Battle of Cherbourg The Battle of Cherbourg was part of the Battle of Normandy during World War II . It was fought immediately after the successful Allied landings on June 6 , 1944 . American troops isolated and captured the fortified port , which was considered vital to the campaign in Western Europe , in a hard - fought , month - long campaign . Allied plans . When they drew up their plans for the invasion of France , the Allied staff considered that it would be necessary to secure a deep - water port to allow reinforcements to be brought directly from the United States . ( Without such a port , equipment packed for transit would first have to be unloaded at a port in Great Britain , unpacked , water - proofed and then reloaded onto landing craft to be transferred to France ) . Cherbourg , at the end of the Cotentin Peninsula , was the largest , accessible port from the landings . The Allied planners decided at first not to land directly on the Cotentin Peninsula , since this sector would be separated from the main Allied landings by the Douve River valley , which had been flooded by the Germans to deter airborne landings . On being appointed overall land commander for the invasion in January 1944 , British General Bernard Montgomery reinstated the landing on the Cotentin peninsula , partly to widen the front and therefore prevent the invaders becoming sealed into a narrow lodgement , but also to enable a rapid capture of Cherbourg . Landings . In the early hours of June 6 , the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Division s landed at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula . Although the landings were scattered , they nevertheless secured most of the routes by which the US VII Corps would advance from Utah Beach . The US 4th Infantry Division landed on Utah Beach shortly after dawn with few casualties . In the immediate aftermath of the landings the priority for the invasion forces at Utah Beach was to link up with the main Allied landings further east . On June 9 , the 101st Airborne Division managed to cross the Douve River valley and captured Carentan the next day . After vicious house - to - house fighting during the Battle of Carentan , the airborne troops were able to take the town , ensuring the Allies a continuous front . The front was maintained despite a German counterattack reinforced by armored units on the 13th , known as the Battle of Bloody Gulch . Move across the Cotentin Peninsula . This success allowed VII Corps to advance westwards to cut off the Cotentin Peninsula . An additional three infantry divisions had landed to reinforce the Corps . Major General J . Lawton Collins , the Corps Commander , drove his troops hard , replacing units in the front lines or sacking officers if progress was slow . The Germans facing VII Corps were a mix of regiments and battlegroups from several divisions , many of which had already suffered heavy casualties fighting the American airborne troops in the first days of the landings . Very little German armored or mobile troops could be sent to this part of the front because of the threat to Caen further east . Infantry reinforcements arrived only slowly . Tactically , the Germans ' flooding of the Douve worked against them because it secured the Allied southern flank . By June 16 , there were no further natural obstacles in front of the American forces . The German command was in some confusion . Erwin Rommel and other commanders wished to withdraw their troops in good order into the Atlantic Wall fortifications of Cherbourg , where they could have withstood a siege for some time . Adolf Hitler , issuing orders from his headquarters in East Prussia , demanded that they hold their present lines even though this risked disaster . Late on June 17 , Hitler agreed that the troops might withdraw but specified that they were to occupy a new , illogical defensive line , spanning the entire peninsula just south of Cherbourg . Rommel protested against this order , but he nevertheless dismissed General Farmbacher , commanding the LXXXIV Corps , who he thought was trying to circumvent it . Assault on Cherbourg . On June 18 , the US 9th Infantry Division reached the west coast of the peninsula . Within 24 hours , the 4th , 9th and 79th Infantry Division s were driving north on a broad front . There was little opposition on the western side of the peninsula and on the eastern side , the exhausted defenders around Montebourg collapsed . Several large caches of V - 1 flying bomb s were discovered by the Americans in addition to a V - 2 rocket installation at Brix . In two days , the American divisions were within striking distance of Cherbourg . The garrison commander , Lieutenant General Karl - Wilhelm von Schlieben , had 21 , 000 men but many of these were hastily drafted naval personnel or from labour units . The fighting troops who had retreated to Cherbourg ( including the remnants of von Schlieben ' s own Division , the 709th ) , were tired and disorganised . Food , fuel and ammunition were short . The Luftwaffe dropped a few supplies , but these were mostly items such as Iron Cross es , intended to bolster the garrison ' s morale . Nevertheless , von Schlieben rejected a summons to surrender and began carrying out demolitions to deny the port to the Allies . Collins launched a general assault on June 22 . Resistance was stiff at first , but the Americans slowly cleared the Germans from their bunkers and concrete pillboxes . Allied Naval ships bombarded fortifications near the city on June 25 . On June 26 , the 79th Division captured Fort du Roule , which dominated the city and its defenses . This finished any organised defense . Von Schlieben was captured . The harbor fortifications and the Arsenal surrendered on June 29 , after a ruse by Allied officers , Capt Blazzard and Col Teague , who convinced the German Officers to surrender the Peninsula , bluffing about their manpower and ordnance . Some German troops cut off outside the defenses held out until July 1 . Aftermath . The Germans had so thoroughly wrecked and mined Cherbourg that Hitler awarded the Knight ' s Cross to Rear Admiral Walter Hennecke the day after he surrendered for " a feat unprecedented in the annals of coastal defense . " The port was not brought into limited use until the middle of August ; although the first ships were able to use the harbor in late July . Nevertheless , the Germans had suffered a major defeat , as a result of a rapid Allied buildup on their western flank and Hitler ' s rigid orders . General Friedrich Dollmann , commanding the German Seventh Army , died of a heart attack on June 28 , having just been informed of a court martial pending as a result of the capture of Cherbourg .