America in WWII - (Page 31) Alerted by the abortive air assault of the previous day, the Germans were hunkered down in trenches and shelters, not sticking up their heads until the last aircraft droned away. Even so, about a third of the German combat force in the sector had been killed or scattered. The remaining troops fought the American advance hard, but the Yanks gained ground that first day. T VII CORPS SHATTERED the crust of the German defense the next day. Kluge moved a Panzer division west to try to shore up the line, but by the next day, the 27th, the Americans were four miles or more south of their start line and breaking out of the bocage into the clear, where they could maneuver. The VIII Corps moved down the west coast of the Cotentin peninsula. To the east the VII Corps moved on Coutances. By the 28th the Americans had advanced as much as 12 miles in the face of disintegrating German resistance. Overhead, enjoying sunny weather, the IX Tactical Air HE Command’s P-47 Thunderbolt fighters provided air support for the advancing front line and made the Germans miserable behind their own lines. By the end of July 28, the Americans had captured Coutances and nearly encircled four German divisions, including the feared SS Division Das Reich. The German withdrawal from that pocket was complicated the next day by the Thunderbolts, which caught up with the enemy near the village of Roncy, between Coutances and the Sienne River. The fighter-bombers, nicknamed Jabos by the Germans, destroyed 400 tanks and other vehicles. The LXXXIV Corps of the German Seventh Army was rendered ineffective by the American onslaught by the morning of July 30. All of Cobra’s geographic objectives had been reached and the Sienne River had been crossed. Bradley did not pause the offensive, deciding instead to sustain the momentum and keep the Germans off balance. While the British Second Army attacked the German line east of Saint–Lô, pinning down any possible reinforcements Opposite: The most aggressive general fighting in France’s Normandy region was Lieutenant General George Patton (left), maverick commander of the US Third Army. His swift movements threatened to trap German Army Group B—headed by Field Marshal Günther von Kluge and then General Field Marshal Walther Model (center, with Hitler). General Omar Bradley (right, holding a football and chatting with Major General Matthew Ridgeway), commanded the US 12th Army Group. Above: At first, it was slow going for the Allies in Normandy, thanks to the region’s hedgerows. Here, anti-tank men take cover behind one near Avranches in early August. OCTOBER 2007 AMERICA IN WWII 31
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