Evening star., 1948-06-06

A0 ~ AoS 4 - Ay
} Periers road. thus effectively pro.
tecting the 10th Corps right fank.
Shortly after midnight on July Z
elements Of the Soth Division forced
. crossing Of the Wire River In one
of the most picturesque and hard.
fought actions Of the Normandy
campaign.
A bridgehead Was established
which made 1t possible to bring over
. combat command Of the I'd
Armored and the next day territory
was cleared approximately equiv.
alent to . quarter circle with .
radius Of about six miles directly to
the northwest of the doomed town.
1t was pressed from the north BY
the 35th Division and from the east
by the 29th. The town now was en-
circled In every direction except to
the south.
st. Lo, after weeks Of encircling
action, was entered late on the aft
ernoon on July ls by 2eth Division
task force Of tanks and jeeps.
This force assembled ut the little
crossroads village Of La Forge, about
3 miles to the north. Down the hill
ahead stretched the 'loneliest road
In France" The action was as close
~ one can image In these mechan.
ised days to . Civil War cavalry
charge. 1t was led by Brig. Gen.
Norman d. Cota in person.
Early In July the 1st Army stan
formulated its plans for Operation
Cobra-better known as the great
break-through.
First Army's Plan
For the over all plan of this oper~
alton, one of the most brilliant in
the history Of warfare and destined
to be q classic for students Of tac-
tics for generations, credit belongs
entirely to the 1st Army. There
was no outside suggestion, rs some
times has been suggested. 1t was
worked out in detail in . hillside
apple orchard near Vouilly, the
Army's headquarters.
It was, in brief, q plan to smash
q big hole in the German front and
crush the separated units Of the
enemy armies in snakelike coils OF
armor and infantry. The foothold
in Normandy now was secure. More
than i half million soldiers with all
their battle equipment were crowded
into the Cotentin peninsula and the
narrow strip of territory along the
Channel coast. The 1st Army had
developed tremendous striking power
and it needed room in which to
operate we'll beyond the irritating
and dangerous hedgerow country.
The plan called for combination
of air and ground forces, both In
fantry and armor, on . scale hither-
to unimagined. Nearly every move
was without precedent, particularly
the use of air power on Q titanic
scale to prepare the way for tanks
and infantry.
Lesson in Reverse
First came the great air attack on
ground troops with the object Of
demoralizing and shattering the
communications of the enemy. 1t
was to be carried out under the
direction Of the 9th Air Force in
five waves, the second Of which.
consisting Of $500 heavy bombers,
was to carpet bomb" an area 9
miles long and about az miles
deep in front of the 7th Corps. Bad
visibility delayed this operation for
a week. 1t finally was carried out
on the morning Of July Is with re-
suits that, TO say the least, left
much to be desired. Many of the
bombardiers missed their bomb
line. Casualties were heavy among
the 7th Corps troops which had
been moved back 1900 yards for
safety.
A major loss was suffered in the
death of Gen. Leslie ]. McNair.
commander Of the Army Ground
Forces, then on an inspection tour
in Normandy. When his body was
found 1t was thought to be that OF
some unidentifiable brigadier gen.
eral. Through one Of those queer
quirks of bombing, fragment OF
the shell which killed him had
neatly clipped of two Of the stars
from each shoulder. The bombing
undoubtedly broke up enemy COM
munications and caused q high de-
gree of terror. Actual casualties,
however, were almost as great
among Americans as Germans. The
reasons for all this have been thor
oughly analyzed In lst Army reports.
Coordination between air and
ground was at that time, and TO
some extent still remains, an ul-
developed part Of military science.
Perhaps the major value OF tbs
great bombing was the lessons 1t
taught, at such heavy cost, on what
not to do.
But after the planes had turned
around, the enemy, his artillery
silenced, gave ground slowly In front
Of the 4th and 9th Infantry Divi-
sions.
Won Kluee in Desperate Spot
The break-through had indeed
placed Marshal Won Kuge, the
German commander in chief In the
west, in . desperate situation. Since
D day he had lost more than 100 900
men and about $500 vehicles. Eleven
Of his generals had been killed.
captured or relieved of their COM
mands. Replacements arrived con-
stantly, but in too small numbers
to affect the outcome OF any battle.
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