Microsoft manual Taking Saint-Lô at Last, Hill, Close Combat Operation German Side

Chapter 4 The Normandy Campaign in Close Combat 83

“Eisenhower found as I did that the well-springs of compassion lie in the field.

. . . There, like the others of us, he could see the war for what it was, a wretched debasement of all the thin pretensions of civilization. In the rear areas war may sometimes assume the mask of an adventure. On the front it seldom lapses far from what General Sherman declared it to be.”

Gen. Omar Bradley in

A Soldier’s Story

roadway by nightfall. With the Seventh Army occupied on so many fronts, no reserves are left to reinforce the surviving Germans on Hill 192.

The following day, July 12, the fighting on Hill 192 is almost anticlimac- tic. After shelling the U.S. positions during the night, the Germans launch a counterattack, which is quickly repulsed, and the Second Division soon secures the hill. At a price of 69 dead, 328 wounded, and eight missing, Bradley’s troops now hold the high ground above Saint-Lô.

Taking Saint-Lô at Last

With the capture of Hill 192, the stage is set for the U.S. assault on Saint-Lô. As planned, the three divisions of the First Army close in on the town from the east, north, and west. However, the 29th Division, which is responsible for the main American attack, will have to push along three parallel ridges east of Saint-Lô. These ridges are fiercely defended by members of the German Third Paratroop Division, who are dug in behind an endless series of hedgerows and new defensive lines. The 35th Division, which is to move in on Saint-Lô from the north, is opposed by the German 352nd Infantry, which inflicted so many casualties on the U.S. assault waves at Omaha Beach. Finally, the 30th Division needs to advance through four miles of heavily fortified ridges and valleys west of Saint-Lô, opposed by German Panzers.

For the 29th Division, progress along the eastern ridges is slow. Many airstrikes must be canceled due to bad weather, and although the advancing U.S. troops are aided by artillery, they are slowed by German

Hill 192

The main assault on Hill 192 falls to the First and	Close Combat Operation: German Side
Second Battalions, 38th Infantry Regiment.	As the German commander, you can muster more
Following 100 meters behind a rolling barrage, the
	armor and firepower than your campaign counter-
two battalions start up the hill at 0630 hours.
	part to hold Hill 192. This can keep the Americans
Resistance is fierce around the hamlet of Cloville,
	from closing in on the strategic high ground east
where a self-propelled gun and Mark IV tank slow
	of Saint-Lô.
the advance. A Sherman knocks out both, and by

1700 hours elements of the 38th have pushed	Close Combat Operation: U.S. Side
their way over the hill to the Saint-Lô–Bayeux	As the American commander, you can use
highway.
	superior tactics to take the hill more quickly and
	move on Saint-Lô ahead of schedule.