page_title: Saint-Lô
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Saint-Lô / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: Gare et ville de Saint-Lô détruite Railway station and city of Saint-Lô (Normandy) destroyed
context_page_description: Saint-Lô is a commune in north-western France, the capital of the Manche department in the region of Normandy.
  Although it is the second largest city of Manche after Cherbourg, it remains the prefecture of the department. It is also chef-lieu of an arrondissement and two cantons.
  The commune has 18,931 inhabitants who are called Saint-Lois. The names of Laudois, Laudiens or Laudiniens are also cited. A martyr city of World War II, Saint-Lô was decorated with the Legion of Honour in 1948 and was given the nickname "Capital of the Ruins", a phrase popularised by Samuel Beckett.
context_section_description: France was invaded in 1940 and the 7th Panzer Division, commanded by Rommel, entered Normandy. The objective being the capture of the city of Cherbourgh, the centre of Manche was bypassed as the German Army occupied Saint-Lô, a strategic crossroads, on the night of 17 June 1940. During the occupation, the statue of the Norman dairywoman and the Havin statue, both made by Arthur Le Duc were sold and melted to make cannons, despite opposition from local politicians. In March 1943, the Germans decide to dig a tunnel under the rock. For the time being, no one is able to say what the usefulness of this tunnel would have been, though it was dug at the same time as the Agneaux Institute. Workers from the STO would be required until the beginning of the Battle of Normandy. Then, the underground, under construction, would house the sick of the Hôtel-Dieu located opposite and a part of the Saint-Lô population.
  A German soldier was shot in January 1944 and several local people were arrested. The cinema, theatre and bars were closed, radios confiscated and the curfew was extended to 8pm.
  During the Liberation, Saint-Lô suffered two series of air attacks during the Battle of Normandy. The first was the bombardment of the city by the Americans during the night of D-Day 6–7 June 1944. The first air American strike killed almost eight hundred civilians. Allied planes continued to attack the power plant and rail facilities daily for a week.
  A second series of air attacks began on 17 July, during the Battle of Saint-Lô, which would give its name to the USS St. Lo.  This time the city was bombed by the Germans. As a main transport center, the city was a nexus of military activity starting Battle of Normandy and on to the breakout from Normandy, Operation Cobra. As a result of air and ground attacks, Saint-Lô was almost totally destroyed (90–95% according to common estimates). The city was dubbed "The Capital of the Ruins" by Samuel Beckett. Saint-Lô was one of the key cities to the opening of the Falaise Gap, which ultimately allowed Allied forces to expel the Germans from northern France.
  By order of Major General Charles Gerhardt, a jeep carried the body of Major Thomas Howie, later immortalized as "The Major of St. Lô", wrapped in a flag on its hood so that it could be said that he was the first American to enter the city.
  Saint-Lô received the Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 on 2 June 1948 with a citation for "capital of the Manche Department which has retained full confidence in the destiny of the country. Suffered on the night of 6–7 June, with a heroic calm, an air bombardment to such a point that its inhabitants could consider themselves as citizens of the capital of the ruins". These awards would be given on 6 June by President Vincent Auriol. The two communes, now absorbed from Sainte-Croix-de-Saint-Lô and Saint-Thomas-de-Saint-Lô, were also decorated with the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 on 11 November 1948.
caption: The destroyed station of Saint-Lô.
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