Editing Cherbourg (section)

===Second World War===
{{main|Battle of Cherbourg}}
[[File:Cherbourg1944-Combat avParis.jpg|thumb|right|American soldiers engaged in street fighting, on the ''Avenue de Paris''.]]
During the [[World War II|Second World War]] (1939–1945), the [[German Army (Wehrmacht)|German Army]] occupied the north of France and fortified the coastline against invasion. As a deep-water port, Cherbourg was of strategic importance, very heavily protected against seaborne assault.

German troops arrived in the outskirts of Cherbourg on 17 June 1940, towards the end of the [[Battle of France]]. Two days later, the City Council declared the [[open city|city open]], and ''[[Generalmajor]]'' [[Erwin Rommel]], commander of the [[7th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|7th Panzer Division]], received the surrender of the city from the hands of the maritime prefect, Vice-Admiral {{Interlanguage link|Jules Le Bigot|fr}}, who had earlier destroyed submarines under construction at the arsenal and East Fort.

Four years later, Cherbourg, the only deep-water port in the region, was the primary objective of the [[United States Army|American troops]] who had landed at [[Utah Beach]] during the [[Operation Overlord|Battle of Normandy]]. The [[Battle of Cherbourg]] was required to give the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] a point of logistic support for human resupply and material of the troops. American troops encircled the city on 21 June 1944. At the end of furious street fighting and bitter resistance from the [[Fort du Roule]], ''[[Generalleutnant]]'' [[Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben]], ''[[Konteradmiral]]'' [[Walter Hennecke]] and 37,000 German soldiers surrendered on 26 June to [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] [[J. Lawton Collins|Joseph Lawton Collins]], [[Commanding officer|Commanding General]] (CG) of the [[VII Corps (United States)|U.S. VII Corps]]. After a month of [[demining]] and repairs by American and French engineers, the port, completely razed by the Germans and the bombing, welcomed the first [[Liberty ship]]s and became, until the victory of 1945, the busiest port in the world, with traffic double that of [[New York City|New York]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ville-cherbourg.fr/fr/tourisme_decouverte/histoire_de_la_ville/histoire_de_la_ville/juin_44_liberation_de_che/default.asp|title=Cherbourg, port de la Libération|work=ville-cherbourg.fr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111061227/http://www.ville-cherbourg.fr/fr/tourisme_decouverte/histoire_de_la_ville/histoire_de_la_ville/juin_44_liberation_de_che/default.asp|archive-date=11 November 2007}}</ref> It was also the endpoint of the gasoline which crossed the English Channel via the underwater pipeline [[Operation Pluto|PLUTO]] (Pipe Line Under The Ocean), and the starting point of the [[Red Ball Express]], truck transport circuit to [[Chartres]].

Cherbourg was returned to France by the Americans on 14 October 1945. It was cited in the Order of the Army on 2 June 1948 and received the [[Croix de guerre 1939–1945 (France)|Croix de guerre with Palm]].