OverView.htm

This CD extracts copies of chapters and maps from the book Breakout and Pursuit published by The National Historical Society – one of a 50^th Anniversary Commemorative set, covering US Army in WWII.

This book begins with 1 July and continues to first of September – from an established foothold inland from the beaches to the border of Germany. This outlines major events only.

Breakout and Pursuit Overview

Part I In the Wake of the Invasion

Chapter 1 The Allies

Chapter 2 The Enemy

Chapter 3 The Situation

Part I describes the Allies (US, Canadian & British), Enemy (Germany) and the Situation (as of 1 July 1944). The US, Canadian and British forces are firmly established on European soil with the US on the right (south) and the Canadian-British on the right (north). The allies continue the deception of a phantom force under Patton – and the Germans retain reserves in the British sector to meet the imagined threat.

General Eisenhower, still in Britain is commander of the Allied forces and reports to General Marshal who reports to President Roosevelt. General Montgomery, who reports to Eisenhower and Churchill, is commander of British and Canadian forces -- and as the ranking Allied officer is the defacto commander of all Allied forces on the continent. General Bradley is commander of the US 1^st Army, General Depsey is commander of the British 2^nd Army and General Lt General Crerar is commander of the Canadian 1^st Army. Eisenhower is to move his headquarters to the Continent and become commander of all allied forces, Montgomery commander of the Canadian-British sector.

Command structure on the German side is a bit more complex, because Hitler established special forces such as the SS, initially as “bodyguards” for his own protection, and Air Force personnel under Goring who fought as ground troops, the regular German army with it’s Parachute divisions – these “independent” forces were in effect commanded by Hitler himself. For the Western Front, commands went from Hitler to Jodl, to Rundstedt (reserve forces) to Rommel (beach forces) front line commanders. As of 1 July Rundstedt was relieved, Rommel injured with both replaced by Field Marshall Kluge. Under Kluge was General Hauser commander of the 7^th Army facing the Americans and General Eberebach commander of the forces facing the British. Kluge, Hauser & Eberebach were recent arrivals from the Russian front; rapidly rising in command to replace lost or replaced commanders. Whereas Eisenhower, Bradley and Montgomery were given great freedom of command, Kluge war required to obtain Hitlers permission for any major change – and was required to execute any order from Hitler. In the background there were always Himmlers independent SS and Gestapo forces who made sure Hitler’s wishes were implemented.

Having failed to stop the Allies at the beaches, the Germans decide to hold a line, inland beyond range of large Naval guns. Hitler controlled these forces via Kluge. Independent of these was a Hitler decision to pull local German forces into major coastal ports and ordered their commanders to defend them to the last man – time would show that most of them did just that.

Thus, the 1 July situation was that the Germans intended to hold the present line and the Allies intended to advance -- to free the port cities in Brittany and move eastward toward Germany.

The reading can be tedious -- it’s recommended that the reader take time to learn the names of the commanders, the fighting units and the battle field locations – such as areas, rivers and towns. Battles are dynamic movements of forces over varying terrain – it helps to know the changing cast of players in each endeavor. Wars have been fought for many centuries in these areas. In a sense many of those who fought were related – if ancestors were traced back to origins. Many in America, Canada, England & Germany share modern history relatives. Both sides recognized and honored the Red Cross, as sub stories will reveal.

Part II The Battle of the Hedgerows

Chapter 4 The Offensive Launched VIII corp below

US VIII corps, above, advance against Germans who made use of hedgerows as excellent natural defenses. The advancing forces could not bring tanks, artillery, or air power to bear. Taking one hedgerow, gained little, except to face another.

Chapter 5 The Offensive Broadened VII corp, below

The US VII corps, above, also advances against hedgerow defended by entrenched Germans.

Chapter 6 The Attempt to Exploit XIX corp below

US XIX corps, above, joins in the advance – slowed down by hedgerows and congestion in moving through restricted lanes of access.

Chapter 7 The Offensive Continued battle for Caen

The Canadian’s and British take part of Caen, against heavy opposition. They were stopped by heavy Panzer Lehr counter attack

General Meindel’s 2^nd Parachute; was in charge of German defense

Chapter 8 The Battle for St. Lo

Taking St Lo was a slow and costly process. 50 years later taking with my cousin Max, a medic with engineers, he shook his head commenting -- “losses were very heavy around St. Lo.”

Chapter 9 The Conclusions

The 1^st Army sustained 40,000 casualties during July, 90% Infantrymen. As much as 33%, of the casualties, suffered combat fatigue. Most returned to duty after 24 to 72 hours rest. 1000 hospital beds were set up for those who didn’t recover. An order went out for 25,000 rifle and map replacements. By mid July German casualties in Normandy had risen to 100,000 of which 2360 were officers. Large amounts of equipment had been destroyed; on both sides.

The German soldiers were surviving veterans from many fronts. Many of the US forces were experiencing battle for the first time. They were learning fast; applying cutters to front of tanks to cut through hedgerows, lobbing rifle fired grenades over hedgerows -- too close for artillery and air power support. Rather than frontal attacks they learned to advance indirect, Indian style – innovations paid off.

The process was too slow and costly, a better method was needed.

Part III Breakthrough

Chapter 10 The Breakout Idea Bomber supported attempt at Caen

Operation GOODWOOD

There was a search for a Panacea, a way to escape a trench warfare static front – a condition desired by Hitler. The British-Canadians implemented operations GOODWOOD, a plan to use bombers to bomb a front followed up by Tanks and Infantry. The initial advance went well until the Germans counter attack in force with tanks – taking back some of the gain. The British 8 corp lost 4000 troops and 500 tanks the operation -- 36% of the British tanks on the continent.

Chapter 11 COBRA Preparations

Chapter 12 COBRA

Chapter 13 The Breakthrough

General Bradley came up with the idea of using Air Force Bombers to carpet bomb a two mile wide swath to the west of St Lo. British Air Chief Tedder provided top level supervision. General Brereton 9^th US AF commander planned attack of US bombers. General Quesada US IX Tactical Air Commander coordinated Fighter-Bomber attack with US ground forces. [Brereton commanded US AF on PI when the Japanese attack Clark Field Dec 8, 1941] The plan was for 350 fighter-bombers to attack first, followed by 1800 bombers – carpet bombing a two mile wide swath.

The attempt by German officers to kill Hitler took place at this time.

Things did not go well at the start, weather required calling off the bombers, but many had already dropped their bombs – warning the enemy and killing many US troops. The main event took place the next day – again causing loss of US troops. US advancing forces were surprised to encounter resistance. After the first bomb loads were dropped all bomb drops were into smoke – unknowingly some strips were not harmed. Expecting no resistance, the few unscathed survivors caused many of those advancing to believe that large numbers of Germans had survived. After an initial hesitancy things began to move -- General Collins did not wait to released his tanks, confident of success. Later it was determine the bombing had been an enormous success – made so by Collins early action.

German forces lost communications with their own forces. German defense planning unknowingly based on blockage by units that no longer existed. The advancing US forces were quick to take advantage of lightly defended locations to move large numbers through, behind enemy lines. For the first two days many thought the operation had been a disaster. Eisenhower declare he would never authorized such an attack using bombers again. Only in hind sight was it’s tremendous success brought to light.

Chapter 14 The Breakthrough Development

Chapter 15 Exploiting the Breach

Chapter 16 Breakthrough Becomes Breakout see following “Exploitation” map

Chapter 17 The “Incalculable” Result

Of the 28,000 prisoners taken in July by 1^st Army, 20,000 were in the last six days. 15,000 US engineers participated in moving 100,000 combat troops through the five mile gap. From 25 to 31 July Tactical Air Command flew 9185 sorties and dropped 2281 ton of bombs making 655 reconnaissance sorties. It was later computed that from 25 to 28 July 2926 aircraft had dropped 4961 tons of bombs. That 1964 artillery pieces of all caliber, excluding tank guns, fired 4089 tons of shells from the 1^st Army front. Fighter bombers destroyed 362 tanks, damaged 216, destroyed 1337 other vehicles and damaged 380.

German losses were not immediately known – they were caused to completely reorganize. Hitler would order Kluge to counter attack to close the gap – pushing Germany’s limited reserves into the end of the front, while US spun off the 3^rd Army from the 1^st and began making sweeps behind German lines.

Movement out of the Gap toward Brittany

Part 4 Breakout into Brittany

Chapter 18 Plans, Personalities and Problems

Patton’s 3^rd Army is formed by moving units from the now bloated 1^st Army. Hodges takes over 1^st Army and Bradley 12^th Army Group which included both. Middleton’s VIII corp, now under Patton sends his Combat Command forces: CCA, CCB and CCR along with 4^th armored and 6^th armored divisions into Brittany.

Chapter 19 Rennes, Lorient, and Nantes

General Wood’s 4^th Armored is sent to take lower ports. Woods force will soon be replaced with Infantry for mop up and occupation while his mobile tanks are sent east toward Germany.

Chapter 20 “Take Brest”

General Gerow’s 6^th Armored is sent to “Take Brest”

Chapter 21 St. Malo and the North Shore

Hitler orders those defending port cities to fight to the last man. Many did. It required heavy fighting by supporting Infantry, artillery and bombing by aircraft to obtain control of these ports. Brest was not taken at this time. Almost all the heavy port facilities had been destroyed. The fort commanders did their job well, as Hitler directed – they held up large numbers of troops that otherwise could have been employed on the push to Germany. When planning OVERLORD it was assumed that the Brittany ports would be required. In the end the Allies achieved only limited use of these port facilities -- the floating docks set up on invasion beached continued to handle huge amounts of supplies.

It was essential for the Germans to reorganize their forces.

Note on this map that the Canadian and British front advanced considerably when the Germans pulled forces from that front to fill in for COBRA losses.

Part 5 Breakout to the East

Chapter 22 Week of Decision

While the Germans reorganized to fill in for COBRA losses, and while Pattons VIII corp under Middleton moved out on Brittany. XV corp under General Haislip moves rapidly behind German lines toward Le Mans.

Chapter 23 Opportunities and Intensions

While XV corp was moving toward Le Mans, 1^st Army VII corp under Collins was moving around the German front to protect XV corps 3^rd Army left flank. At the same time Corlet’s XIX corp and Gerow’s V corp were pushing ahead moving the 1^st Army front to block German forces at Vire, St Pois and Mortain. Units were shifted as need between 1^st and 3^rd Army boundary to keep the process moving. It was Montgomery’s intentions to keep the 2^nd Brittish and 2^nd Canadian Armys moving toward Falaise.

Chapter 24 The Mortain Counterattack

Hitler believed he could begin a close off the US break through by launching an attack on Mortain. Field Marshall General Kluge, 7^th Army commander Houser & 5^th Panzer Army commander Ebereback did not believe there was any way they could put together a strong enough force to retake Mortain, let alone move on to pinch off the gap. However Hitler insisted, and unwilling to oppose his orders Houser’s inadequate forces made the attempt.

Due to the prior attempt on Hitlers life, Himmler had cracked down on all opposition – especially military personnel believed to be part of the plot. Rommel chose to kill himself to spare wife and son. Hitler did not trust Kluge, believing he might try to defect and surrender forces – Kluge was not permitted to go to the west end of the German forces. Later Hitler replaced Kluge with Field Marshall Model. Hitler blaming Kluge for the failure to retake Mortain.

Kluge had recently lost his son, then under his command, and felt depressed. He wrote a letter to Hitler expressing that he’d always been a loyal and dedicated soldier – then killed himself.

Part 6 Encirclement and the Drive to the Seine

Chapter 25 Encirclement

The German officers had repeatedly advised they needed to fall back to defensible positions, aware they did not have sufficient forces to hold their present position. They could not move adequate supplies to the front – and those only by night as Allied Aircraft would knock them out during the day. They knew they would have a terrible time moving personnel and equipment for the same reasons. They hoped for orders to fall back while they could.

Chapter 26 The Argentan-Falaise Pocket

As the pocket begin to close, Allied artillery could pound German forces from both sides.

Chapter 27 Closing the Pocket

Canadians, with the help of a Polish division, were pressing from the north at Falaise. 1^st Army forces had swept behind German lines and were now supported by the 3^rd Army closing in from the south toward Argentan. Army Artillery and Allied fighter-bombers were having a field day with an abundance of congested targets. German General Meindl is credited with doing the most to get wounded and surviving troops out of the pocket. To keep a path open, he organized a round about attack on Polish forces pinching them off. He also arranged for vehicles with wounded, covered by sheets with Red Cross markings. At first daylight he stopped all German traffic for 15 minutes, then sent out the convoy of wounded – his hopes were rewarded -- the Allied forces stopped shelling, permitting the wounded to pass unharmed. Once they had passed, the battle began again.

It’s estimated that General Meindl helped 2,500 to 3,500 of his II Paratroopers escape; their combat strength did not exceed 600. The US and British forces each took about 25,000 prisoners – in addition to this 50,000 prisoners some 10,000 dead were found on the field. 90^th division took 13,000 prisoners and 1,000 horses and found 1800 horse dead, 220 tanks and 160 self propelled artillery pieces, 700 towed artillery, 130 anti-aircraft guns, 5,000 motor vehicles and 2,000 wagons destroyed or damaged. One observer who’d seen WW I destruction said “I saw no foxholes or any other type of shelter . . . they were trying to run with no place to run. They were probably too exhausted to dig . . . . They were probably too tire to surrender. Under such conditions there are no supermen – all men become rabbits looking for a hole.

At end of 20 August it was estimated that 40 to 50 % of the encircled forces succeeded in breaking out. It’s estimated that 20,000 to 40,000 escaped – many in advance of orders when communications broke down. Conditions varied, one German sergeant shot his commanding officer who refused to let them surrender. Those units maintaining discipline fought well aiding others to get out. An SS Panzer division, to whom they were escaping, made note of one escaping Paratrooper division passing through the tankers smartly in road formation singing. They had been routed but not defeated.

Chapter 28 Drive to the Seine

Germans escaping from the Pocket, fell back to the Seine River with the Allies trying to cut them off before they could cross the river. Rather than continue East an attempt was made to cut off more of the German Army, those who had been on the British front. Later the Germans said, if you had focused on Montes-Gasscourt you might have succeeded, for a critical time we had nothing there to stop you.

The Germans still intended to hold the coastal locations from which they were launching V-1 weapons against Britain.

The Allies, shifted their focus toward Paris.

Chapter 29 Liberation of Paris

At first it was planned to go about and cut off Paris, but not enter the city – especially if the Germans tried to defend the city block by block. A Norwegian negotiator help negotiate “an agreement” with the FFI (French Forces of the Interior) where each would be free to move about their part of the City without interference by the other. The German commander was being ordered by Hitler to defend the City, however he didn’t have sufficient forces to do so, and the Germans still needed the bridges. The German commander hoped that the Western and Communist oriented FFI would fight among themselves. When Hitler found the city was not being defended, her ordered it to be destroyed. The German commander chose instead to permit himself to be captured by the Allies, thus sparing the city – and the Germans trapped in the city.

The de Gaul Free French, fighting as an armored division and part of the Third Army were eager to be the first to enter Paris. Things became testy between de Gaul, his commanders and the Americans. Eisenhower wanted the French People to be the ones to chose their new leader – and not permit de Gaul to impose himself as the new head of France. As head of France he would be dealing as a head of state with Churchill and Roosevelt. Eventually things worked out, the French had their parade, and the Americans had theirs as part of moving troops through to the front lines on the far side. De Gaul asked for and was given the Free French forces attached to the third army until order could be assured in Paris. The British were invited to parade through, but chose not to do so. This began a period of separate ways between the French and Americans. The French were proud – soon word in Paris was that it was the FFI that freed Paris.

Part 7 Pursuit

Chapter 30 The Battle for Brest

The Americans needed port facilities for unloading supplies. The pre invasion plan was that the Brittany ports would be taken for this purpose. Middletons VIII corp was sent to clear out the Germans. Hitler had selected persons loyal to him as port commanders, with orders to defend with your lives – they refused to surrender, holding up forces and destroying facilities. The battle for Brest was fought in two sectors separated by the Penfeld River, Von der Mosel surrendered all the troops in Recouvrance to the 29th Division; Col. Erich Pietzonka of the 7th Parachute Regiment surrendered the eastern portion to the 2d Division, nearly ten thousand prisoners, who had prepared for capitulation by shaving, washing, donning clean uniforms, and packing suitcases -- presenting a strange contrast to the dirty, tired, unkempt, but victorious American troops. Ramcke, however, escaped across the harbor to the Crozon peninsula and was later captured with remaining diehards.

American casualties totaled 9,831; prisoners numbered 38,000, of which 20,000 were combat troops. The 2d Division had advanced approximately eight miles at a cost of 2,314 casualties. It had expended more than 1,750,000 rounds of small arms ammunition, 218,000 rounds of heavy caliber, had requested 97 air missions‑fulfilled by 705 fighter‑bombers, which dropped 360 tons of bombs. The 29th Division, expending a similar amount of ammunition, had lost 329 killed and 2,317 wounded. Casualties of the 8th Division for the month of September were close to 1,500. From 25 August through 19 September, the VIII Corps received continuous air support except during periods of inclement weather. Fighter-bombers on alert status alone flew approximately 430 separate missions involving more than 3,200 sorties.

In the end the port was useless, and after capture of Antwerp was no longer needed, port plans for Lorient and St. Nazaire were scrapped, and the 15,000 man German force at Lorient and the 12,000 man force at St. Nazaire, were contained until the end of the war.

Chapter 31 The Drive Beyond the Seine

The drive beyond the Seine became a race, the Germans trying to reach the Seigfried Line ahead of the Allied forces. Forces in front of the British and Canadians were moving out fast and soon the V weapons launch sites were being overrun and harbors fell into to the Allies.

Advancing troops were being met by overjoyed civilians. Army’s and Corps were moving fast – unit boundaries trying to catch up. They were making unbelievable progress.

Chapter 31 Toward the Heart of Germany

The Germans were in complete disarray. Leaders of three groups of Germans created their own organization and plan to escape. During the night, for example, a German half‑tracked vehicle stumbled on a Sherman tank installed as a road obstacle. Other American tanks nearby opened fire down a straight stretch of road. When an early round set a German vehicle ablaze, illuminating others, it was "like shooting sitting pigeons." At day-break tankers of the 3d Armored Division discovered that they had destroyed a column a mile long. The encircled Germans, who had been thinking of flight, were in no mood to fight, and only a few, including headquarters personnel of the LVIII Panzer and II SS Corps, escaped. That afternoon the 3d Armored and 1st Divisions took between 7,500 and 9,000 prisoners. The IX Tactical Air Command claimed the destruction of 851 motor vehicles, 50 armored vehicles, 652 horse‑drawn vehicles, and 485 persons. In three days about 25,000 prisoners were taken, remnants of twenty disorganized divisions. These potential defenders of the West Wall were thus swept off the field of battle.

The allies were moving so fast their supplies could not keep up. One of the most dramatic logistical developments was the organization of the Red Ball Express, designed as an emergency expedient to support the Seine crossings by getting 82,000 tons of supplies to the front. On 25 August Red Ball convoys began to use two parallel one‑way round‑trip routes from which all other traffic was excluded, before long more than a hundred truck companies were involved. On 29 August, for example, 132 truck companies‑6,000 vehicles‑moved more than 12,000 tons of supplies. Operating day and night and without blackout precautions, the Express delivered 135,000 tons of supplies to army service areas by mid‑September.

American planes carried a total of 20,000 tons of supplies, of which about 13,000 tons were delivered to the 12th Army Group from 19 August to mid‑September.

During the week of 20 August, when most of the units of both U.S. armies were for the first time engaged in a war of movement, the daily consumption of gasoline ran well over 800,000 gallons. By 28 August transportation lines were so extended deliveries could not be relied on. Red Ball trucks alone consumed more than 300,000 gallons per day.

During June, July, and August the Germans had lost a minimum of 1,200,000 troops killed, wounded, missing, and captured, casualties of which approximately two thirds had been incurred in the east, where larger masses of men were employed. The campaign in the west, from the invasion to the West Wall, and including southern France, had cost Germany about 500,000 troops, of which about 200,000 had been lost in the coastal fortresses. Materiel losses were impossible to estimate.

The Allies had landed more than 2,100,000 men and 460,000 vehicles on the Continent by 11 September, a combat force of forty‑nine divisions. Allied casualties from 6 June to 11 September numbered almost 40,000 killed, 164,000 wounded, and 20,000 missing ‑ a total of 224,000, which was less than half the German casualties in the west.

Faced with these losses and chaos the Germans achieved a remarkable feat – while the Allies were held up for of supplies, rest and repair; the Germans were able to set up a defense and stabilize a front line at their borders. The Allied mad rush had come to an end.

This was Only Part of Simultaneous Fronts, of that On Going