Illustrations from the personal collection of Captain R. L. Shiner, US Dental Corps, his permission required for copying, contact us by clicking here.

I. FRANCE: THE 203rd GENERAL HOSPITAL IN THE NORMANDY CAMPAIGN

7/22/1944:
The 203rd was transported across the English Channel to France aboard a former excursion vessel, the HMS Duke of Welliington. When they finally reached Normandy, the waters were so rough and heaving, that they couldn't be safely landed until the following day. Queasy from their voyage and the extended time at sea, they were brought to shore at Utah Beach in small groups, carried in at different times and places, by Landing Craft of various categories: LCI's, LCT's, LST's, and Amphibious Trucks. In full combat gear, and loaded down with packs and equipment, they made their way on foot across the sandy shore to the roads and paths of the French countryside, finally assembling at a field called Transit Area "B", located several miles from where they had landed. There, they reunited with each other, and with their own motor pool vehicles, which had arrived several days before them in an advance party, along with their hospital tents and medical supplies. The unit's trucks, ambulances and jeeps shuttled members of the 203rd to an area already occupied by a detachment of the 8th Field Hospital, located at a crossroad near Edmondsville and Mountebourg, Manche, on the road connecting the latter village to St. Mere Eglise (Map Coordinates WO 3303, Lambert, 1:250,000). There the already exhausted 203rd set up their own tents, established a mess, and let "Headquarters"--then located at Catz near Carentan--know they had arrived. The Battle of Normandy was ongoing at the time, pillboxes and bunkers, mined fields, destroyed equipment, and ruined buildings had been sighted all along the way they had travelled so far, and the noise of fighting and artillery was in the air, sometimes far-off, but more often nearby. Once arrived at the site they would share with the 8th Field Hospital, the 203rd's enlisted men were housed on the ground in their own pup tents, while officers' and nurses' quarters were the unit's large ward tents equipped with cots. Despite the ongoing shelling, other night noises of fighting, and air raid alarms, many of the 203rd slept deeply, after the long day's exertions.

Photo set:
Where the 203rd landed on Utah Beach, July 22, 1944, in rough weather, then trudged on foot past scenes of war and destruction, to eventually rendez-vous in area "B" with their own motor pool vehicles

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7/23/1944:
The 203rd, under the authority of the First Army Advance Section Communications Zone (ASCZ) in Carentan, Normandy, now received specific local orders and assignments. Many nurses and medical officers were sent out in detached parties, led by temporarily appointed "Detached Commanding Officers (Det. CO's)". These detached groups set up independent field hospitals, to provide immediate battleside medical and surgical aid to the wounded, or supplemented the staffs of other medical units already operating in the area. Most enlisted men remained behind with the 8th Field Hospital, to help construct their hospital plant, and assist their medical staff. As always, some members of the 203rd managed to fit in time for sightseeing in addition to their heavy workload, and spent some time picture-taking and souvenir-gathering in fields and hedgerows. Nearby bombings and anti-aircraft gunning continued, and those in pup tents literally "dug in" at night, to seek sleep in more secure fashion, as air raid alarms and noises of close combat filled the skies.

Photo set:
Physicians, surgeons and nurses are sent off from the 203rd's home base, in detached parties to field and evacuation hospitals throughout Normandy, to help treat the wounded. Roughing it in the field:

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7/25/1944:
The skies over the 203rd were filled with roaring warplanes, as battle in the vicinity of St. Lo continued nearby, and smoke from US and enemy artillery filled the air with dust and smoke.

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7/28/1944 through late August:
The 203rd was on the move again, this time by rail, with Prisoners of War and army engineers rebuilding war-destroyed tracks along the way. Their train brought them northwestward to trucks, which carried them through more destruction in the heavily bombed port of Cherbourg, before arriving at their destination nearby, in an area of fields separated by hedgerows, located further north on the Cotentin peninsula. There, they were joined by the 108th General Hospital. Both medical units, along with the 346th Engineers, were ordered to construct a new tent hospital plant. The construction location was close to Tourlaville, Manche, not far from Cherbourg and the coast, off a highway joining Tourlaville with St. Pierre Eglise (Map coordinates 205230, 1:50,000, Sheet 6E/1, France).

Photo Set:
The 203rd traveled towards Cherbourg in boxcars, with many stops and starts due to railbed damage. Crews of prisoners traveled with them, helping to repair the tracks, and load supplies:

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Again, many nurses and medical officers were sent out on detached service, to provide medical support to battallion and field stations closer to fighting fronts. Most medical technicians remained at the hospital construction site near Cherbourg, assisting the corps of engineers with building foundations and sanitary lines for the new tent hospital, which began to take definite shape when the 203rd's medical supplies and large ward tents arrived in early August.

Photo Set:
Members of the 203rd and 108th General Hospitals, along with men of the 346th Engineers, work on constructing a large tent hospital near Cherbourg:

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As usual, members of the 203rd found time for sightseeing, some at nearby Digosville, where a chateau which had served as a German headquarters was a favorite GI "tourist" destination, especially the left-behind wine cellar. There was even time for an occasional swim in the cold waters of Normandy, among concrete bunkers and pillboxes, along with the "chevaux de frises" and other obstacles placed on Norman sands by German soldiers, to impede invading troops. And members of the 203rd also took the time to view the destruction of war, at the heavily bombed nearby port of Cherbourg.

Photo Set:

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Viewing village destruction, ruined bunkers and abandoned pillboxes on the Normandy coast:

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Viewing village destruction, ruined bunkers and abandoned pillboxes on the Normandy coast:

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Photo Set:
Scenes of war in the city of Cherbourg:

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Photo Set:
Other Cherbourg sights, DUKW's, land and sea vehicle:

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The 203rd would stay based in and around their Cherbourg location throughout most of August, by which time the hospital plant being built there, was nearing completion. At the end of August, medical officers of the 203rd on detached service--several surgical and shock teams serving with field and evacuation hospitals all over Normandy--were called back to the unit's home base, because they would all soon be on the move again, heading for a new assignment.

8/28/1944:
The 203rd boarded a hospital train at Cherbourg, and proceeded by rail to Versailles, passing through St. Lo, Rennes, LeMans, Chartres, and Dreux. The trip, which would normally be made in a day's time, took four days and five nights, because of the many stops required to fix the tracks, so damaged were they, by bombing and shelling. At Versailles, the damage to the railbed was too great to be repaired by the Prisoner of War crews doing the work, and the 203rd was brought the rest of the way to the suburbs of Paris in small groups, by their own motor pool vehicles. There they were unloaded at a large, recently constructed, hospital, located at Garches, Seine et Oise, near St. Cloud, on the outskirts of Paris. By September 2, most of the 203rd had arrived the new 203rd General Hospital, where they would remain until the end of the war.

Photo Set:
The 203rd heads for Paris on a hospital train:

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September , 1944:
Officially, the status of the 203rd was now "relieved from assignment to the Advanced Section, Communication Zone, and assigned to the Seine Section, Communication Zone, per Par 4, Troop Assignment No. 120, Headquarters European T of Opns". They were now stationed at the hospital plant known officially and variously, as the "Garches Hospital", "Hospital Raymond Poincare", or the "Hopital de la Reconnaissance", located on the Boulevard Michel Brezin, Garches, Paris. The name placed on the facade by the Americans was "203rd Gen. Hosp. Garches", and the staff often referred to it as "L'Hospice de la Resistance".

Photo Set:
Arrival in Paris:

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