Purple Heart Lane

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Historical Event:
Purple Heart Lane is the causeway on which Lt. Colonel Robert G. Cole and his troops of the 101st Airborne were pinned down on. Because Cole and his troops sustained so many casualties on the causeway, it became known as "Purple Heart Lane".

Cole and his unit of 250 men were part of D-Day Operation Chicago. They were called from reserve into action to attack four bridges on the road to Carentan. On June 11, 1944, the fifth day following the D-Day Invasions of Normandy, France, Cole and his entire unit were pinned down on this causeway for over an hour by German machine gun, mortar, and artillery fire. In the morning of D-Day+5, with the Germans resisting his Cole's unit's attempts to take the bridges, Cole ordered heavy artillery on the German strongholds.

The artillery failed to displace the entrenched Germans, so Cole decided his only possible plan was to assault the Germans head-on. Cole ordered his men to fix bayonets and he ordered an artillery bombardment on the Germans, as well as a smoke screen to conceal his men. At 6:15 AM, Cole blew his whistle and led his surviving men across the ground towards the German positions. At first Cole fired his pistol at the Germans, and along the way he picked up a fallen soldier's rifle and bayonet. His attack, while successful, resulted in the deaths of many of his men, only 132 of the initial 250 men in his unit remained after the assault. This assault became known as "Cole's Charge".

Cole was recommended for a Medal of Honor for his actions on June 11, 1944. Cole never was alive to receive the Medal of Honor though, because he was killed by a sniper during Operation Market Garden on September 18, 1944 in Best, Netherlands. His mother received his posthumous Medal of Honor. Lt. Colonel Robert G. Cole was buried at American Battlefields Monuments Cemetery in the Netherlands.

Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30

"Purple Heart Lane" is a level in the game Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 by Gearbox Software . In the level, which is very realistic and depicts accurately what actually happened, the fictional main character of the game, Sergeant Matt Baker , must lead his men down the open causeway, while German machine, mortar, and artillery fire is shot at them. Baker leads his men, following Lt. Colonel Cole's character down the causeway. Most of the men in Baker's squad get killed running down the causeway. Upon reaching the end of the causeway, Baker and the remainder of his squad are sent to kill the Germans in the marsh shooting at the causeway. After killing the Germans, Baker approaches the Belgium Gate at the end of the causeway, where he is knocked unconscious by a bomb from a plane.

In the next level, titled "Cole's Charge," Baker regains consciousness and joins Cole in his assault across an open field at the entrenched German positions. After smoke is dropped on the field Cole blows his whistle and the attack begins. Baker and his squad procede to route out the German positions.