Chapter XII
COBRA

Footnotes

1. Material on intelligence is from: FUSA Intel Annex to Opn Plan COBRA, 16 Jul; FUSA G-2 Est 9 and 10, 10 and 18 Jul; Annex 2 to VII Corps FO 6, 17 Jul; VII Corps G-2 Est, 17 Jul; VIII Corps G-2 Est 4, 15 Jul; JIC (44) 301 (O) (Final), Weaknesses in Germany's Capacity to Resist, 20 Jul 44, JIC Papers, 1944, Pogue Files; TUSA G-2 Per Rpt 35, 16 Jul.

2. The 277th Division replaced the 9th SS Panzer Division on 10 July; the 272d relieved the 1st and the 12th SS Panzer Divisions during the night of 13 July; the 271st replaced the 10th SS Panzer Division on 17 July; and the 326th relieved the 2d Panzer Division on 22 July. Telecon, Kluge and Jodl, 1828, 13 Jul. OB WEST KTB, Anlage 615; "Unterrichtung ueber die Arbeitsweise des Stages Ob. West . . . ," 20 Jul, OB WEST KTB, Anlage 775; Hodgson, R-54.

3. Ltr, Rommel to Kluge, 15 Jul, Seventh Army KTB, Anlagen, Chefsachen; see Hodgson, R-57.

4. Seventh Army KTB, 20 Jul; Zimmerman Telecon, 1320, 15 Jul, and Telecon, Helmdach and Tempelhoff, 2240, 25 Jul, AGp B KTB; Hodgson, R-57.

5. See MS # B-731 (Fahrmbacher).

6. Maj. Kenneth W. Hechler, The Enemy Buildup Prior to Operation COBRA, MS, OCMH Files.

7. Panzer Lehr Division Monthly Status Rpts for Jun and Jul 44, OKH Generalinspektor der Panzertruppen, Zustandsberichte, Heer, Jun-Aug 44; AGp B KTB, 15.1-4.X.44; AGp B la Letztemeldungen, 8.VI.-10.VIII.44, and la Tagesmeldungen, 6.VI.-31.VIII.44; Seventh Army KTB "(Draft) 6.VI-16.VIII.44; MS # A-902 (Bayerlein); MS # A-973 (Schmidt); MS # A-975 (Schmidt); MS # B-820 (Wilke); Hodgson, R-54; Hechler, The Enemy Build-up Prior to Operation COBRA.

8. Joseph Toussaint, La Percee Americaine a l'Ouest de Saint-Lô (La Chapelle-Enjuger dans la Bataille) (Coutances, France: Editions Notre-Dame, n.d.), pp. 75ff.

9. AAF III, 228-30; Eighth AF Tactical Mission Rpt, Opn 492, 24 Jul, USAF Hist Sec Files.

10. The death of a liaison officer who was sent from the 8th Infantry (4th Division) to the 120th Infantry (30th Division) is included in these figures, which are taken from F. P. Halas' Notes, ML-2244. General Collins' Talk cites the same figures. ARGUMENT to V-E Day, page 230, gives the casualty figures as 16 killed and 64 wounded.

11. AAF III, 230. Other short bomb releases did not affect the ground troops: one fighter-bomber pilot made a mistake in landmark identification and dropped his bombs on an American ammunition dump; when another plane was hit by enemy flak, a bombardier in a reflex action touched the toggle switch, released his load on an American airfield, and thereby destroyed two bomb-loaded and manned aircraft on the ground and damaged others. Enemy antiaircraft artillery fire destroyed three heavy bombers that participated in the attack.

12. Telecon, Collins and Hobbs, 1115, 24 Jul, 30th Div G-3 Jnl and File.

13. Telecons, Collins and Hobbs, 1205, 24 Jul, and Stephens and Hassenfelt, 1207, 24 Jul, 30th Div G-3 Jnl and File; 4th Div Msg (Gen Barton), 1200, 24 Jul, 4th Div G-3 Jnl and File.

14. Telecon, Collins and Hobbs, 1227, 24 Jul, 30th Div G-3 Jnl and File; Ltr, Collins to Hechler, 7 Jul 45, OCMH Files; FUSA Msg, 1235, 24 Jul, FUSA G-3 Jnl; 4th Div Msg, 1315, 24 Jul, 4th Div G-3 Jnl and File.

15. VII Corps Opns Memo 47, 24 Jul.

16. Colonel Flint was posthumously awarded the Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster to the DSC he had earlier received.

17. Bradley, Soldier's Story, pp. 341, 346-48.

18. Hobbs Telecons, 1330 and 1412, 24 Jul, 30th Div G-3 Jnl and File; Sylvan Diary, 24 Jul.

19. Red Line Msg, Quesada to Brereton, 24 Jul, Rpts of Bombing Errors Made on 25 Jul, 8 Aug, USAF Hist Sec Files.

20. Eighth AF Spec Rpt on Opns 24 and 25 Jul, n.d., USAF Hist Sec Files; Halas Notes, ML-2244.

21. Eighth AF Draft Ltr, Summary of Plng and Execution of Missions 24 and 25 Jul, n.d., Rpts of Bombing Errors Made on 25 Jul, 8 Aug, USAF Hist Sec Files.

22. Ltrs, Leigh-Mallory to Bradley, 19 Jul, and Bradley to Leigh-Mallory, 23 Jul, OCMH Files.

23. Bradley, Soldier's Story, p. 341.

24. FUSA Conf Notes, 12 Jul, FUSA G-3 Misc File; Halas Notes, ML-2244.

25. IX TAC Opns Order 88, 19 Jul; [George], Ninth Air Force, p. 124.

26. Eighth AF FOs 913 and 917, 23 and 24 Jul, Eighth AF Spec Rpt on Opns 24 and 25, n.d., USAF Hist Sec Files.

27. Lt. Col. Orlando C. Troxel, Jr., Telecon, 2257, 24 Jul, and vii Corps Msg, 0155, 25 Jul, 30th Div G-3 Jnl.

28. AAF III, 232.

29. AAF III, 232-33; Eighth AF Tactical Mission Rpt Opn 494, 25 Jul, USAF Hist Sec Files; Leigh-Mallory, "Despatch," Fourth Supplement to the London Gazette of December 31, 1946, p. 65; Sylvan Diary, 25 Jul.

30. AAF III, 232-34; First U.S. Army, Report of Operations, I, 121.

31. AAF III, 232-34. On the problems of direct support bombing, see Roswell Wing's pertinent Comment on the Medium Bombardment Effort to Support the 30th Division's West Wall Assault, MacDonald Files, OCMH, and Harris, Bomber Offensive, p. 213.

32. USSTAF In Europe, Report of Investigation, 14 Aug, USAF Hist Sec Files, lists the following casualties: 47th Infantry, 9th Division: 14 killed, 33 wounded; 15th Engineer Battalion: 15 killed, 23 wounded; 60th Field Artillery Battalion: 4 wounded; 84th Field Artillery Battalion: 1 killed, 2 wounded; 4th Division: 10 killed, 27 wounded; 30th Division: 61 killed, 374 wounded. In addition, the 39th Infantry of the 9th Division lost 16 wounded, and the 957th Field Artillery Battalion lost 10 killed and 11 wounded. (See 9th Div G-3 Jnl, 25 Jul). General Collins in his Talk agreed with the figures of in killed and 490 wounded. AAF III, page 234, states that a total of 102 were killed and 380 were wounded. Eighth Air Force Special Report on Operations 24 and 25 July, USAF Hist Sec Files, gives a very complete report including plans, maps, photos, bomb damage assessment, and prisoner of war interrogations on the effect of the bombing. [Ackerman], Employment of Strategic Bombers in a Tactical Role, pp. 89ff, does not give a particularly good account.

33. Bradley, Soldier's Story, p. 349; Brereton, Diaries, pp. 313-15; Ltrs, Eisenhower to Marshall, 26 and 27 Jul, Pogue Files; ETOUSA Ltr, Assignment of Comd, 21 Jul, AG 322/011 MPM, and SHAEF Ltr, Orders, 9 Aug, AG 211-3 (Generals), SHAEF AG File 322-3 (FUSAG).

34. AAF III, 234.

35. Bradley, Soldier's Story, p. 349. He later changed his mind.

36. 30th Div AAR, Jul; University of Oklahoma Research Institute, Technical Memo, ORO-T-202, Disaster in Battle, 25 Aug 52, passim.

37. Interv with CO, Co B, 8th Inf CI 30 (4th Div).

38. Toussaint, La Percee Americaine a l'Ouest de Saint-Lô, p. 77n. "The bombardment of 24 July," Toussaint, who observed it, later wrote, "was hardly noted in the official reports. However, if its volume did not equal the infernal agitation of the following day, it was nevertheless terrifying." See also J. de Saint-Jorre, "Journal d'un Saint-Lois pendant la Bataille de Normandie," Memoires de la Societe d' Archeologie de la Manche, LV, 47, and Saint-Jorre, "Saint-Lô sous les Bombes," in Herval, Bataille de Normandie, I, 85ff.

39. Telecon, Tempelhoff and Helmdach, 1320, 24 July, AGp B KTB; James B. Hodgson, Thrust-Counterthrust, the Battle of France, R-58.

40. Telecon, Kluge and Eberbach, 1800, 24 Jul, OB WEST KTB, Anlage 828.

41. Telecon, Kluge and Hausser, 1810, 24 Jul, OB WEST KTB, Anlage 829.

42. AGp B KTB, Anlagen, Fall, 40-X.44, Annex 40.

43. 21 AGp Msg, 25 Jul, FUSA G-3 Jnl; Telecons, Speidel to Zimmerman and Zimmerman to Friedel, 2315 and 2335, 25 Jul, OB WEST KTB, Anlage 849.

44. An observer called it "the most imposing aerial parade I have seen since the beginning of this long war." Saint-Jorre, "Saint-Lô sous les Bombes," in Herval, Bataille de Normandie, I, 97.

45. MS # A-902 (Bayerlein); Toussaint, La Percee Americaine a l'Ouest de Saint-Lô, p. 144.

46. Seventh Army KTB, 25 Jul; Liddell Hart, The Rommel Papers, pp. 489-90; Pz Lehr Div Ib KTB, Annex 247; MS # B-489 (Ziegelmann).

47. Telecons, Speidel to Zimmerman, Zimmerman to Friedel, Friedel to Zimmerman, 2315, 2335, 25 Jul, and 0045, 26 Jul, OB WEST KTB, Anlage 849.

48. VII Corps Sitrep 98, 25 Jul.

49. VII Corps Opns Memo 43, 20 Jul; 9th Div FO 10, 20 Jul; 4th Div FO 11, 20 Jul; 30th Div FO 13, 20 Jul; 117th Inf FO 10, 20 Jul; 119th Inf FO 5, n.d.; 120th Inf FO 12, 20 Jul; 30th Div Administrative Order 20, 23 Jul; 105th Engr C Bn FO 3, 21 Jul; Misc Notes, n.d., 30th Div G-3 Jnl and File.

50. Min of Mtg (on COBRA) , 21 Jul, 83d Div G-2, G-3 Jnl and File; 330th Inf (COBRA) Attack Plan, n.d., 9th Div G-3 Jnl and File.

51. See above, Ch. XI.

52. 83d Div G-2, G-3 Jnl and File, 25 Jul, and AAR, Jul.

53. The assistant division commander, General Harrison, who later was awarded the DSC, was on hand to inspire men who appeared to be on the verge of panic.

54. [George], Ninth Air Force, p. 118.

55. Hobbs, Telecons, 1750, 1917, and 2225, 25 Jul, 30th Div G-3 Jnl and File.

56. 30th Div G-2 Per Rpt, 25 Jul; 9th Div Arty AAR, Jul.

57. 9th Div G-2 Per Rpt, 0030, 26 Jul.

58. Telecon, Collins and Hobbs, 1550, 25 Jul, 30th Div G-3 Jnl and File.

59. See, for example, 47th Inf S-3 Per Rpt, 26 Jul.

60. 12th AGp Immed Rpt 20, 8 Aug.

61. 9th Div G-3 Jnl, entry 1201, 26 Jul.

62. See Brereton, Diaries, pp. 316-17; Wilmot, Struggle for Europe, pp. 390ff.

63. VII Corps Sitrep 99, 26 Jul.

64. VII Corps G-2 Memo, 25 Jul, VII Corps G-3 Jnl and File.

65. The earliest indication discovered of Collins' decision is a telephone conversation at 1745, 25 July, in 30th Division G-3 Journal and File.



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