During the allied D-Day landing on June 6, 1944, the 6th Regiment was stationed in the Carentan area of the Cotentin Peninsula, near the American 101st Airborne Division's drop zones. The regiment was heavily engaged in the subsequent battles, including defending Saint-Lô. On June 13 the remainder of the division departed from the Cologne area for Brest in western France. It had not fully recovered its strength from the battles in the east, but the situation could not wait. They began to arrive in Brittany on June 19, but did not complete their concentration before July.