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Chapter 4 The Normandy Campaign in Close Combat
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roadway by nightfall. With the Seventh Army occupied on so many
fronts, no reserves are left to reinforce the surviving Germans on
Hill 192.
The following day, July 12, the fighting on Hill 192 is almost anticlimac-
tic. After shelling the U.S. positions during the night, the Germans launch
a counterattack, which is quickly repulsed, and the Second Division soon
secures the hill. At a price of 69 dead, 328 wounded, and eight missing,
Bradley’s troops now hold the high ground above Saint-Lô.
Taking Saint-Lô at Last
With the capture of Hill 192, the stage is set for the U.S. assault on
Saint-Lô. As planned, the three divisions of the First Army close in on
the town from the east, north, and west. However, the 29th Division,
which is responsible for the main American attack, will have to push
along three parallel ridges east of Saint-Lô. These ridges are fiercely
defended by members of the German Third Paratroop Division, who
are dug in behind an endless series of hedgerows and new defensive
lines. The 35th Division, which is to move in on Saint-Lô from the north,
is opposed by the German 352nd Infantry, which inflicted so many
casualties on the U.S. assault waves at Omaha Beach. Finally, the 30th
Division needs to advance through four miles of heavily fortified ridges
and valleys west of Saint-Lô, opposed by German Panzers.
For the 29th Division, progress along the eastern ridges is slow. Many
airstrikes must be canceled due to bad weather, and although the
advancing U.S. troops are aided by artillery, they are slowed by German
Hill 192
The main assault on Hill 192 falls to the First and
Second Battalions, 38th Infantry Regiment.
Following 100 meters behind a rolling barrage, the
two battalions start up the hill at 0630 hours.
Resistance is fierce around the hamlet of Cloville,
where a self-propelled gun and Mark IV tank slow
the advance. A Sherman knocks out both, and by
1700 hours elements of the 38th have pushed
their way over the hill to the Saint-Lô–Bayeux
highway.
Close Combat Operation: German Side
As the German commander, you can muster more
armor and firepower than your campaign counter-
part to hold Hill 192. This can keep the Americans
from closing in on the strategic high ground east
of Saint-Lô.
Close Combat Operation: U.S. Side
As the American commander, you can use
superior tactics to take the hill more quickly and
move on Saint-Lô ahead of schedule.
“Eisenhower found as I did that
the well-springs of compassion
lie in the field.
. . . There, like the others of us,
he could see the war for what it
was, a wretched debasement of
all the thin pretensions of
civilization. In the rear areas
war may sometimes assume
the mask of an adventure. On
the front it seldom lapses far
from what General Sherman
declared it to be.”
Gen. Omar Bradley in
A Soldier’s Story