After the landings, Fuller's unit headed West towards Cherbourg, and it is written in his unit's history that "Sgt. Hughes' section of mortarmen became riflemen, when after the rifle companies moved back for a bombing mission, the Germans moved in and threatened our positions." Also in the Normandy Campaign, the following description: "Typical of the brutal fighting was the action that took place near Raffoville France. For days the advance had been measured in yards as the crack German 6th Parachute Regiment, invaders of Crete, defenders of Africa, contested the 8th's advance. A desperate enemy counter attack was stopped by the fortitude of the 3rd Battalion. Weapons of every type were used during this attack. Ammunition was delivered by jeep over fire-swept fields to mortar positions. The counter attack was repulsed chiefly by some of the most accurate mortar fire laid down by our 81mm mortar platoons. The mortars fired over 900 rounds during this German counter attack. Of the 600 German Paratroopers, 400 were killed or wounded. In one meadow, 100 lay dead.