Carentan
Sign in to saveCarentan () is a small rural town near the north-eastern base of the French Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy in north-western France, with a population of about 6,000. It is a former commune in the Manche department. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Carentan-les-Marais. The town was a strategic early goal of the World War II landings as capturing the town was necessary to link the lodgements at Utah Beach and Omaha Beach which were divided by the Douve river estuary (nearby fields were flooded by the Germans up to the town's outskirts). The town was also needed as an inte
OverviewAI-generated
Carentan is a delegated commune in the Manche department of Normandy, France. It serves as the capital of the canton of Carentan-les-Marais and is located in the arrondissement of Saint-Lô. The commune borders Saint-Côme-du-Mont, Méautis, Saint-Georges-de-Bohon, and Saint-Hilaire-Petitville. Its official postal codes are 50500 and 50480, and it covers an area of 15.66 square kilometers.
The population of Carentan is listed as 8,424, with an elevation of 30 meters above sea level. The town received the Croix de guerre 1939–1945 award. Carentan was twinned with Selby and Waldfischbach-Burgalben. The administrative entity was dissolved on December 31, 2015.
Synthesized by Vinony from 47 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Open Meteo, Openweathermap, OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Vinony graph, Geo. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Weather now
cached 22h ago7-day forecast
via Open-Meteo
Place details
- Locality
- Carentan-les-Marais
- Region
- Normandie
- Country
- France
- Population
- 6,950
- Timezone
- Europe/Paris
via OpenStreetMap · GeoNames
Key facts
- French commune.name
- Carentan
- French commune.type
- Delegated commune
- French commune.image
- Carentan port de plaisance.jpg
- French commune.caption
- Port
- French commune.arrondissement
- Saint-Lô
- French commune.canton
- Carentan
- French commune.INSEE
- 50099
- French commune.postal code
- 50500
- French commune.commune
- Carentan-les-Marais
- French commune.elevation m
- 6
- French commune.elevation min m
- 0
- French commune.elevation max m
- 30
- French commune.area km2
- 15.66
- French commune.population
- 6024
- French commune.population date
- 2022
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- delegated commune
- Official name
- Carentan
- Country
- France
- Located in
- arrondissement of Saint-Lô
- Population
- 5853
- Area
- 15.66
- Elevation
- 9
- Time zone
- UTC+02:00
- Shares border with
- Saint-Hilaire-Petitville
- Official website
- www.ville-carentan.fr
- Image
- Carentan Eglise.jpg
Show 6 more facts
- twinned administrative body
- Selby
- Commons category
- Carentan
- postal code
- 50480
- dissolved, abolished or demolished date
- 2015-12-31
- associated electoral district
- canton of Carentan-les-Marais
- P8168
- Wolfgang Erdmann
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- History
- World War II
- 101st Airborne March
- Heraldry
- Sister cities
- See also
- References
Carentan () is a small rural town near the north-eastern base of the French Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy in north-western France, with a population of about 6,000. It is a former commune in the Manche department. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Carentan-les-Marais. The town was a strategic early goal of the World War II landings as capturing the town was necessary to link the lodgements at Utah Beach and Omaha Beach which were divided by the Douve river estuary (nearby fields were flooded by the Germans up to the town's outskirts). The town was also needed as an intermediate staging position for the capture of the cities of Cherbourg and Octeville, with the critically important port facilities in Cherbourg.
==History== Carentan is close to the site of the medieval Battle of Formigny, fought in 1450 during the Hundred Years' War. The town is also likely the site of the historical references to the ancient Gallic port of Crociatonum (documented by Roman sources), a possession of the Unelli (or Veneli or also Venelli) tribe (Greek: Οὐένελοι) situated on the river Douve slightly inland from the beaches at Normandy. The gently sloping terrain in the nearby river valley was excellent for boat construction. thumb|right|200px|Carentan church
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Carentan” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
Gallery (4)
On the map
3 mapped locations