Misty Morning Mayhem

With the breakout of Patton's 3rd Army and the American capture of Avranches, Hitler felt it necessary to launch a counterattack. 3rd Army's supplies had to come through Avranches across the See River bridge. Further to the east, the Americans also controlled the road junction at Mortain. Hoping to cut …

1944-08-07

AP140

With the breakout of Patton's 3rd Army and the American capture of Avranches, Hitler felt it necessary to launch a counterattack. 3rd Army's supplies had to come through Avranches across the See River bridge. Further to the east, the Americans also controlled the road junction at Mortain. Hoping to cut the Americans off, an attack was ordered to recapture Avranches. Operation LÚTTICH was launched on the morning of 7 August. North of Mortain was the town of St. Barthélemy which lay right in the path of the attacking SS Panzer Divisions 1 and 2. With the town engulfed in a thick fog, Panzer Division 2 attacked from the north and northeast while the SS divisions attacked from the south and southeast. The American 30th Infantry Division repulsed the initial attack on the town, but the Germans soon regrouped for another attempt.

St. Barthélemy, 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