German counterattack on the Merderet River, 14.00h image - Tank Lovers Group

Around 13.00hrs Grenadier Regiment.1057 of the 91st Luftlande Division began a counterattack towards the La Fière causeway through Cauquigny. A company of Hotchkiss H-39 tanks of PzAbt.100 spearheaded the attack, but two were disabled in the first attack, which was beaten off. The surviving pair of Hotchkiss tanks again took up the lead, accompanied by infantry. Company A, 1/505th PIR had set up a defensive position on the east side of the La Fière bridge and earlier in the morning the paratroopers had placed a string of anti-tank mines in plain sight on top of the road as a deterrent to the Panzers. The Hotchkiss tanks sped ahead of the accompanying infantry, and approached to within 40 feet of the mines. The paratroopers had two bazooka teams in ambush position and they immediately hit the first tank. The second tank had no room to maneuver on either side of the causeway, and backed away. An infantry attack by GR.1057 followed, which was stopped by small arms fire and the support of some 60mm mortars. Attacks continued through the day, with the paratrooper positions pounded by German artillery. During a truce late in the day to recover the wounded, a paratrooper surveyed the German positions on the causeway and estimated they had suffered about 200 casualties in their brave but futile counterattacks. The paratroopers had also taken heavy losses, and few of the men holding the east side of the bridge survived D-Day. Around 02.00hrs on 7 June, the second Hotchkiss returned and attempted to push the derelict tank off the road, but was attacked in the dark by Sgt William Owens with Gammon grenades, and retreated again. This was the last attempt by Grenadier Regiment.1057 to cross the Merderet, but they established blocking positions on the causeway that prevented the paratroopers from crossing as well. The Hotchkiss H-39 tank, dubbed “PzKpfw 38H 735(f)” in Wehrmacht service, was a French cavalry tank captured in the wake of the 1940 campaign.