The “Tough Ombres” Open the Door

Operation Cobra, the code name for the 3rd Army’s Normandy Breakout campaign, started on July 25th and focused on driving through an area of about 20 miles wide between St Lo and the west coast of Normandy. Among the many infantry divisions involved, the 90th Division was to open a …

1944-07-25

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Operation Cobra, the code name for the 3rd Army’s Normandy Breakout campaign, started on July 25th and focused on driving through an area of about 20 miles wide between St Lo and the west coast of Normandy. Among the many infantry divisions involved, the 90th Division was to open a road for the 4th Armored Division’s CCB to exploit southwest through Periers and along the west coast towards Coutances. The road crosses a stream just northeast of Periers near St. Germain-sur-Seves. Baker company of the 358th Regt. was tasked with crossing the stream and clearing the west side of the road of German positions.

St. Germain-sur-Seves,

Operation Cobra was the codename for an offensive launched by the United States First Army under Lieutenant General Omar Bradley seven weeks after the D-Day landings, during the Normandy campaign of World War II. The intention was to take advantage of the distraction of the Germans by the British and Canadian attacks around Caen in Operation Goodwood, and thereby break through the German defenses that were penning in their forces while the Germans were unbalanced. Once a corridor had been created, the First Army would then be able to advance into Brittany, rolling up the German flanks once free of the constraints of the bocage country. After a slow start, the offensive gathered momentum and German Resistance collapsed as scattered remnants of broken units fought to escape to the Seine. Lacking the resources to cope with the situation, the German response was ineffectual and the entire Normandy front soon collapsed. Operation Cobra, together with concurrent offensives by the British Second Army and the Canadian First Army, was decisive in securing an Allied victory in the Normandy campaign.

Wikipedia: Operation Cobra

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German