Bocage
Bocage is a Norman word which has found its way into both the French and English languages. It may refer to a small forest, a decoration that includes leaves. Most often it refers to pastures bordered by thick forest or hedges. The trees and hedges around the pastures or fields are planted in earth mounds.[1] Between the planted mounds are sunken lanes.[1] The word bocage forms part of the name for several towns in parts of Lower Normandy.[1] The term Bocage Normandy refers to the area around Saint-Lô and Vire.[1]
During World War II following the Allied Invasion of Normandy, the allies found themselves in 'hedgerow country' (bocage).[2] It was ideal for German troops to hide in and not be seen until it was too late.[2] At times the hedgerows were so thick you could hide tanks and artillery pieces. The Allied breakout of the Bocage into open country took over eight weeks.[3]
Bocage landscape
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Bocage of the Cotentin Peninsula.
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Path through bocage.
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Rural landscape of semi-bocage.
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Cut down bocage showing mounds.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Judy Smith, Holiday Walks in Normandy (Wilmslow: Sigma Leisure, 2001), p. 63
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Leo Daugherty, The Battle of the Hedgerows: Bradley's First Army in Normady, June-July 1944 (St. Paul, MN: MBI Pub. Co., 2001), pp. 71-72
- ↑ William R. Buster, Time on target: the World War II memoir of William R. Buster (Frankfort, KY: Kentucky Historical Society, 1999), p. 83