119A-DS50-RoadToAvranches-Aug1-1944
French horse cart with civilians along the road to Avranches, 1 Aug 1944. On this day (when Third Army became operational during the breakout from the Normandy peninsula, as a result of Operation Cobra), while on this road, the Battalion (minus B Battery) was caught in a traffic jam (between Sartilly and Avranches) with other Third Army units in convoy (6th Armored Div.), when the convoy was strafed by approximately 8 German Focke-Wulf FW-190s. Two 119th soldiers were killed, Tec5 Terrence D. Cosgriff of the Medical Detachment (HQ Btry), and Pfc Joseph Goldberg (C Btry); and 14 enlisted men were wounded. The Battalion claimed 3 enemy aircraft (E/A) shot down by .50 caliber machine-gun fire (Quad 50s). One haughty Luftwaffe pilot was brought in (and lucky to go to POW camp). (After-Action Reports and eyewitness accounts).
119A-DS50-RoadToAvranches-Aug1-1944
French horse cart with civilians along the road to Avranches, 1 Aug 1944. On this day (when Third Army became operational during the breakout from the Normandy peninsula, as a result of Operation Cobra), while on this road, the Battalion (minus B Battery) was caught in a traffic jam (between Sartilly and Avranches) with other Third Army units in convoy (6th Armored Div.), when the convoy was strafed by approximately 8 German Focke-Wulf FW-190s. Two 119th soldiers were killed, Tec5 Terrence D. Cosgriff of the Medical Detachment (HQ Btry), and Pfc Joseph Goldberg (C Btry); and 14 enlisted men were wounded. The Battalion claimed 3 enemy aircraft (E/A) shot down by .50 caliber machine-gun fire (Quad 50s). One haughty Luftwaffe pilot was brought in (and lucky to go to POW camp). (After-Action Reports and eyewitness accounts).