Catalina Island is a popular tourist destination that receives more than a million visitors each year. But the trajectory of the island and its only incorporated town, Avalon, was dramatically changed 109 years ago by a devastating fire, the subject of a still enduring mystery, and possibly a dark secret.
By September of 1944, the Western Allies had broken out of the Normandy beachehead, and suddenly and quickly moved across northern France . By September 7th, the 90th division was stretched across the northern sector on Patton’s Third Army’s left, advancing slowly northeast. As they did so the German defenders made a risky attack in an effort to spoil the allied advance, cutting through Allied lines in a surprise action at the small town of Mairy-Mannville.