Chapter XVI
Breakthrough Becomes Breakout

Footnotes

1. VII Corps Opns Memos 52 and 53, 30 and 31 Jul.

2. VII Corps Opns Memo 51, 29 Jul (confirming oral orders issued 26 Jul).

3. VII Corps Opns Memo 52, 30 Jul (confirming oral orders issued 29 Jul).

4. 3d Armd Div FO 5, 30 Jul.

5. 3d Armd Div FO 5, 30 Jul (confirming oral orders).

6. 3d Armd Div G-3 Per Rpt 36, 30 Jul.

7. VII Corps Opns Memo 51, 29 Jul (confirming oral orders, 28 Jul); Interv by author with Gen Collins, 2 Sep 55; Talk by Gen Collins at the Armored School, Fort Knox, Ky., 19 Jan 48 (in the Library of The Armored School); Ltr, Collins to Hechler, 9 Dec 45, quoted in Hechler, VII Corps in Operation COBRA, p. 219.

8. Colonel Doan was awarded the DSC for this action.

9. Gen Collins' Talk at The Armored School; Ruppenthal Notes, ML-2185.

10. VII Corps Opns Memo 53, 31 Jul (confirming oral orders 30 Jul).

11. CI 30 (4th Div); see Hechler, VII Corps in Operation COBRA, pp. 236-37.

12. 3d Armd Div CCA intervs cited in Hechler, VII Corps in Operation COBRA, pp. 246-48; 3d Armd Div CCA AAR, Jul.

13. XV Corps G-3 Memo, Conf at Comd Post VIII Corps, 282000 Jul, 29 Jul, XV Corps G-3 Jnl and File; Pogue Interv with Bradley, Washington, 1948, Pogue Files.

14. XV Corps G-3 Memo, Conf at Comd Post VIII Corps, 282000 Jul, 29 Jul, XV Corps G-3 Jnl and File.

15. XV Corps G-3 Memo, Conf at G-3 Office, Hq Third U.S. Army, 281600 Jul, 29 Jul, XV Corps G-3 Jnl File.

16. 4th Armd Div G-3 Jnl, entry 2115, 27 Jul, Overlay to Accompany FO 2, 26 Jul, and FO 3, 28 Jul; VIII Corps Msgs, 1810, 27 Jul, and 0125, 28 Jul, 4th Armd Div G-3 Jnl File.

17. 6th Armd Div AAR, Jul, and G-3 Jnl, 28 Jul.

18. XV Corps G-3 Memo, Conf at Comd Post VIII Corps, 282000 Jul, 29 Jul, XV Corps G-3 Jnl and File.

19. 357th Inf Jnl, entry 2220, 27 Jul; ETOUSA Engr Hist Rpt 10, Combat Engineering, p. 35.

20. VIII Corps Msgs, 0125 and 0130, 28 Jul, to 4th and 6th Armd Divs, FUSA G-3 Jnl.

21. VIII Corps Msg, 1600, 27 Jul, and G-3 Jnl, entries, 0113, 0200, and 1045, 28 Jul; 6th Armd Div Msg, 2210, 27 Jul, FUSA G-3 Jnl; 6th Armd Div AAR, Jul.

22. The basic sources for the action in the VIII Corps sector described below are: G-3 Section, Combat Record of the Sixth Armored Division in the European Theater of Operations, 18 July 1944-8 May 1945, compiled under direction of Maj. Clyde J. Burk (Germany: Steinbeck-Druck Aschaffenburg, 1945) (hereafter cited as Combat Record of the Sixth Armored Division), an excellent documentary source, pp. 1-8; Capt. Kenneth Koyen, The Fourth Armored Division (Munich, Germany: Herder-Druck, 1946), pp. 7-21; F. P. Halas, VIII Corps Operations, 26-31 July 1944, a preliminary MS, Hist Div USFET (1945), OCMH Files.

23. 4th Armd Div G-3 Jnl, 28 Jul; VIII Corps G-3 Per Rpt 44, 29 Jul; see Abbe Georges Cadel, "Au Pays de Coutances," in Herval, Bataille de Normandie, I, 166-87. General Wood received the DSC for his inspiring leadership at Coutances during the engagement.

24. VIII Corps G-2 Per Rpt 44, 28 Jul; FUSA Air Sec Msgs, 1800 and 2201, 28 Jul, 83d Div G-2, G-3 Jnl File, and G-2 Per Rpt 49, 29 Jul.

25. VIII Corps Msg, 0030, 29 Jul, 83d Div G-2, G-3 Jnl and File.

26. VIII Corps Msg, 2355, 28 Jul, VIII Corps G-3 Jnl and File.

27. George S. Patton, Jr., War as I Knew It (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1947), pp. 96-97; Ltr, Grow to OCMH, 29 Mar 56.

28. VIII Corps G-3 Jnl, entry 0250, 29 Jul; VII Corps Opns Memo 51, 29 Jul (confirming oral orders 28 Jul); 4th Armd Div G-3 Jnl, entry 0040, 29 Jul, and Overlay (Routes of CCB, 4th Armd Div, East and West Elements), 1230, 29 Jul, 4th Armd Div G-3 Jnl; Interv by author with Gen Collins, Washington D.C, 2 Sep 55.

29. 4th Armd Div G-3 Jnl, 29 Jul, and CCB S-3 Jnl, entry 0614, 29 Jul; VIII Corps G-3 Jnl, 29 Jul. Col. Louis J. Storck, the CCR commander, was killed when a mine destroyed his jeep in Coutances.

30. Capt. William F. Pieri, who deactivated a row of mines blocking the bridge and enabled the armor to continue, was posthumously awarded the DSC.

31. 4th Armd Div G-3 Jnl, 1825, 29 Jul, and CCB S-3 Jnl, entries 0730, 1033, and 1430, 29 Jul.

32. FUSA Sitrep 108, 30 Jul, G-2 Per Rpt 50, 30 Jul, and Msg, 0320, 30 Jul, 83d G-2, G-3 Jnl and File; VIII Corps G-2 Weekly Rpt 6, 29 Jul, and G-3 Per Rpt 45, 30 Jul.

33. VIII Corps Msg, 29 Jul, 83d Div G-2, G-3 Jnl and File.

34. 6th Armd Div FO 3, 0300, 30 Jul.

35. 4th Armd Div G-3 Jnl, entry 2130, 29 Jul.

36. James B. Hodgson, Report of Interview [on Avranches. With General von Gersdorff, 1954, MS R-40, OCMH.

37. Armor in the Exploitation or the 4th Armored Division Across France to the Moselle River (Ft. Knox, Ky., May, 1949), a research report prepared by Committee 13, Officers Advanced Course, p. 20; Koyen, Fourth Armored Division, pp. 25, 26.

38. See, for example, VIII Corps Msg, 2030, 30 Jul, 83d Div G-2, G-3 Jnl and File.

39. FUSA G-2 Per Rpt 51, 31 Jul; VIII Corps G-2 Jnl, 30 Jul, and Tel Msg, 1000, 30 Jul, VIII Corps G-3 Jnl.

40. VIII Corps G-2 Jnl, 30 Jul; see above, p. 307.

41. VIII Corps G-3 Jnl, 30 Jul.

42. 4th Armd Div G-3 and CCB G-3 Jnls, 30 Jul; Halas, VIII Corps Opns, pp. 79-82; Ltr, Wood to OCMH, 24 Mar 54, OCMH Files.

43. See VII Corps AAR, Jul.

44. VIII Corps Msg, 0200, 31 Jul, 4th Armd Div G-3 Jnl and File; 4th Armd Div CCB S-3 Jnl. 30 and 31 Jul; see Jean Seguin, "Remous de la Lutte autour d'Avranches," in Herval, Bataille de Normandie, I. 208-31.

45. Pvt. Whitson was posthumously awarded the DSC.

46. For his leadership, General Dager was awarded the DSC.

47. VIII Corps G-3 Jnl, entries 1330 and 1430, 31 Jul.

48. VIII Corps G-3 Jnl, entries 1525 and 1935, 31 Jul; see Charles de la Morandiere, "L'Angoisse de Granville," and Mme. Paule Mortgat-Lhomer, "Les Allies aux Portes d'Avranches," in Herval, Bataille de Normandie, I, 188-200, 201-07.

49. VIII Corps Engineer Recon Rpt, 31 Jul, VIII Corps G-3 Jnl and File; FUSA Msgs, 31 Jul, 30th Div G-3 Jnl File and 4th Armd Div G-3 Jnl and File.

50. Telecon, Kluge and Blumentritt, 1023, 31 Jul, OB WEST KTB, Anlage 066.



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