On 10 June 1944 (D+4), the three battalions of the regiment landed on Gold Beach in Normandy. Four days later the regiment (as part of Combat Command A of the 2nd Armored Division) fought through elements of the German 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger Division and elements of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division southwest of Carentan, France at the Battle of Bloody Gulch. Later progress was also initially difficult in combat against elements of the newly arrived 116th Panzer Division and surviving elements of the Panzer Lehr Division. In a difficult battle in the streets of the village of Percy and on surrounding high ground on 30 July, against some of the eight Panthers Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein had found and rallied from workshops at neighboring Villebaudon on 28 July, the 3/66th was to lose 13 tanks and was forced to pull out of the city losing another five tanks outside Centry to heavy Nebelwerfer and other mortar fire. On 31 July 3/66th was down to only 24 operational tanks. The regiment fought across France to the German border with the rest of the division and the U.S. Third Army, but was diverted north to counter the German advance during the Battle of the Bulge, assisting in the destruction of the 2nd Panzer Division and capturing Houffalize, Belgium.