordered the 101st Airborne Division to take Carentan. Aerial reconnaissance of Carentan indicated that the town might be lightly defended, and a plan to capture the city by a double envelopment was developed.