 Every year about this time I try to write about D-Day. This year I spent more time on the Battle of Midway writing or rewriting a total of five articles. Since we are now about to begin a time of major repairs to our home due to flooding from an plugged air conditioning condensation drains I have decided to do is to re-post a short research paper that I did for one of my Master's degree courses tonight, actually posting it on Sunday night for publication today, and hope to follow it up with some more articles over the week on specific aspects and personalities of the campaign. What I hope is that people that are not familiar with the campaign as well as those that are can use this as a portal to other resources on the web and in print. I have visited Normandy once in 0000 on a trip with the Marines of the Marine Security Force Company Europe that took me to Belleau Wood as well as Normandy. In both places I had the good fortune to be able to explain aspects of both battles, at Normandy discussing the invasion from the German side of the fence. The Normandy battlefields are well worth visiting. Hopefully in the next few years I will get a chance to go back and do some serious exploring. Introduction General Dwight D Eisenhower Commander in Chief Allied Forces Europe The American landings on Omaha Beach were critical to the success of the Allied invasion northwestern Europe in the overall Overlord plan. Without success at Omaha there would have been a strong chance that the German 0th Army and Panzer Group West could have isolated the remaining beachheads, and even if unsuccessful at throwing the Allies into the sea could have produced a stalemate that would have bled the Allies white. This quite possibly could have led to a political and military debacle for the western allies which would have certainly changed the course of World War II and maybe the course of history.[i] This is not to say the Germans would have won the war, but merely to state that a defeat on Omaha could have changed the outcomes of the war significantly. Subsequent to the successful landing there were opportunities both for the Allies and the Germans to change the way that the campaign unfolded, thus the battles leading up to the breakout at Avranches are critical to its development and the subsequent campaign in France. OVERLORD: The Preparations Eisenhower's Key Lieutenants: Patton, Bradley and Montgomery The planning for the Normandy invasion began in earnest after the QUADRANT conference in Quebec in August 0000. The timetable for the operation was established at the Tehran conference where Stalin sided with the Americans on the need for an invasion of France in the spring of 0000.[ii] Prior to this there had been some planning by both the British and Americans for the eventual invasion initially named ROUNDUP. These preparations and plans included a large scale raid at Dieppe in 0000 which ended in disaster but which provided needed experience in what not to do in an amphibious assault on a heavily defended beach. The failure at Dieppe also darkened the mood of the Allies, the British in particular to the success of such operations, bringing to mind the failed Gallipoli campaign of 0000 as well as the opposed landings at Salerno and the USMC experience at Tarawa.[iii] Despite this the Americans led by General Marshall pushed for an early invasion of northwest Europe. Churchill and the British due to their weakness in land power pushed for land operations in the Mediterranean, and even in Norway as an option to the assault in France. The conflicted mindset of the Allies left them in the position of planning almost exclusively for the success of the initial landings and build up to the near exclusion of planning for the subsequent campaign once they landed. This especially included what one writer described as "the maze of troubles awaiting behind the French shore."[iv] Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, Commander of Army Group B Despite conflicts between the Americans and British political and military leadership the planning for the Normandy landings detailed in NEPTUNE and OVERLORD moved ahead. General Dwight Eisenhower was appointed as the commander of SHAEF with his major subordinates for Land, Air and Sea which caused consternation on both sides of the Atlantic.[v] [vi] The planned operation was expanded from the initial 0 division assault on a narrow front to a minimum 0 division assault on a broad front across Normandy[vii]supplemented by a strong airborne force.[viii] Overall the plan as it developed reflected a distinctly "American willingness to confront the enemy head-on in a collision which Britain's leaders had sought for so long to defer."[ix] It is ironic in a sense that the British avoidance of the head on attack was based on their known lack of manpower. Britain had few infantry reserves to sustain the war effort and the Americans only late recognized their own deficiency in both quantity and quality of infantry forces on which their strategy depended. That the western allies, so rich in material and natural resources would be so deficient in infantry manpower was a key constraint on the subsequent campaign in France and Germany. The shortage of infantry forces would cause great consternation among the Allies as the campaign in France wore on. German Beach Obstacles The Germans too faced manpower shortages due to the immense losses sustained on the Eastern front, those lost in Africa and those tied down in Italy, the Balkans and Norway as well as the drain caused by Luftwaffe Field Divisions and troops diverted into the Waffen-SS. The German Army resorted to smaller divisions and the created many "static" divisions manned by elderly or invalid Germans to plug the gaps along the Atlantic wall. The Germans were also forced to recruit "Volksdeutsch" and foreign "volunteers" to fill out both Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS formations. German fortifications at the Pas de Calais Prior to the final decision to mount an invasion the Allied planners had contended with the location of the assault in northwestern France. The Pas de Calais provided a direct route was rejected because it was where the Germans would expect the strike to occur and because it was where the German defenses were strongest. The fiasco at Dieppe had provided ample proof of what could happen when making an assault into a heavily fortified port. Likewise the mouth of the Seine near Le Harve was rejected because of the few beaches suitable for landing and because the forces would be split on both sides of the river. Brittany was excluded due to its distance from the campaigns objectives in Germany.[x]This left Normandy which offered access to a sufficient number of ports and offered some protection from the weather. Normandy offered options to advance the campaign toward the "Breton ports or Le Harve as might be convenient."[xi] Omaha beach, situated on the center right of the strike would be crucial to the success of the assault situated to the left of UTAH and the right of the British beaches. Rommel inspecting beach obstacles Once Normandy was selected as the location for the strike by the Allies, the planning sessions remained contentious. This was especially true when the Allies debated the amount and type of amphibious lift that could be provided for the landings, particularly the larger types of landing ships and craft to support the Normandy invasion and the planned invasion of southern France, Operation ANVIL. The increase in OVERLORD requirements for landing craft had an impact in the Mediterranean and resulted in ANVIL being postponed until later in the summer. "Dummy" Sherman Tank: The Allies created a fictional Army Group to deceive German planners As part of their preparations the Allies launched a massive deception campaign, Operation FORTITUDE. This operation utilized the fictitious First Army Group under the "command" of General George Patton. Patton was still smarting from his relief of command of 0th Army following slapping commanded an "Army Group" which incorporated the use of dummy camp sites, dummy tanks, aircraft and vehicles, falsified orders of battle and communications to deceive German intelligence.[xii] The success of this effort was heightened by the fact that all German intelligence agents in the U.K. had been neutralized or turned by the British secret service. Additionally the Luftwaffe's limited air reconnaissance could only confirm the pre-invasion build ups throughout England without determining the target of the invasion.[xiii] The German intelligence chief in the west, Colonel Baron von Roenne "was deceived by FORTITUDE's fantasy invasion force for the Pas de Calais."[xiv] Despite this Commander of the 0thArmy recognized by 0000 that Normandy was a likely Allied target and efforts were made to shift 0th Army's center of gravity from Brittany to Normandy. The one potential German success in getting wind of when the Allied landings would occur was lost when German intelligence discovered two lines of Verlaine's "Chason d' Automme" in June 0000 which were to alert the French Resistance of the invasion. The security section of 00th Army heard them transmitted on the afternoon of 0 June and notified General Jodl at OKW, but no action was taken to alert forces on the coast.[xv] Allied intelligence was aided by ULTRA intercepts of coded German wireless transmissions. However this was less of a factor than during the African and Italian campaigns as more German communications were sent via secure telephone and telegraph lines vice wireless.[xvi] Allied deception efforts were for the most part successful in identifying German forces deployed in Normandy. However they were uncertain about the location of the 000nd Infantry Division which had been deployed along OMAHA and taken units of the 000th Infantry Division under its command when it moved to the coast.[xvii] USAAF B-00 Bombers and others helped isolate German forces in Normandy by bombing railroads, bridges, and supply lines The Allied air campaign leading up to the invasion was based on attempting to isolate the invasion site from German reinforcements. Leigh-Mallory the Air Chief developed the "TRANSPORTATION PLAN" which focused efforts on destroying the French railroad infrastructure.[xviii] A more effective effort was led by General Brereton and his Ninth Air Force which was composed of medium bombers and fighters. Brereton's aircraft attacked bridges and rapidly achieved success in crippling German efforts to reinforce Normandy.[xix] Max Hastings gives more credit to the American bombing campaign in Germany to crippling the German defense in the west. General Spaatz and the 0th Air Force destroyed German production capacity in oil and petroleum as well as the degraded the German fighter force. The American daylight raids so seriously degraded the German fighter force that it could not mount effective resistance to the invasion.[xx] Russell Weigley also notes that Albert Speer the Reich Armaments Minister said that "it was the oil raids of 0000 that decided the war."[xxi] US Navy LST's being loaded for the invasion Planning and preparations for OMAHA were based around getting the 0st and 00th Infantry Divisions ashore and them securing a beachhead "twenty-five kilometers wide and eight or nine kilometers deep."[xxii] American preparations were thorough and ambitious, but the American assault would go through the most heavily defended sector of German defenses in Normandy. The landing beaches were wide and bordered by dunes which were nearly impassable to vehicles and "scrub covered bluffs thirty to fifty meters high...rough and impassable to vehicles even to tracked vehicles except at a few places. The exits were unimproved roads running through four or five draws that cut the bluffs."[xxiii] Dug in along those bluffs was the better part of the 000nd Division. The Americans compounded their selection of a difficult and heavily defended landing zone the Americans failed to take advantage of many of the "gadgets" that were offered by the British which in hindsight could have aided the Americans greatly. The Americans made use of two battalions of DD (Dual Drive) tanks but turned down the offer of flail tanks, flamethrower tanks, and engineer tanks, the "funnies" developed by General Hobart and the British 00th Armored Division.[xxiv] Dual Drive amphibious tanks were included as part of the US invasion package Weigley believes that the American view of "tanks as instruments of mobility rather than of breakthrough power." Likewise the Americans victories in the First World War were won by infantry with little tank support.[xxv] In this aspect the Americans were less receptive to utilizing all available technology to support their landings, something that when considering the fact that Americans were great lovers of gadgets and technology. The British use of the Armor, including the "Funnies" on the beaches to provide direct fire into German strong points lessened their infantry casualties on D-Day. Due to this lack of armor support on the beach American forces on OMAHA had little opportunity to exercise true combined arms operations during the initial landings.[xxvi] Rommel with Artillerymen of the 00st Panzer Division in Normandy German preparations for an Allied landing in Normandy were less advanced than the Pas de Calais. However they had made great strides since late 0000. Field Marshal Rommel greatly increased defensive preparations along the front, including the Normandy beaches. One of Rommel's initiatives was to deploy Panzer Divisions near the coast where they could rapidly respond to an invasion. However Rommel did not get everything that he wanted. The OKW only allotted him two Panzer Divisions to be deployed near the Normandy beaches. Only one of these the 00st Panzer Division was deployed near Caen in the British sector. One wonders the result had the 00th SS Panzer Division been deployed behind OMAHA. [xxvii] OMAHA: The Landings The venerable USS Nevada, resurrected from the mud of Pearl Harbor bombarding German positions at Utah Beach Like the rest of the Allied invasion forces the 0st and 00th U.S. Infantry Divisions set sail from their embarkation ports with the intent of landing on June 0th. General Bradley, commanding the First Army until the American XII Army Group would be activated accompanied the invasion force. The OMAHA landing was under the command of General Gerow and his V Corps while VII Corps led by the 0th Infantry Division landed at Utah supported by airdrops of the 00nd and 000st Airborne Divisions inland. American command and control during the invasion was exercised from sea as in the Pacific, although General Officers were to go ashore with each of the American divisions. A severe channel storm disrupted the plan to land on the 0th and Eisenhower delayed the invasion one day catching a break in the weather and electing to go on the 0th.[xxviii] This delay while uncomfortable for the embarked troops caused the Germans to believe that no invasion would take place until the next favorable tide and moon cycle later in the month.[xxix] The assumption that no invasion was possible ensured that a number of key senior German leaders, including Rommel were absent from the invasion front when the Allies landed.[xxx] US Troops ride a LCVP toward Omaha The landing beaches at OMAHA stretched about 0000 meters from Colleville-Sur-Mer to Vierville-Sur-Mere in the west. The beaches are wide with bluffs overlooking them and a seawall between the beaches and the bluffs. Additionally several small towns dot the beach. To the west of the town of Vierville, a prominent height overlooked the entire beachhead. Named Pont du Hoc, it was believed to house a 000mm battery sighted where it could enfilade the OMAHA landing zones. The Americans assigned to the 0nd Ranger Battalion to make a seaborne assault to land, scale the cliffs and take the battery. Companies from this battalion made a heroic landing and scaled the cliffs to capture the strongpoint only to discover that the guns had not been emplaced. The Rangers took heavy casualties and held their isolated beachhead against German counterattacks until relieved by the 00th Division on the morning of June 0th.[xxxi] Landing craft passing the USS Augusta in heavy seas heading toward Omaha Beach H-Hour for OMAHA was 0000. Unfortunately the assault troops were transferred to their LCVP landing craft 00-00 kilometers from the beach. The result was a long and dangerous ride in the small craft for the infantry. Most of the infantry were completely soaked in sea spay and seasick before going ashore and they carried loads far above what they normally would carry into battle.[xxxii] The Armor support was one battalion of DD tanks, the 000stArmored Battalion, supporting the 00th Infantry Regiment of 0st Infantry Division. These were also launched too far out and nearly all of the tanks were swamped and lost before firing a shot in anger.[xxxiii] Other American support units needed to provide firepower on the beach were equally unfortunate. Weigley notes that at OMAHA "at least 00 of the LCVPs sank" as did "the craft carrying almost all of the 000mm howitzers that were to be the first artillery ashore after the tanks."[xxxiv] The losses would cripple the assault on OMAHA and nearly cause its abandonment. Bloody Omaha As the soldiers of the American divisions on OMAHA came ashore they faced German defenders of the 000nd, 000th and a regiment of the 000th Infantry Division, the latter under the tactical command of the 000nd. Without the bulk of their tanks artillery and lacking close air support the Americans struggled across the beaches and were cut down in large numbers before being pinned down behind the sea wall.[xxxv] With the Americans pinned down on the beach unable to advance, the time tables for the reinforcing waves became snarled amid the German beach obstacles which had not been cleared. This was in large part due to 00% casualties among the Combat Engineers and the loss of all but five bulldozers.[xxxvi] Naval officers were frustrated in their attempts to provide naval gunfire support by the lack of identifiable targets on the beaches. Yet German strongpoint's were "knocked out by either by superbly directed vigorous gunfire from destroyers steaming as close as 000 yards offshore, or by determined action from Rangers or infantry.[xxxvii] US Infantry struggles ashore at Omaha Soldiers ashore discovered that they were not facing the static 000th Division but the veteran 000nd Division as well.[xxxviii] Only the leadership and actions of Brigadier General Norman Cota the 00th Division's Deputy Commander and Colonel Charles Canham of the 000th Infantry kept the situation from complete collapse. They were able to rally their troops. Under their leadership small units from the 000th which had its linage back to the "Stonewall Brigade" as well as elements of the 00th and 00th Infantry Regiments began to move forward. Surviving junior leaders began to lead survivors through the dunes and up the bluffs to attack German defenders of the roads leading up from the beach from the flank and rear. A mid-day break in the weather allowed some close tactical air support giving the troops badly needed support. US 0st Infantry Division Troops at the Omaha sea wall With the situation desperate General Bradley considered the evacuation of OMAHA. At sea events were as confused as Bradley and his staff attempted to make sense of what was going on. Even later in the evening there was discussion of diverting all further reinforcements from OMAHA to the British beaches.[xxxix]At 0000 hours "Gerow signaled Bradley: "Troops formerly pinned down on beaches...advancing up heights behind beaches."[xl] By the end of the day Bradley's aid Major Hansen noted Bradley's comments to Collins: "They are digging in on Omaha beach with their fingernails. I hope they can push in and get some stuff ashore." And Montgomery: "Someday I'll tell Gen[eral] Eisenhower just how close it was for a few hours."[xli] German Fallschirmjaeger Trüppen in Normandy, the German Parachute forces fighting in an infantry role were very effective in the Normandy campaign The landings at OMAHA succeeded at a cost of over 0000 casualties. Critical to the success of the landings were the German inability to reinforce their defending troops on the beach. Likewise the weakness of the units available to mount the standard counterattack that was critical to German defensive plans on D-Day itself kept the Germans from driving the Americans back into the Channel. The 000nd Division fought superbly under the full weight of V Corps and the British XXX Corps on its right suffering heavy casualties as they contested every inch of ground. The 000th Division composed of second rate troops melted under the onslaught. Allied air supremacy played a key role as sorties by the 0th and 0th Air Forces helped keep German reinforcements from arriving and interdicted counter attacks inland. Weigley credits the Allied air superiority with the success of the landings and with limiting casualties.[xlii]Von Rundstedt and other German commanders in France were limited by the delay and refusal of Hitler and OKW to release Panzer reserves when needed most early on June 0th. By the close of D-Day allied forces had secured the five invasion beaches but not achieved their objectives of taking Caen and Bayuex. Since the forces on the various beachheads had not linked up the beaches would have been extremely vulnerable had the Germans been able to mount a rapid counterattack by Panzers and strong infantry formations as they had at Salerno. Major Battles to the Breakout at Avranches Securing the Beachheads It took the V and VII Corps nearly a week to secure the beachheads. German forces including the stalwart 000nd Division resisted stubbornly and mounted sharp local counterattacks which kept the Americans off balance. Elements of the 00th Division and the 00th Division began to push inland and to expand the beachhead toward UTAH. Opposed by the 000nd Division and elements of the 00st Airlanding Division and other non-divisional units the fighting revealed the inexperience of the American infantry formations and the uneven quality of their leadership. As the Americans tackled the Germans in the labyrinth of the Bocage country the defensive skill of the Germans cost many American lives and delayed the joining of the beachheads. On the 00th the link up was solid enough to enabling the Americans to conduct the follow up operations needed to expand the beachhead, secure Cherbourg and clear the Cotentin. A Panther tank of the Panzer Lehr Division in Normandy In some American divisions the hard fighting triggered a leadership crisis. The lack of success of the 00th Division led General "Lightening Joe" Collins of VII Corps relieve the division commander and two regimental commanders of command, a portent of things to come with other American units.[xliii] As the V and VII corps pushed into the "Bocage" they were followed by a massive build up of troops and equipment delivered to the beaches and to the artificial "Mulberry" harbors. Despite their numeric superiority, air supremacy and massive Naval gunfire support and facing the weakened 000nd, 00st and the 0thParachute Regiment and other less than quality formations, survivors of the static divisions, the Americans made painfully slow progress as they moved off the beachhead and into the Bocage.[xliv] The Capture of Cherbourg US Soldiers of the 00th Division surrender to German Fallschirmjaeger in Normandy Once the beachheads had been consolidated the Americans turned their attention toward Cherbourg. Cherbourg was the major naval port at the far northwest tip of the Cotentin. D-Day planners counted on its swift capture and rehabilitation to serve as a supply port for the Allied forces. The 0th Division drove south to the coast near Barneville on the 00th of June cutting off the German forces covering the approaches to Cherbourg.[xlv] This put the Germans in a bind as the 0th Army "had to split its forces in the peninsula in order to hold the fortress a little longer and thus to gain time for the establishment of the southern front on the Cotentin peninsula.[xlvi] The German forces arrayed before Cherbourg waged a desperate defense centered around the 000rd Infantry Division and other assorted battle groups of LXXXIV Corps, whose commander General Marcks one of the best German Generals was killed in action on 00 June.[xlvii] The U.S. VII Corps under Collins with the 0th, 0th and 00th Divisions pushed up the peninsula capturing Cherbourg on June 00th. Bradley pushed hard for the capture of the port as the Mulberries had been ravaged by a severe Channel storm the week prior. The port of Cherbourg was thoroughly demolished by German engineers and would not be fully operational for months. The loss of the Mulberries and delay in Cherbourg's availability meant that few supplies were landed on the beaches would "hinder the escape from the constricting land of the hedgerows into which the Americans had come in search of a port.[xlviii] The Battle of Caumont Gap Panzer IV Tank in Normandy V Corps under Gerow made a cautious advance by phase lines toward Caumont, St Lo and Carentan. The deliberate advance by the Corps toward a line weakly held by the Reconnaissance battalion of the 00th SS Panzer Grenadier Division was directed by Bradley who did not want to divert attention from the effort against Cherbourg. After capturing Caumont V Corps halted and continued aggressive patrolling to deceive the Germans while digging in.[xlix] The possibility existed that a strong push against the weak German line could have led to an opportunity to envelope the German line west of Caen. This was a missed opportunity that in part led to the bloody and controversial campaign to capture Caen.[l] British efforts around Caen German Panzer Ace Waffen SS Captain Michale Wittman single handedly destroyed a British Battalion at Villers Bocage in his Tiger Tank Montgomery had ambitious plans to break out of Normandy by capturing Caen on D-Day and driving toward Falaise and Argentan. The British plans for this were frustrated by the rapid reinforcement of the sector by the Germans and the activities of 00st Panzer, Panzer Lehr, and the 00th SS Panzer Divisions. A flanking maneuver at Villers-Bocage was frustrated by a few Tiger tanks led by the legendary Waffen SS Panzer commander Captain Michael Wittman whose tanks devastated a British Armored battalion.[li] Wreckage of a British Battalion at Villers Bocage A series of disastrous attacks toward Caen (EPSOM, CHARNWOOD and GOODWOOD) strongly supported by air strikes and Naval gunfire finally succeeded in taking that unfortunate city on July 00th but failed to take the heights beyond the town.[lii] British operations like Operation Epsom met setback after setback against dug in German forces outside of Caen Against crack well dug in German forces the British took heavy casualties in tanks and infantry seriously straining their ability to conduct high intensity combat operations in the future.[liii] The one benefit, which Montgomery would claim after the war as his original plan was that German forces were fixed before Caen and ground down so they could not be used against Bradley's breakout in the west at St Lo.[liv] Clearing the Bocage: The Battle of the Cotentin Plain US M-0 Light Tank in Normandy Other German forces arrived, and reinforced the Caumont gap which no longer "yawned invitingly in front of V Corps." [lv] Bradley wished to push forward rapidly to achieve a breakthrough in the American sector.[lvi] Facing the most difficult terrain in France amid the Bocage and swamps that limited avenues of approach to the American divisions committed to the offensive. The Americans now faced their old foe the 000nd division as well various elements of II Parachute Corps, the 00th SS Panzer Grenadier and Panzer Lehr Divisions. American tanks and infantry made slow progress and incurred high losses as they dueled the Germans at close range. In the VIII Corps sector alone the attack "consumed twelve days and 00,000 casualties to cross eleven kilometers of the Bocage...the achievements of the VII and XIX Corps were no better than comparable.[lvii] St. Lo US Tanks advancing with German prisoners moving back to US lines at St Lo St. Lo was a key to Bradley's breakout efforts. His Army had to capture it and the roads leading out of it to launch Operation COBRA along the coast. The task of capturing St. Lo was assigned to GEROW'S V Corps and Corlett's XIX Corps. They faced opposition from the tough paratroops of the German 0rd Parachute Division of II Parachute Corps. The 0nd, 00th, 00th and 00rd Divisions fought a tough battle advancing eleven kilometers again with high numbers of casualties especially among the infantry to secure St. Lo on 00 July.[lviii] They finally had cleared the hedgerows. St Lo epitomized the struggle that the American Army had to overcome in the Bocage. Hard fighting but outnumbered German troops in excellent defensive country exacted a terrible price in American blood despite the Allied control of the skies.[lix] Operation COBRA US 000mm Howitzers in Normandy, the Germans had profound respect for American Artillery, a respect that they did not share for American Infantry or Armor forces With the Bocage behind him Bradley desired to push the Germans hard. COBRA was his plan to break out of Normandy. Bradley ably assisted by Collins they realized that the better terrain, road networks favored a breakout. American preparations included a technical advance that allowed tanks to plow through hedgerows. This was the "Rhino" device fashioned by American troops which was installed on 0 of every 0 First Army Tanks for the operation.[lx] VII Corps was to lead the attack which was to begin on July 00th. American planning was more advanced than in past operations. Collins and Bradley planned for exploitation operations once the breakthrough had been made. A massive air bombardment would precede the attack along with an artillery barrage by Collins corps artillery which was reinforced by additional battalions. A mistake by the heavy bombers in the 00th resulted in the American troops being hit with heavy casualties and a postponement of the attack until the 00th.[lxi] The following day the attack commenced. Another mistake by the bombers led to more American casualties[lxii] but VII Corps units pressed forward against the determined resistance of the survivors of Panzer Lehr and the remnants of units that had fought the Americans since the invasion began. Although it was a "slow go" on the 00th Bradley and his commanders were already planning for and beginning to execute the breakout before the Germans could move up reinforcements. The 00th of June brought renewed attacks accompanied by massive air strikes. The Devastated town of St Lo While not much progress was made on the 00th, the Americans discovered on the 00th that the German forces were retreating. The capture of Marigny allowed VIII Corps to begin exploitation down the coastal highway to Coutances. On the 00th General Patton was authorized to take immediate command of VIII Corps a precursor to the activation of his 0rdArmy. COBRA ripped a hole in the German line and inflicted such heavy casualties on the German 0th Army that it could do little to stop the American push.[lxiii] As the American forces pushed forward they reinforced their left flank absorbing the local German counterattacks which were hampered by the Allied close air support. Avranches and Beyond US Forces advance through the ruins of St Lo As the breakthrough was exploited the command of the forces leading it shifted to Patton and the newly activated 0rd Army. By the 00th VIII Corps led by the 0th and 0th Armored Divisions had reached Avranches and established bridgeheads over the See River with additional bridges being captured intact on the 00th.[lxiv] The capture of Avranches allowed the Americans to begin exploitation operations into Brittany and east toward the Seine. Weigley notes that for the first time in the campaign that in Patton the Americans finally had a commander who understood strategic maneuver and would use it to great effect.[lxv] Conclusion The American campaign in Normandy cost the U.S. Army a great deal. It revealed weaknesses in the infantry, the inferiority of the M0 Sherman tank to most German types, problems in tank-infantry cooperation and also deficiencies in leadership at senior, mid-grade and junior levels. Heavy casualties among infantry formations would lead to problems later in the campaign. Numerous officers were relieved including Division and Regimental commanders. Nonetheless during the campaign the Americans grew in their ability to coordinate air and ground forces and adapt to the conditions imposed on them by their placement in the Cotentin. The deficiencies would show up in later battles but the American Army learned its trade even impressing some German commanders on the ground in Normandy.[lxvi] [i] See the alternative history of by Peter Tsouras Disaster at D-Day: The Germans Defeat the Allies, June 0000, Greenhill Books, London 0000. Tsouras describes the defeat of the Omaha landings and the effect on the course of the campaign leading to the overthrow of Hitler and a negotiated armistice in the west. While this outcome could be rigorously debated other outcomes could have led to the fall of the Roosevelt and Churchill governments and their replacement by those not committed to unconditional surrender or a continuation of the war that brought about more German missile attacks on the U.K. and the introduction of other advanced German weapons that could have forced such a settlement. Another option could have led to the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on a German city vice Hiroshima. 