The Festung Cherbourg was mainly defended by soldiers of 709. Infanterie-Division and fell on 26 June 1944 to the US VII Corps under Brigadier General J. Lawton Collins after a week of heavy fighting after the D-Day landings.

Commander

Generalleutnant Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben

Order of battle

709. Infanterie-Division

US forces with German prisoners after the fall of Cherbourg

(Courtesy of the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives)

US forces in Cherbourg

(Courtesy of the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives)

Sources used

Georg Tessin - Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht 1933-1945
Steven J. Zaloga - D-Day Fortifications in Normandy

Reference material on this unit

- None known at this time-