Battle of Graignes - Setting Up Defenses

Setting Up Defenses

As the Americans went to work preparing defensive positions, the village became a hive of activity. Soldiers started digging in around the town’s perimeter, cutting fields of fire, installing communications and otherwise making ready to receive a counterattack. The mortar platoon dug in around the cemetery and sent a detachment to occupy the church belfry as an observation post. From that vantage point, the observer enjoyed an unobstructed view of the network of roads and trails leading to the village from the west and southwest. The main road leading uphill to the church was covered also by riflemen located strategically along its flanks as well as a large number of anti-tank mines. In short, all routes into Graignes were covered by rifles, machine guns, mines and mortars. While these defenses were being prepared, Maj. Johnston established his Command Post at the boys’ school. Graignes had become the Alamo of Normandy.

Throughout this digging-in process, troopers continued to arrive in Graignes. At approximately 1730 hours, a large group of Headquarters Company personnel entered the village with 1st Lt. Elmer F. Farnham, 1st Lt. Lowell C. Maxwell and twenty-four-year-old 1st Lt. Frank Naughton. Naughton had joined the U.S. Army in August 1941 and was among the first officers to join the 507th when it was formed in July 1942. Normandy was his twenty-sixth parachute jump and Graignes was to be the first combat he would experience in three wars. Right behind Lt. Naughton’s group was a group of troopers from B Company/501st PIR of the 101st Airborne Division, led by Capt. Loyal K. Bogart. Bogart had been wounded twice during the jump and when he reported in at Graignes, he insisted that he was still capable of helping and asked for something to do. Major Johnston responded by placing him in charge of the central switchboard at the command post and the remaining B Company/501st men were given a sector on the line. That night, more men entered the village, and by the end of the following day (D+1), the group had grown in size to 182 (12 officers and 170 enlisted).

On the morning of 6 June, M. Alphonse Voydie awoke to find American paratroopers in the field behind his house. When he was informed that more paratroopers had assembled in Graignes at the church, he quickly rushed to the scene. As the village’s mayor, he felt that it was his responsibility to establish contact with the Americans. By the time that Voydie arrived to the church on D-Day, Maj. Johnston had already begun the process of preparing defenses around the village. Johnston and Voydie met and discussed the situation with Sergeant Benton J. Broussard, a francophone Cajun from Acadia Parish, Louisiana, serving as the translator. (Broussard is often mistakenly referred to as "French-Canadian".