Rugged, reliable and powerful, the P-47 Thunderbolt was not only a monster of a machine (being the tallest and heaviest single seat Allied fighter), it was the most numerous US fighter of World War 2 -- more than 15,700 P-47 units were produced in the United States.

The P-47 was a flying paradox. Designed by Alexander Kartvelli, it was originally created as a light weight inline engine fighter. However, experiences in Europe indicated that fighter airplanes had to be better armoured and better armed, and give better performance at high altitudes.

With this in mind Kartvellie literally went back to the drawing board and completely redesigned the P47 around the most powerful engine available, the Pratt and Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp air cooled radial.

Flight testing showed that the new fighter, in addition to being big and heavy, was also fast and manoeuvrable, reaching speeds in excess of 400 mph and climbing at a rate of 3,000 ft per minute, both astounding feats in an aircraft that had a take-off weight of well over 5 tons.

With its eight machine guns, the P-47 had a considerable firepower that could reduce an enemy fighter to pieces in a matter of seconds.

German Panzer tank overturned by P-47 strike in Normandy

With its high payload capacity, it was just as great a threat to ground forces – tanks, in particular. Exceptional diving capabilities gave the P-47 a serious advantage over fighters flying on a lower level, since they couldn’t escape in a dive, and allowed the Thunderbolt to destroy several ground targets, among which many armoured trains.

Specifications:

Type:
Fighter

Powerplant:
One Pratt & Whitney R-2800-77

Max speed:
467 mph (762 km/hr)

Ceiling:
43,000 ft (13,105 m)

Range:
800 miles (1297 km)

Weight (empty):
11,000 lbs (4990 kg)

Max. T/O:
20,700 lbs (9389 kg)

Wingspan:
42' 7" (12.98 m)

Length:
36' 1" (11.0 m)

Height:
14' 7" (4.44 m)

Armament:
Eight.50 cal machine guns

Situated on the highest hill and sitting atop a rock spur immediately to the south of Cherbourg, Fort du Roule is a classic French style Star Fort (illustration) built by the French in the nineteenth century and improved upon by its German captors. By 1944 they had turned the fort into a formidable strong point and key link in their "Atlantic Wall."

Star forts evolved during the age of black powder and cannons in the 16th century; the traditional medieval circle forts proved to be vulnerable to cannon fire. Star fortifications were first introduced in Italy in the mid 15th century. The walls were made of brick because the bricks don't shatter like stone when struck by a cannon ball. Other examples of these forts still stand today, many are empty or ruins some have villages in them.

Coastal artillery, facing the harbour, was mounted in the lower level under the cliff edge.

The upper ramparts were studded with concrete machine-gun and mortar emplacements and protected by an antitank ditch. Below this upper level were a series of galleries and underground passages linking the four Casemates which housed 105mm guns.

The guns were unusual in as much as they came from S-Boates. Cherbourg was a S-Boate base and the guns were soon transferred from the German Army to the German Navy.

The Casemates were of the type 671 and this is the only site that had this combination of guns and bunkers. The FCP is a non standard design, although one other was built at Garde de Guerin near St Malo.

The tunnels were not completed by D-day, but on the top of Fort du Roule the German’s constructed or planned type L411a, L434, 501 & 607 type bunkers. This upper part of the site is still owned by the French military in 2009.

The lower tunnels were used during the occupation to store torpedo's for the "S" Boates, and was Known as Stp255. (The tunnels were open for an interval when the steel door was stolen by scavengers for scrap. The door has now been replaced and, in the summer of 2008, the vegetation has been cleared away to reveal the Casemates for the first time in many years. There are plans to open the tunnels as part of the Fort du Roule museum in 2009.)

The effort to take Fort du Roule by the 79th Division of the 314th Infantry Regiment began on June 25th, 1944. At 0800 on June 25, P-47s attacked Fort du Roule. One after the other they dived and unloosed their bombs, most of which overshot the mark. The air strike did almost nothing to soften up the fort. Artillery helped a bit more by battering the walls and stunning many of the defenders, but as always, the real job of taking the place fell to the infantry, in this case the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 314th Infantry Regiment.

The knocked-out vehicles on the way down are German. It would take a P-47 strike to stop
the Panzer tank on the right. Artillery could take out the utility/transport on the left. This
slope was being targeted by both German and American artillery as infantry made its day
long ascent. (For a better perspective on the slope of this terrain, look here and here)

The soldiers of these two battalions spent the entire day fighting for Fort du Roule. The seemingly simple act of making it to the fort's walls was difficult. Many of the Americans were pinned down by withering small-arms fire in the draws and antitank ditches that protected the southern approaches. With the help of well-coordinated artillery support, the Americans fought their way to the walls. But here the Germans shot at them from close range. They would fire from portholes or straight down form positions atop the walls. The Americans had to deal with not only this fire but also artillery fire coming from concealed German positions elsewhere in Cherbourg. There was pretty much no time when the GIs were shielded from fire. The terrain was difficult because the ground was steeply sloped and open. The Americans could do little else besides hunt for enemy storng points and eliminate them with demolitions, grenades, bangalore torpedoes, or aimed fire.

Two acts of incredible bravery helped the 314th Infantry prevail at Fort du Roule. Corporal John Kelly's platoon in E Company was pinned down on a slope by accurate machine-gun fire originating from a pillbox in the upper section of the fort. Kelly grabbed a pole charge (roughly ten feet long and containgin fifteen pounds of TNT) and inched his way up the slope, all the while under heavy small-arms fire. Bullets were kicking up dust and chunks of ground all around him. In spite of this, Kelly placed the charge at the base of the strong point, right below the pillbox. The charge exploded, but it was ineffective. The fire continued.

In crawling through the fire this first time, Kelly probably had to muster more courage and resolve than most people ever demonstrate in a lifetime. But he went back, got another pole charge, and did it all over again. This explosion did some damage but did not finish off the enemy. So Kelly went back a third time. Following the explosion, he hurled numerous grenades itot the pillbox. The surviving enemy soldiers had had enough. They surrendered and the advance into Fort du Roule proceeded.

On the other end of the fort, First Lieutenant Carlos Ogden, who had just taken over K Company from his wounded commander, was pinned down by machine-gun and 88 fire. He and his men were lying along the slopes, trying to make small targets. Ogden knew this could not continue for any length of time. If he and his men kept on this way, they would all be hit. They were sitting ducks. "I knew we were going to get killed if we stayed down there," Ogden later said. So, he armed himself to the teeth, with an M-1 rifle, a modified rifle grenaded launcher, plus plenty of ammo. He stood up and, all alone, advanced up the slope, toward the fort's walls. The 88 and machine-gun fire intensified. A machine-gun bullet slammed into his head but somehow did not kill him. Blood was streaming down his face. But Ogden kept going until he was within range of the Germann 88. He pointed the grenade launcher and fired, destroying the 88. Now he turned his attention to the machine-gun nests, firing everything at his disposal at them. The enemy fire slackened. Ogden turned around, went back down the slope, got his company, and led it into the fort.

These two acts of heroism helped the Americans blast their way into the fort. They also helped persuade many of the Germans to surrender.

The 314th spent the rest of the afternoon, and part of the evening, clearing out the upper part of Fort du Roule, section by section, position by position. They had the place under control by 2200 on June 25. They flamed out the rest of the defenders on the lower level the next day. Both Kelly and Ogden won the Medal of Honor.

Other batteries that protected Fortress Cherbourg were Castel Vendonm, La Rue d'Ozouville, Amfreville Les Couplets, Bastion II, Fort des Forches, Fort Central, Harbour Station, Les Mesnil Val, Les Caplains, Fermanville, Sea Eagle, Hamburg, Judee, Cosqueville, Val Bourgin, Varouville, Neville sur Mer, Digosville, Gatteville.

Source:
McManus, John C. (2004). The Americans at Normandy: The Summer of 1944--The American War from the Normandy Beaches to Falaise. Macmillan. pp. 165-166.

Additional Credits:
atlantikwall.org.uk

Invasion stripes were alternating black and white bands painted on the fuselages and wings of World War II Allied aircraft, for the purpose of increased recognition by friendly forces (and thus reduced friendly fire incidents) during D-Day. The bands, consisting of three white and two black bands usually two feet wide, wrapped around the rear of an aircraft fuselage just in front of the empennage (tail) and from front to back around both the upper and lower surfaces of the wings.

Discarded CG4-A in Normandy

Stripes were applied to fighters, photo reconnaissance, troop carriers, twin-engined medium and light bombers, and some special duty aircraft, but were not painted on four-engined heavy bombers of the 8th Air Force or RAF Bomber Command. The order affected all aircraft of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force, the Air Defence of Great Britain, gliders, and support aircraft such as Coastal Command Air-Sea Rescue aircraft whose duties might entail their overflying Allied anti-aircraft defenses. To stop aircraft being compromised when based at forward bases in France, a month after D-Day stripes were ordered removed from the upper surfaces of airplanes, and completely removed by the end of 1944.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, commanding the Allied Expeditionary Air Force, approved the recognition stripe system on May 17, 1944. A small scale test exercise was flown over the OVERLORD invasion fleet on June 1, to familiarize the ships' crews with the markings, but for security reasons, orders to paint the stripes were not issued to the troop carrier units until June 3 and to the fighter and bomber units until June 4.

The stripes were five alternating black and white stripes. On single-engined aircraft each stripe was to be 18 inches (460 mm) wide, placed 6 inches (150 mm) inboard of the roundels on the wings and 18 inches (460 mm) forward of the leading edge of the tailplane on the fuselage. National markings and serial number were not to be obliterated. On twin-engined aircraft the stripes were 24 inches (610 mm) wide, placed 24 inches (610 mm) outboard of the engine nacelles on the wings, and 18 inches (460 mm) forward of the leading edge of the tailplane around the fuselage. In most cases the stripes were painted on by the ground crews at only a few hours notice.

Source: USAAF Chronology