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Close Combat
Goodwood, pushing the Germans east of Caen. Although the British
suffer severe tank losses, the attack draws even more German troops
into the vicinity of Caen
and away from the Americans.
Bradley characterizes the hedgerow battle as “. . . a slugger’s match, too
slow a process.” To end the stalemate once and for all, he launches
Operation Cobra. Bad weather delays the breakout for a week until July
25, when German positions five miles west of Saint-Lô are hit with a
massive aerial bombardment by 2,500 Allied aircraft. The countryside
quickly becomes a moonscape as this carpet bombing blasts several
gaps in the German lines and decimates Panzer Lehr, but some of the
bombs fall short, causing hundreds of American casualties. Next, the
Americans launch a concentrated attack from the ground they have
recently captured east of Saint-Lô. This attack initially meets with little
success as the advancing troops are slowed by the vast number of bomb
craters, and by the evacuation of casualties. Veterans of the hedgerow
fighting also have trouble overcoming the caution learned in two
months in the bocage, but “rhino tanks” play a significant role in the
ongoing attack by speeding the process of penetrating the hedgerows.
German opposition is no longer organized in depth, and forms only
a very tough but discontinuous crust against the onslaught. Those
German soldiers who have survived the bombing repeatedly find
themselves outflanked or bypassed. Since a significant portion of the
German forces are still engaged against the British and Canadians to the
east, there are no reserve troops or Panzers to fill in any holes in the
front line near Saint-Lô. The Americans soon begin to make rapid
progress, pushing 56 kilometers east toward Brittany, and capturing the
coastal town of Avranches on July 31.
By the beginning of August, Cobra has clearly proved to be a success.
The Avranches breakout frees the Americans from the bocage, and
propels them into the battle of maneuver they have longed for.
Patton Unleashed
Following the success of Cobra, U.S. General George S. Patton’s Third
Army becomes operational on August 1, and takes its position on the
Allies’ right flank. Patton’s troops quickly overrun much of Brittany,
then head south toward the Loire valley. On August 4, Montgomery
makes the first major change in the Overlord plan, ordering the Third
Army to drive east toward Le Mans, while the First Army is to swing
eastward to encircle the Germans. Montgomery also organizes a drive
by British and Canadian forces south from Caen.
“I did not feel we owed an
apology to anyone for our gains.
At the end of one week ashore
we had linked beachheads.
During the second we cut the
Cotentin. In the third we
captured Cherbourg. During the
fourth we attacked out of the
neck. And when the fifth rolled
around, we had put together our
Cobra plan and were already
edging toward a breakout.”
—
Gen. Omar Bradley, in
A Soldier’s Story
“It was one terrible blood-
letting.”
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s
terse summary of the Normandy
Campaign