They're Coming!

On 7 July, assault teams of the 30th and 9th U.S. Infantry Divisions successfully crossed the Vire-Taute canal. The surprise maneuver caught the enemy off-guard, and the Americans were soon in control of Saint-Jean-De-Daye, a kilometer south of the canal. The GIs pushed right through to le Desert …

1944-07-11

DASL17

D17

On 7 July, assault teams of the 30th and 9th U.S. Infantry Divisions successfully crossed the Vire-Taute canal. The surprise maneuver caught the enemy off-guard, and the Americans were soon in control of Saint-Jean-De-Daye, a kilometer south of the canal. The GIs pushed right through to le Desert and, with help from the 3rd Armored, the next day continued to advance through the cornfields northwest of St, lo. But, on the 9th the momentum was lost under a furious counterattack by the 2nd SS-Panzer Division Das Reich. The wearied combatants spent two days sniping and maneuvering among the hedgerows and cratered fields, looking for an advantage. On 11 July, the Panzer Lehr was committed in an attack whose objective was to cut off the American forces south of the canal.

Saint-Jean-De-Daye, France

The Battle of Saint-Lô is one of the three conflicts in the Battle of the Hedgerows, which took place between July 7–19, 1944, just before Operation Cobra. Saint-Lô had fallen to Germany in 1940, and, after the Invasion of Normandy, the Americans targeted the city, as it served as a strategic crossroads. American bombardments caused heavy damage and a high number of casualties, which resulted in the martyr city being called "The Capital of Ruins", popularized in a report by Samuel Beckett.

German

American

Scenario Type = Deluxe