Chapters 24-25 Summary and Analysis

"Struggle for the High Ground" looks inland, at the battles for the villages of Vierville, St.-Laurent, and Colleville. Lt. John Raaen (Chapter 22) is the 22-year-old son of an Army officer and 1943, graduate of West Point and beginning a lifelong military career. On D-Day he learns important lessons: 1) give frightened men something specific to do to settle their nerves; 2) do not trust Intelligence; and 3) do not make assumptions about terrain until you see it yourself. Norman hedgerows are nothing like English jumping barriers. They grow 6-12 feet high above dense roots sunk in mounds. They cannot be passed through. Farmers access them through gaps opposite which the Germans typically locate a camouflaged MG-42 to cut down entering GIs. Eventually, Americans learn to blast through using TNT or tanks, but have no tactics - and no tanks - ready on...