Blue Spaders Over the See

On the 31st, as part of Operation Cobra, the 1st Division had reached Brecey, about 10 miles east of Avranches. A few miles to the south is the river See which flows into the Atlantic just west of Avranches. The 1st Division’s 26th Inf Regl, the “Blue Spaders”, was tasked …

1944-07-31

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On the 31st, as part of Operation Cobra, the 1st Division had reached Brecey, about 10 miles east of Avranches. A few miles to the south is the river See which flows into the Atlantic just west of Avranches. The 1st Division’s 26th Inf Regl, the “Blue Spaders”, was tasked with creating a bridgehead over the See. Able Company, supported by a single Tank Destroyer moved quickly against the lightly defended village on the opposite bank. Time was of the essence as they would shortly find out when elements of the Gennan 116th Panzer Division counterattacked.

Brecey, France

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

American

German