22nd Infantry Regiment After-Action Report on Combat Operations in Normandy Following D-Day (1944)

Date: July 21, 1944

Created By: C.T. Lanham

Original or Replica: Original

Era: The General, D-Day and the Normandy Invasion

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: U.S. Army Unit Records, Box 791, HQ 22nd Infantry Regiment After Action Report June 1944; NAID #12004463

This July 21, 1944 after-action report from the 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, documents the regiment’s combat operations in Normandy from its landing on Utah Beach on June 6 through June 28, 1944. The report begins with the regiment’s D-Day landings and describes its advance inland, where its battalions encountered German strongpoints around Crisbecq and Azeville. Over the following days, the regiment fought through fortified positions and German counterattacks while advancing northward through the Cotentin Peninsula.

The report then follows the regiment’s continued advance through towns and defensive positions including Ozeville, Quinéville, Montebourg, and Le Theil. It describes periods of heavy German resistance, enemy infiltration behind American lines, artillery fire, and the regiment’s efforts to secure high ground and reorganize for additional attacks. Later in June, the 22nd Infantry turned eastward as American forces worked to eliminate remaining German resistance in the Cotentin Peninsula. The report concludes with the capture of the airfield north of Quinéville and negotiations that resulted in the surrender of 990 German officers and soldiers on June 28. The document provides a detailed unit-level account of the difficult fighting that followed the initial D-Day landings and the expansion of the Allied foothold in Normandy.