American paratroopers invaded the battlefield of the Battle of Carentan in France on the Western Front of World War II on June 14, 1944. They passed the dead body of a soldier of an American unit who had been killed by a German sniper.

　　　American paratroopers invade the battlefield of the Battle of Carentan (Carentan), France, on the Western Front of World War II, on June 14, 1944, while keeping a wary eye on the battlefield. German snipers passed the body of an American soldier who had been killed by a German sniper. The bodies of American soldiers were scattered in a field near Carentan. Rows of low trees formed a hedge around the bodies.

　 The Normandy landings on June 6, 1944, marked the beginning of a very long battle that lasted almost two and a half months. Allied forces fought the Germans, who took full advantage of the peculiar terrain. The liberation of Carentan in northeastern Normandy and the securing of the contact points for the Utah Beach and Omaha Beach landings, the intense fighting erupted from June 6 to June 13. The town of Carentan, surrounded by swamps, was the only crossing point, and the Germans were under strict orders to hold their positions. Heavy casualties were incurred by both American and German troops. American and German soldiers fought so closely that they could hear the enemy talking and weapons being held at the ready. Bodies were strewn everywhere and the wounded could be heard calling for help. American troops forced passage over the causeway to Carentan on June 10 and 11. The Germans were forced to withdraw on June 12 due to a shortage of ammunition. The Germans counterattacked on June 13, but withdrew.

　The Carentan hedgerows became one of the very difficult barriers that American paratroopers and infantry troops faced as they invaded the Normandy region toward the French interior. The French hedge, locally called a bocage, was a hedge of trees, shrubs, and bushes that had been growing for hundreds of years on top of an earthen mound about three meters or more in height. The Allied forces were not aware of the defensive hazards of hedgerows. German defenders placed snipers and machine guns in the hedgerows. The natural hedge barriers had a devastating effect, slowing the Allied forces and temporarily preventing them from penetrating inland on the Western Front. About 400 Americans and 800 Germans were killed in the Battle of Carentan.