L'Abbaye Blanche

As part of Operation Luttich, the German drive through Mortain towards Avranches, the 2nd SS-Panzer Division’s Der Führer Regiment moved out of its assembly area at 0430 hours. Once it reached the outskirts of Mortain, Der Führer’s spearhead turned right to follow the highway north, over the Cance river at …

1944-08-07

186

AP004

As part of Operation Luttich, the German drive through Mortain towards Avranches, the 2nd SS-Panzer Division’s Der Führer Regiment moved out of its assembly area at 0430 hours. Once it reached the outskirts of Mortain, Der Führer’s spearhead turned right to follow the highway north, over the Cance river at Pont de la Vacherie, to where the highway merged with Route 177 out of l’Abbaye Blanche. The column planned to sweep into St. Barthelmy from the south, turn left, and support the 1st SS-Panzer Division’s drive along Route 177 towards Avranches. While trying to cross the river at Pont de la Vacherie, the Germans were ambushed by elements of the 823rd Tank Destroyer Battalion and the 120th Infantry Regiment. This roadblock forced the Germans to attack from another direction. At 0600 hours, two German halftracks mounting 75mm guns and escorted by a company of infantry moved south down Route 177 in an attempt to outflank the American position. Here they met two more guns of the 823rd.

L'Abbaye Blanche, France

Operation Lüttich was a codename given to a German counter-attack during the Battle of Normandy, which took place around the American positions near Mortain in northwestern France from 7 August to 13 August 1944. The offensive is also referred to in American and British histories of the Battle of Normandy as the Mortain counterattack. The assault was ordered by Adolf Hitler, to eliminate the gains made by the First United States Army during Operation Cobra and the subsequent weeks, and by reaching the coast in the region of Avranches at the base of the Cotentin peninsula, cut off the units of the Third United States Army which had advanced into Brittany. The main German striking force was the XLVII Panzer Corps, with one and a half SS Panzer Divisions and two Heer Panzer Divisions. Although they made initial gains against the defending U.S. VII Corps, they were soon halted and the Allies inflicted severe losses on the attacking troops, eventually destroying most of the German tanks involved in the attack. Although fighting continued around Mortain for six days, the American forces had regained the initiative within a day of the opening of the German attack.

German

American

Scenario Type = Standard