Divisional History
A History of the 90th Division in World War II
6 June 1944
To
9 May 1945
Chapter 4
France is Full of Frenchmen
As July drew to its victorious close it was evident to the eagerly watching world that a breakthrough of decisive importance had been achieved. Even as the desperate enemy clung to his remaining defenses, the blunt-nosed armor of the Allies roared over the highways of France, cutting, slicing, slashing communications. The condition of the enemy was one of confusion, bewilderment, and near panic. Quick to seize the golden opportunity, the Americans, the British, the French and Poles plunged forward out of the hedgerows and into the plains of France.
On July 30, Major General Raymond S. McLain assumed command of the 90th, and two days later the Division was placed under XV Corps control, passing from the 1st to the 3rd Army, commanded by Lt. General George S. Patton. The mission of the 90th was to proceed from Periers to the vicinity of St. Hilaire de Harcouet and there secure the bridges over the Selune river and protect the nearby dams. Thus began the triumphant march through France. Ahead lay the broad expanse of a country awaiting liberation.
St. Hilaire was hilarious. Only a brief struggle with German rearguards ensued, then the town belonged to the 90th Division. The town and the people too. They stood in the streets and cheered and waved and yelled until their throats were hoarse. They laughed until the tears rolled down their cheeks. Here and there a few tears dropped quietly, tears of thanksgiving and reverence and gratitude for the deliverance of la belle France.
American troops, riding in jeeps, on tanks, in trucks, were pelted with bouquets of flowers, presented ceremoniously with wine and cider. If the wine happened to be sour or the cider watered, it made no difference. The beach at Pont L’Abbe and the Hill and the Island were memories now. Sherman’s famous comment may have been right last week or the week before, but today . . . well, war is what you make it.
It was the same in every town and village. The little girls dressed in their Sunday best, tightly gripping a bouquet of daisies and reciting hesitantly welcome to les Americains, while their proud parents looked on and prompted them when they forgot. And Monsieur le Mayor with his cutaway and stripped pants and his trimmed moustahce waving frantically for quiet so he could make his speech.
And then you moved on to the next town and the same thing happened everywhere you went, only sometimes the welcoming committee was a little put out because the Americans wouldn’t stop long enough to receive the keys to the city formally.
Louvigne du Desert and Landivy fell to the racing 90th. This was blitzkrieg of such power and speed never imagined by the German High Command. On August 5th the XV Corps ordered the Division to take the city of Mayenne, 37 miles away. Task Force Weaver was formed to accomplish the mission, and by noon it had reached the outskirts of the city. By midafternoon, after a brief skirmish, Mayenne had been liberated as had all the intervening towns and villages. Thirty-seven miles in a single day. Unheard of!
Here again there were welcomes and speeches and drinks and kisses and flower s. Here again Frenchmen opened their arms and their hearts. And here the mademoiselles were even better than before, simply because there were more mademoiselles. There were the bearded Frenchmen would insisted on bestowing wet and whiskery kisses on the cheeks of each and every American who came within range. The mademoiselles were shy and coy, but not too shy and not too coy.
But hospitable Mayenne was soon left behind. The following day Le Mans was designated as the new objective. Now two task forces were dispatched to seize the city which lay almost one hundred miles southeast. One task force, under Brigadier General William G. Weaver was to take the northern route; the other, commanded by Colonel William B. Barth, traveled the southern route. The mission of the remainder of the Division was to follow the forward elements, mopping up pockets of resistance.
Resistance in the shape of road blocks was encountered along the route. Here and there pitched battles took place. Prisoners were taken in unprecedented numbers. And on the third day, Le Mans had fallen to American troops. In ten days the Division had advanced 140 miles, taken more than 1,500 prisoners and had suffered less than 300 casualties.
No longer a Division of unknown quality, no longer merely an anonymous unit with a numbered designation, the 90th had emerged from its baptism of battle as a force to be reckoned with, a force which the enemy had learned too well to respect, to avoid and to fear.
On August 10th the 90th Division made its plans to move northward. And so another phase of battle began, a phase which was to end only when the German Command had learned to fear the 90th for additional valid reasons.