D-Day: An Avoyelles captain's first combat

He was a 26-year-old captain about to see his first combat.
One of his division’s regiments had hit the beach at Normandy two hours before. He didn’t really know what to expect when his regiment was to join them. The third regiment would join the battle in a few hours.
Lucien Laborde, 96, still recounts the story he has told so many times over the past 70 years. Perhaps it is the many retellings that keep his memory of that day so clear. Or perhaps it is the fact that such an event can never be forgotten. Laborde was in the “second wave” of American soldiers to land at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944 -- a month, day and year known in history as D-Day.
“I was in the 29th Infantry Division,” Laborde started his account. “I was landing in the second wave at 9:30 in the morning. We were diverted from where we were supposed to land, so we landed near the area of the 1st Division -- where the cemetery is now.”
In a matter-of-fact manner, Laborde stated that his regiment “crossed the beach and worked our way up the cliff to a wheat field at the top.” It wasn’t quite that simple. His unit, the 115th Regiment, met resistance from the Germans but suffered less than a dozen casualties on the beach. They owed that debt to their sister unit, the 116th, who sustained severe casualties in the first wave landing.
“The 115th Regiment had to take over the mission of the 116th,” Laborde said. “Their losses were too high and their accomplishments too little for them to continue. Much of our planned mission was changed.” Laborde said his unit was expecting the 175th Regiment of the division to join them after noon, but “Eisenhower wanted to see if we were going to be driven back into the Atlantic, so he held the 175th until the next day.”
Laborde said his regiment, along with the remnants of the 116th and the 1st Division -- called “Big Red One” due to their company insignia -- made some headway and established a beachhead at Omaha Beach for reinforcements to land. It was a high-priced piece of real estate.
The 1st Division, the two 29th Div. regiments and a detachment of Rangers combined for over 5,000 of the Allies estimated 12,000 dead and wounded, Laborde said. The Germans threw everything they had at the Allies -- which included an unpleasant surprise for the 115th.
“There was a German division held in reserve about 25 miles from Omaha Beach,” Laborde said. The Army knew it was there, but it was not expected to be an immediate concern. However, the division had gone on training maneuvers and was actually right on top of the invading force when they got off the beach. “That was unexpected,” Laborde said. “They weren’t supposed to be there.”
An anticipated two-week stroll through the French countryside to St. Lo turned into a six-week slugfest in which the outcome was never completely certain until it was over. “The German resistance was much greater than anticipated,” Laborde said. “They didn’t break and run until the fall of St. Lo. Until then, they were constantly reinforced.
After St. Lo fell, the Germans scattered until they organized a counter-attack. “That’s when Patton came in with armored forces. We drove through France to the Siegfried Line in Germany.”
Laborde still has some harsh words for British commanding general Bernard Montgomery, who he said let his jealousy of Eisenhower cause him to move too slowly to cut off the retreating Germans. “We would have surrounded 20-30,000 Germans if he had closed that gap,” Laborde said. “It would have shortened the war by several months.”
Laborde fought in all of the major campaigns in Europe and stayed with headquarters unit for several months after the German surrender in April 1945. “I came home the day after Christmas 1945,” he said. He has several campaign ribbons from the war, including the Arrowhead for the D-Day landing.
Laborde laughed when he recalled the role trickery played in the invasion’s success. “Rommel had gone back to Germany to celebrate his wife’s birthday because there was supposed to be a storm in the English Channel and he knew we couldn’t land there,” he said. “Hitler had three divisions at the Pas de Calais -- the narrowest part of the Channel between England and France -- because he was convinced that’s where the invasion would come,” Laborde said.
“When we landed in Normandy, he thought it was a fake to set up the main invasion. He held those armored divisions there for three days until he finally realized we were the main invasion.” The Allies had leaked information, including the creation of a phantom Army complete with divisional insignia’s to convince the Nazi High Command that the invasion was being launched at Calais.
Laborde entered the Army as a second lieutenant, was a captain at Normandy and left the Army as a lieutenant colonel. He held the rank of colonel for awhile under a battlefield promotion. He has kept in touch with his comrades from the 129th, and has taken many trips with them, including returning to Europe.
“There’s not many of us any more,” he said. “Most are gone.” He said he would have liked to go to Normandy for the 70th anniversary, but he just isn’t up for the long trip any more.