then, we fought our way up to cherbourg.ght our way out of it. >> everywhere inside france, we were fighting, too. i went into the north myself. we had telephone and telegraph lines. it was a little easier in the mountains. factories and bridges would disappear. but the price we paid for it was frightful. the germans floated 1200, and the place was completely burned. they were accused to have ambushed german troops. every house was destroyed. women, children burned in flames. the price we paid was very grave, but our job was done. narrator: it is the capital of normandy. and this is where the british set up the stonewall. this was the tightening of a drill, inch, by inch, forward. 10 of 12 divisions of armor -- paratroops, the young, against the veterans. we wanted him to fight here and hold the battleground because thee future path depended on it. everything in the ground was priceless. it was the pivot of the war. >> caen was the first decent sized town we had taken. jerry was as strong as ever. one of the men said, are we

it got tough when we pulled up on the outskirt of cherbourg.lery carried the ball for three days we socked it to them. sometimes we were pouring in at pointblank range over open sites. finally, the german commander tossed in the sponge. that's after telling his men to fight until they're dead. we took cherbourg june 25th, everything was rosy except the harbor. the jerry really smeared that harbor. right away our guys went to work cleaning it up, and the way they tore into it you could see it would be working for us fine. then, well we fought our way up to the peninsula, now we'd have to fight our way out of it. >> and everywhere inside france we men of the mackey were fighting too. i was in the north myself. we got telephone telegraph lines, and eventually when the allies landed we fought in the open in the mountains our friends held german convoys. it was easier in the mountains. reinforcements were delayed for many days. factories and bridges would frequently disappear. but the price we paid for it was frightful. in the village of oraduor the