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corridor bounded by the sea, broad maneuvers and
wide end runs were impossible. Up to the latter days of July the possibility
remained ever imminent that the enemy might draw sufficient reserves to
launch an overwhelming counter-offensive aimed at driving the Allies into
the sea... with the added possibility that such an offensive might
conceivably succeed.
On July 26th the front flamed into action.
The VII Corps, in the east, leveled the city of Saint-Lô in a tremendous
artillery and aerial bombardment. Behind that bombardment came the American
troops, sweeping through the breach in the enemy lines.
On the same day the VIII Corps, with the 79th, 8th, 90th
and 83rd Infantry Divisions in order from right to left, struck
southward toward Coutances. Since the enemy on the Island was alerted it
would have been madness to attempt a breakthrough at that point. Therefore,
the 90th sidestepped that focal point of resistance.
The first day the entire VIII Corps met resistance of the stiffest nature.
Whatever gains were made were costly and negligible. The action by the VII
Corps at Saint-Lô, however, was the main effort. A breakthrough seemed
imminent. If the Germans continued resistance in the path of the 90th,
and should the VII Corps swing to the west, a gigantic trap would have been
sprung. Would the enemy withdraw from the closing trap ?
That question was answered the following day. Coiled and ready, the 90th
struck. By nightfall Périers was in the hands of the Division. The Island
was no longer German. The 4th and 6th Armored
Divisions threw their lumbering tanks into high gear and spearheaded the
drive to Coutances and Avranches, even further to the south.
The German line was shattered, the breakthrough had come. The Germans who
had invented the military art of "blitzkrieg" were now to see it as it
should be done. The 90th waited for further orders just south
of Périers, poised expectantly. |
