SURRENDER INVITES DEATH by John A. English

Author:John A. English
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Fighting the Waffen SS in Normandy

CHAPTER 7

Cobra Spring

From Operation Epsom up to the U.S. First Army breakout in Operation Cobra on 25 July, between 520 and 725 panzers continuously deployed against the British sector, whereas during this same period the Americans rarely faced more than 190. Four of the seven divisions opposing the Anglo-Canadians were also Waffen SS, as were two Tiger battalions attached to the I and II SS Panzer Corps. The Germans correctly expected Goodwood to be followed by another massive attack, which is why they ordered the entire 2nd Panzer Division to the Caen area on 22 July. On the eve of Cobra, Demspey’s divisions pinned down fourteen German divisions backed up by some 600 tanks while Bradley’s fifteen divisions faced nine German divisions with roughly 110 panzers. Bradley disposed four corps from left to right: Maj. Gen. Leonard Gerow’s V Corps west of Caumont, Maj. Gen. Charles Corlett’s XIX Corps centered on and holding St. Lô, Maj. Gen. J. Lawton “Lightning Joe” Collins’s VII Corps west of the Vire River, and Maj. Gen. Troy Middleton’s VIII Corps from Collins’s right to the Gulf of St. Malo. 139

Hausser’s Seventh Army opposed Bradley’s First Army, with the German LXXXIV Corps covering the sector between the coast and the Vire River and the II Parachute Corps defending the front between the Vire and the Drome River just west of Caumont. Within the II Parachute Corps’ sector, the highly rated 3rd Parachute Division (reinforced by a regiment of the newly arrived and experienced 5th Parachute Division) roughly faced the V Corps, while the remnants of the 352nd Infantry Division, a battle group of the 266th Division, and elements of the 275th, 343rd, and 353rd Divisions faced the XIX Corps. In the LXXXIV Corps’ sector, the remnants of the Panzer Lehr Division—with a regiment of the 5th Parachute Division, a battle group of the 275th Division, and elements of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich—faced the VII Corps, with a third regiment of the 5th Parachute Division on their left. Behind them in army reserve stood the main body of the 275th Infantry Division. Roughly facing the U.S. VIII Corps from east to west were the remnants of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen; the main body of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich, with the remnants of the 6th Parachute Regiment; the remnants of the 91st Infantry Division, with a battle group of the 265th Division and elements of the 77th Division; and the remnants of the 243rd Infantry Division. 140

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