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For nearly a
month, the Americans had been bogged down in the
hellish war of the
hedgerows. Operation Cobra, launched at the end of July, would at long
last open a decisive gap in the German lines. General Bradley,
commanding the First Army, had worked out his strategy extremely
carefully. Aerial saturation bombing over a limited area would briefly
destroy all the defences there and create a breach through which his
forces could pour. The area he chose lay between the villages of La
Chapelle-Enjuger and Hébécrevon, a few kilometres north of the main road
between Saint-Lô and Coutances. |
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Marigny: the start
of the American break-out |
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An
initial attempt, on July 24th, proved disastrous, as the
bombers dropped some of their projectiles on the American front lines,
killing or wounding 150 men. Despite this, a second attempt was made the
very next day. For three hours, 1,500 B-17 and B-24 bombers pummelled
the target, supported by medium bombers and fighter bombers attacking
with napalm. This time, the Germans did not escape so lightly. General
Bayerlein’s Panzer Lehr, which had only recently arrived in the sector,
was literally blown to pieces. 45-tonne Panther tanks were lifted off
the ground by the force of the explosions and torn apart like children’s
toys. Infantrymen were buried alive in their shelters. The few,
shell-shocked survivors either surrendered without a fight or fled.
Even so, it was certainly no picnic for the American infantry. Fierce
fighting continued throughout the 25th, as efforts were made
to open up a passage for the armoured vehicles. Now that they had been
fitted with the famous hedge-cutting devices invented by Sergeant
Cullins, the American tanks were able to rip their way through the
thickets with the greatest of ease.
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The Americans enter Coutances |
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The American columns race
south |
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On
July 26th, Collins’ VII Corps advanced ten kilometres, taking
first Saint-Gilles, then Canisy, after crossing the Coutances-Saint-Lô
road. Cracks started to appear in the German front, reduced to a thin
crust. It collapsed the next day. The American armoured divisions swept
southwards and westwards. Marigny, Lessay and Périers were taken the
same day. Coutances was liberated on the 28th by General
Wood’s 4th Armoured Division.
Entire German units were encircled ‑ in the Roncey Pocket, for instance
‑, while others simply fell apart. The suffering they had endured during
the previous two months of hard fighting suddenly came home to these
shaken and demoralized troops. Thousands of men were captured, disarmed
and, more often than not, left where they were, as there was no time to
take them to a camp. Von Choltitz, the commander of the 84th
Corps, vainly attempted to rebuild new lines of defence, but these
became obsolete before they had even been established. Nothing could
stop the Americans now.
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On July 30th, Grow’s 6th Armoured
Division crossed Bréhal and drove past Granville without stopping. Wood,
who was still spearheading the advance, captured Avranches the same
evening, and the next day succeeded in securing a vital bridgehead over
the Sélune at Pontaubault bridge. The Americans were now in Brittany. In
less than a week, Bradley’s troops had made a breakthrough of sixty
kilometres and taken 18,000 prisoners. The stalemate had come to an end
and the war of attrition had suddenly and dramatically been replaced by
a war of movement. |
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The encounter of two
different worlds |
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