This is one of the most heavily attacked bridges in Normandy, although that’s partially due to the difficulty in actually destroying it.
The stone bridge over the La Sienne river at La Roque, where it forks with the La Soulle river to the west of Countances, was part of a vital escape route for German forces retreating from Normandy to Brittany in July 1944.
The bombing raids on this vital link began long before the D-Day landing though - in April 1944, with more than 20 raids targeting the bridge. Its valley location made it a difficult target, and it wasn’t until July 29 when three arches of the 11 arch structure were finally destroyed.
Unfortunately, this was too little too late, and the remaining structure was still intact enough for German forces to cross over the river and make their escape to the south and west.
This action led to the bridge being described as the ‘hole in the net’.
They were pursued by Brigadier General James Taylor’s Combat Command ‘A’ and Major General Robert W Grow’s 6th Armoured Division who – following fierce fighting – were able to establish a bridgehead near to the river.
Securing the area, they were able to call in engineers who constructed a British-made Bailey Bridge near to the existing stone bridge to enable the armour to cross and continue to the south west in support of Operation Cobra and the liberation of Normandy.
Today the bridge stands as a reminder and tribute to US forces who liberated this part of France.
Nearby, there’s a plaque which says:

“The Hole in the Net”
Continuing Operation Cobra, the American army converged on Coutances from Periers and Saint-Lô: the strategy was to cut off the Cotentin Peninsula at the Sienne River estuary to entrap the remaining German troops in the mid-west portion of the peninsula.
This is why the Allied air forces put such tremendous fire power into destroying the La Roque Bridge which was the enemy's last possible route toward Granville, Avranches, and Brittany.
Over twenty bombing raids were required to destroy three arches of La Roque Bridge; several kinds of planes were used: dive bombers and medium-sized bombers "Marauders".
A Canadian pilot lost his life trying to dive-bomb the structure which is located in an enclosed valley.
Nonetheless, the strategic objective was not achieved because the portion of the bridge over the "Soulles" River remained intact: German troops were able to cross the river and escape by the Orval road toward Hyenville and Granville.

We’re told that there have been plans tabled to reopen the bridge to walkers and cyclists, but this seems unlikely and pointless, given there’s a main road bridge with a footpath over the river just a few yards away. We hope this isn’t the case.