D-Day+56

By August 1st, 56 days on from D-Day, American GI's were in Avranches, the city from which they could spring into Brittany. Combat Command B of General Wood's 4th Armored Division had swept into Avranches on the afternoon of July 31st.

Bradley well might have felt pleased with himself. His troops had traveled farther in seven days than they had in the preceding seven weeks. The Germans were routed, at least for the time being, and the memories of GI's blown to bits during the short bombing were now overshadowed by the glory of his achievements.

After the initial debacle of the bombing, and the mopping up of pockets of remaining German resistance, 21 American Divisions were finally on the move.

narrow roads in the area

traffic jam

By this point, traffic jams had become as big an obstacle as the Germans. 'The Breakout' got underway despite these obstacles, a climate of "now we are getting somewhere!" started to prevail amongst the troops.

Clarence R. Huebner

The U.S Ist Infantry Division, under the command of General Clarence R. Huebner, had been given the job of taking the strategically important town of Marigny before wrestling the main highway to Coutances. The further American soldiers moved west from the bombing line, the more they witnessed just how effective the Cobra bombing had been.

Adrenalin pumped amongst the American armored divisions. They could see a way forward at last and they exploited every available opportunity to race ahead.

Landscape change from hedgerow country to open, rolling hills.

Fritz Bayerlein

The 82nd Recon, part of 2nd Armored Division, charged through the village of Dangy, while the regimental HQ of  Fritz Bayerlein, commander of the decimated Panzer Lehr Division, was still operating there. Bayerlein's division had fared the worst during the caIn the chaos and carnage, neither side noticed the other. 

Village of Dangy, modern day

Recon units rushed through villages considered by the Germans to be well within their safe zones. German soldiers, often arm in arm with French girls, ducked into doorways as these crazy convoys raced past without firing a shot.

Coutances, modern day

Coutances finally fell to the Americans on July 28th, with a dramatic thrust by the 4th Armored Division. Facing the onslaught were mixed elements of infantry, armor and SS. They were thrown into an absolute disorganized retreat. The town had been systematically bombed during the previous weeks and the final Liberation put the finishing touches to the destruction of virtually every ancient building.

American armored divisions, buoyed by the success of the initial phases, probed every gap, and in many cases, finding openings in the German positions, they raced on ahead. 

dead Germans in a truck

 Although in disarray, the Germans continued to be deadly, determined fighters. Small but stubborn pockets of resistance accounted for losses of many American lives.  Like rats caught in a trap, they often fought to the death, which in most cases came to them in a most violent manner.

So complete was the Allied control of the skies, and so devastating the effect of the fighter bomber strikes, that any German armored movement within the battle zone was detected immediately and swiftly dealt with. 

Private First Class Anthony Blazus, of the 41st Armored Infantry of the 2nd Armored Division, had been made a prisoner of an SS armored column near Roncey. He describes an attack on this group by P47's. 

"Everyone took cover. They lost interest in guarding me. The P47's swooped in and blew the whole outfit to hell. I stood up after the attack, sure that I was the only survivor, but to my amazement 80 Germans stood up, approached me begging for me to take them prisoner. I obliged and marched them up the road, back to our lines." (from The American's at Normandy, by John C. McManus)

Roncey Square, modern day

German half tracks blown off road

  
The Roncey pocket became a pocket of death for the 2nd SS division, 'Das Reich'. The town square filled up with armor, supply vehicles and mechanized infantry, trying to escape the unstoppable American thrusts.  




Fighter bombers had swooped and dived on this throng, setting the whole place ablaze. Ammunition trucks exploded, tanks were completely upended and the screams of the                                                                                           burning Germans filled the air.

carnage in Roncey

carnage in front of Roncey church

One cunning  German officer made good his escape from Roncey with a bunch of tanks and comrades. Fritz Langanke, a panther commander in the Das Reich, in an interview with WWII magazine said,

"I set up a march formation. First my tank with grenadiers on the left side and about 50 to 60 paratroopers on the right side as a safeguard against close combat fighters with bazookas. Then the two assault guns, the wheeled vehicles of our task force, various stragglers, self-propelled infantry guns and mobile flak followed. The rear was brought up by the Panzer IV and my second Panther. The frequency of our radio communication was set, and at 2200 hours we started. Of course, no scouts had moved at all before this."

For his part in ensuring that hundreds of soldiers and their equipment managed to escape from the Roncey Pocket, Fritz Langanke was recommended for the Knight's Cross on August 7, 1944. 

Marigny cemetary

Most of the German dead from Cobra and it's immediate aftermath are buried in the cemetery at Marigny. There are some 9100 graves.  One of the most illustrious residents of this quiet Norman resting place is SS Lieutenant Colonel Christian Tychsen. 

Much contoversy surrounds the death of this highly decorated German panzer ace. Author and historian, Mark Bando discusses Tychsen's ambush and subsequent death, at the hands of the 2nd Armored Division, in his excellent book, 'The Breakout at Normandy'

The fighter bombers did their utmost to ensure that all escape points were barred. Frenchman Joel Lebarbachon, then only a thirteen year old boy, describes watching a group of aircraft carefully drop bombs at each road intersection of a crossroads on the highway from Coutances to Gavray.

"I sat in a field by the main highway. It was just about dusk . There had been a frantic flow of Germans passing by all day. I had watched the columns of trucks and tanks pouring past, then all of a sudden, out of the sky came 4 silver aircraft. They each dropped a bomb in just the right places to stop the traffic. Then came more aircraft. They fired on the vehicles that had screeched to a halt. Everything was burning and the Germans ran for their lives"

Pont de la Roque monument

At Pont de la Roque south of Coutances, 20 attempts were made to bomb the ancient bridge and stop the German exodus toward the coastal town of Granville. One pilot, a Canadian even lost his life while trying to dive bomb, but when the 6th Armored Division arrived on July 29th, Germans who had managed to get across the damaged structure, opened fire on them. 

Bridge then and now

Pete Queseda

One of the most important technological advances during the breakout was the co-ordination of air cover. The system developed by Air Force General Pete Queseda involved VHF radio sets installed in tanks with which tankers could talk to fighter bomber pilots, calling in air strikes at will.

Bradley had no choice now but to task his nemesis, George Patton, to exploit the breakout with his Third Army. He did insist, allegedly on the orders of Eisenhower, that the Third Army under Patton should maintain a low profile and that there should be no triumphant press releases or briefings as this battle group swept forward.

As in the rest of Normandy, visitors can follow both the signs and markers to see the sites of this amazing German rout.

D-Day +49

The 24th and 25th of July, 1944 witnessed one of the most reckless Allied acts of WWII, but one which certainly contributed to the ultimate demise of the German 7th army in France.

Operation Cobra, was a plan hatched in desperation and frustration. The architect, Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, wanted a dramatic end to the stalemate in the hedgerows, where gains were often measured in lives lost for yards taken. His plan required unbalancing his opponents, while punching a hole in their stout defenses, through which his Divisions could pour, begin the dash to Brittany and complete the ultimate encirclement of their forces.

A strip of land some 7000 yards long was chosen for the action. This zone bordered the main highway between Perriers, still in German hands, and the newly liberated town of St Lo.

Section from German view

Section from American view

The attack was to be proceeded by an aerial bombardment and a ferocious artillery barrage. The aerial bombardment required a preliminary attack by fighter bombers, which had better visibility, to hit a belt of German defenses 250 yards deep, while medium and heavy bombers flying at altitude would carpet bomb to a depth of 2,500 yards. The demarcation line was to be the highway.

North of the highway the American Divisions were amassed and South was the target area. For fear of alerting the Germans, civilians were not warned. Civilian deaths and the destruction of their homes was considered inescapable collateral damage by Bradley. After the bombardment the 9th and 30th Divisions would jump off, punch through the dazed Germans and hold the flanks while the US 1st Infantry Division, the 2nd Armored Division,and 4th Infantry Division would drive deep into the Germans and collapse their resistance. In overall command on the ground was General 'Lightening Joe' Collins, who time and time again had proven his worth. He was just the right man to exploit this bold maneuver.

Map of advance, taken from monument by start of bombardment

From the beginning there had been friction between Bradley and 8th Air Force General Carl Spaatz, who derided the use of air support for ground attacks. He felt that using his bombers to plow up ground in front of an infantry advance and bomb a few half baked German Divisions was a waste of his precious resources. He was made to tow the line and after delays due to bad weather the bombardment was scheduled for July 24th.

Unbeknown to Army command, the air force had decided to bomb perpendicular to the main highway and not parallel, as had been agreed. At 15 minutes prior to the scheduled attack, the 30th Infantry Division fired red smoke shells into the area south of the highway to further define the bombing line, but a slight breeze began to blow the smoke back over the road and on to the American positions.

View from the air, minus the smoke

Normally troops would be at least 4000 yards behind such a bombardment, but Bradley did not want to give the enemy time to gather his wits. He insisted that troops be prepared to jump off from a line only 1,200 yards away from the bombs raining down. The results were disastrous.

Soldiers climbed out of their foxholes to watch the aerial armada overhead, only to be horrified as they watched the aircraft disgorge their deadly cargoes on top of them. Although all the Divisions suffered, it was the 30th right in the center of the advance who received the full effect of this calamitous miscalculation. Hundreds of men were killed, wounded or listed as missing. Morale was decimated, soldiers wandered around as if punch drunk. Many were unable to speak.

"They just looked like ghosts," one officer reported.

Eisenhower who had arrived in France to watch the results of this spectacular assault, returned to England vowing he would never allow such a thing to happen again. Bradley's credibility was on the line.

General McNair

A second run was planned for July 25th, even though the dazed troops had barely had time to recover, get to grips with the loss of colleagues and friends, and re-supply. Second in command, General Lesley J. McNair, who had protested strongly to his boss Bradley, came up to see for himself. He took up a position in a foxhole close to the front line as the flights of bombers made for the target area. As was the day before, the 30th fired their red smoke and yet again the breeze forced it back over the American positions. Calamity was about to strike a second time.

Bradley's aide Major Hansen, who had also witnessed the first days debacle, said:

"the ground grunted and heaved as the first cascade of bombs came down and angry black spirals of dirt bolied out of the ground."

General McNair took a direct hit, tossing his body sixty feet into the air. His remains were unrecognizable, only his shoulder boards and stars gave any clue as to his identity. Men were blown to bits, vehicles were burning and some soldiers threw down their equipment and tried to stumble away from this awful death.

Shrapnel found in the area July 24, 2011

Remains of the church today

The lush Normandy countryside had been turned into a cratered wasteland as bombs exploded spewing out deadly, molten shrapnel. Even today, 69 years later, the craters are still visible and rusted lumps of metal still litter the area.

All front line divisions took casualties, but as the day before, it was the 30th who came off worst. In the village of Le Mesnil Durand, the regimental combat post was bombed causing 40 casualties. Even the tiny village church took a direct hit.

View from a bomb crater behind memorial chapel that stands in the church ruins

How does a commanding officer rally his men after such experiences? To get the trembling survivors out of their slit trenches and foxholes, have them pass the mangled remains of friends and push them into battle, is a real tribute to these great leaders. General Leland Hobbs of the 30th Division and General Raymond Barton of the 4th Division, two tough and experienced men, could not allow the Germans to recover, nor could they allow the apocalyptic actions of the Air Force to destroy the fighting spirit of their surviving troops. With the aid of their loyal and determined staff officers, they rallied the dazed GI's and urged them forward into what was now a lunar landscape.

Only a small percentage of the ordnance designated for 'Operation Cobra' had fallen on the Americans, the remainder had found important targets, but further behind the German lines. The front line Germans were still able to put up a fight until they were flanked and annihilated. The 'jump off' had not gone according to plan. In some places the Germans had crept back into 'no man's land' as the Americans pulled back to the safe distance line, and scattered mines and anti personnel devices. Like everything else in the Normandy campaign, territorial gains were made at a great price.

The Panzer Lehr Division had been decimated and although some stubborn pockets of Germans remained, it was not long before the enemy was in headlong retreat. The entire village of Le Chapelle en Juger, at the center of the aerial bombardment, was virtually wiped off the map.

This costly action would signal the start of a complete rout of German forces: although there were many tough battles still to be fought.

D-Day +42

Saint-Lo is the capital of the Manche region of Normandy and a vital traffic hub. In 1944, it had been a key strategic objective for American forces. Sitting at the center of a major road and rail network which connects Normandy and Brittany, it was to form a pivotal role in the American attempt to swing into Brittany and begin the encirclement of the enemy.

The Germans also had an important command and control centre in St.-Lo. The Germans had been prepared for The Americans. As early as July1st, German High Command had dictated that a fight to the death policy would be adopted, ground was to be yielded only when overrun and harassing counterattacks were to be effectively utilized against the advancing Americans. Every field, lane, and approach to St.-Lo had been prepared by the Germans.

Territorial gains in the weeks leading up to the taking of St.-Lo, could often be measured in terms of yards taken, for men killed.

Germans dug in, American casualty in foreground

The terrain even benefited the Germans. They were able to dig in, camouflage and lay in wait. They only had to knock out the lead tank in a column to bring an armored advance to a complete halt in the narrow country lanes, then their well sighted artillery could go about the job of picking of the remaining tanks at will. Every time a GI raised his head above a hedgerow, he was likely to get it blown off.

The advance on St. Lo had been a miserable affair for the American soldiers, but on July 18th 1944, the 29th Division finally entered what was left of the ancient market town.

The taking of the town has always been credited to the 29th as it was they who had fought their way in, but stout and costly support had been provided by the 30th Division. Without the soldiers of ‘Old Hickory’, engaging the fanatical groups of German paratroopers and SS grenadiers, tightly holding on, the 29th Division casualties, already significant, would have been catastrophic.

St.-Lo had played a pivotal role in Normandy battles through the ages, and has a history dating back to the 8th century. From the Vikings to the Germans, it had been taken and occupied many times, but no war had ever come close to punishing the inhabitants and obliterating their homes like this one.

Thousands of civilians had perished in Allied bombing and artillery strikes and barely a building was left standing, when Lt. Edward G. Jones, Jr of the 29th Recon troop entered the town. The people of St. Lo had paid a heavy price for their freedom.

Saint-Lo, modern day, from http://christopheferey.over-blog.net

Since 1999 St Lo has been twinned with Roanoke, Virginia, USA.

D-Day +35

The Battle for Mont Castre and Hill 122 mentioned in the previous post had been won, but at a high price. Four thousand GI's lay dead and many more were severely wounded. Armored support had aided the capture of this strategic area, but the battleground was strewn with the wreckage of Sherman tanks.

La Haye du Puits National Archives

The capture of these heights enabled the 82nd Airborne to move in with the 79th Infantry Division and take the important town of La Haye du Puits. This would be the 82nd's last engagement in Normandy. They were exhausted and their ranks severely depleted, but they had proved themselves effective shock troops, an inspiration to their infantry counterparts and fierce adversaries to the stubborn Germans.

The 83rd Infantry Division together with the 4th Infantry Division had finally taken Sainteny and now continued their inch by inch battle.

On their left flank, the 29th Infantry Division, who had been mauled on Bloody Omaha, moved forward with the 30th Infantry Division, making progress towards the important objective of St Lo. They had experienced their share of murderous hedgerow fighting and lost many men en-route.

Airel bridge, modern day

Airel bridge National Archives

Unfortunately, advancing across the narrow bridge at Airel, they clashed with men from the U.S. 3rd Armored division who, in their forward thrust, cast aside the bedraggled soldiers of the 30th. With their heavy tanks and support vehicles, they ran over communication wires and failed at all levels to co-ordinate with soldiers from the 30th. The 3rd was just desperate to get into the fight. In his book The Americans at Normandy, historian John C. McManus reports 30th Division General, Leland Hobbs, as accusing the 3rd Armored of creating casualties amongst his men by their "promiscuous fire." He was so frustrated, he ordered artillery called in by the 30th to be laid down regardless of where 3rd Armored that might be in the area.

If they do it to us, we do it to them!

KO'd panther tank, National Archives

Things were about to get worse as more and more reinforcements from the 2nd SS panzer division, "Das Reich" began flooding into the area. By July 11th, the Americans had taken Hauts Vents, inflicting heavy casualties on the Germans, but sustaining high levels as well.



The Americans were inching ever nearer their objective of St. Lo, but hedgerow country and fanatical Germans would cause them to invest heavily for each piece of ground taken.

Friendly fire, a regrettable feature of all warfare, would become a major factor in the bold "break out" plan being meticulously prepared at the highest level.

Curtis Culin

One ray of light, a much needed solution to the problems of the Allied tanks ability to penetrate the dense bocage, had been developed by a sergeant from New Jersey, Curtis G. Culin. Taking German steel obstacles that littered the beaches, Culin found that they could be shaped and welded to the front of a tank, enabling it to cut through hedgerows. These tanks became known as "Rhinos."

Rhino National Archives