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did not get back, and this, more than casualties, reduced his
strength.

In retrospect, it can be seen that this rather insignificent posi-
tion and Shettle's g small spot of ground at le Port, were the nuclei
for the upbuilding of what was to become the American front. It was
so intended. They had been instructed to take their objectives and
then hold. That was what they did. While the operations seemed
isolated and even eccentric, things were coming together, “according
to plan." The Germans opposite Johnson at this time seemed confused
and uncertain of what the Americans were doing. Johnson got the im-
pression that their shellfire was aimed to drive the Americans away
from the lock rather than to destroy it. Yet there was enough mortar
fire in the general vicinity that he could not supplement the one
footbridge which led across the lock. The men on the other side had
to depend on this one avenue. During the night, however, the German
detachment which had been nearest the bridgehead, pulled away from
the front.

More than anything else, Johnson was concerned about his ammunition
supply. He checked it again in the morning and what he found did
not reassure him. He then looked for a panel asking for re-supply
but found that he had none. Soon after daybreak, he put out an
identification (orange) panel to attract attention. It was only a
few minutes later than an American plane came along the Douve and
bombed in the vicinity of Carentan. It then came low along the
Canal as if on a strafing mission, passed over Hell's Corners,
apparently saw the panel, and went on. About 0630 a resupply
mission was flown by the Air Corps but the nearest chutes dropped
about 1500 yards away in the marshes and were so covered by enemy
fire that there was no chance to get to them. The position grew
hotter as the morning wore along. The 88s in Carentan continued
to bang away at it from the high ground, their fire having mainly
a nuisance value. What bothered more was that German snipers crept
in closer on all sides and their fire was so insistent that it be-
came almost impossible for anyone to move around by walking. There
were perhaps 8-10 casualties during the morning from this irregular
fire. Some time in the early hours of the afternoon, American planes
bombed Shettle's position around le Port (see the 506th account) and
a couple of them came on down the canal as if to strafe Hell's Cor-
ners. The men there had seen the bombings further up the River and
had figured the bombs were falling close to Shettle's men. They got
another panel out in a hurry and the planes pulled away.

At about 1500, Johnson saw a large body of troops in the open ap-
proaching his position from the North. His officers put their
glasses on them but couldn't make out at first whether they were
friend or enemy. Johnson continued to study them. Before he could
make out their uniforms or any identification, he decided that they
must be Germans--- about one Bn. (Note by the HO: The coincidence
of time and of direction suggests most strongly that this was the
same force which Col Sink had seen (see 506th account) move out to
the south from eastward of Angovllle au Plain that afternoon.)