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Operation Lüttich, Battle of Mortian
Interesting Battle, scale it down to a manageable level and make a campaign out of it.
Lighthorse
:RpS_sneaky:
Operation Lüttich
The German counter-offensive at Mortain was just the sort of orthodox armoured attack that Rommel had declared impossible against Allied air power. The offensive is also referred to in American and British histories of the Battle of Normandy simply as the Mortain counter-offensive. Only Hitler thought it would work.
Generalfeldmarshall Günther von Kluge was the German supreme commander in the West. After Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel was injured by Allied aircraft on 17 July, von Kluge also took over direct command of Army Group B, the formation conducting the battle in Normandy. He had warned Hitler on 22 July that the collapse of the front was imminent, but Hitler continued to order him to stand fast.
On 2 August, Hitler sent a directive to Von Kluge ordering "an immediate counterattack between Mortain and Avranches". General Walter Warlimontâ€â€the Deputy Chief of Staff at OKW, the German armed forces headquartersâ€â€was also sent to von Kluge's headquarters to ensure these orders were complied with. Von Kluge suggested that there was no chance of success, and the German forces in Normandy should retire to the Seine River, pivoting on the intact defences south of Caen, but on 4 August, Hitler categorically ordered the attack to be launched. He demanded that eight of the nine Panzer Divisions in Normandy be used in the attack, and that the Luftwaffe commit its entire reserve, including 1,000 fighters. According to Hitler, three qualifications had to be met for the attack to proceed. "Von Kluge must believe in it. He must be able to detach enough armour from the main front in Normandy to create an effective striking force, and he must achieve surprise".
Although ordered to wait "until every tank, gun and plane was assembled", von Kluge and SS General Paul Hausserâ€â€commanding the German 7th Army, which held the western part of the frontâ€â€decided to attack as soon as possible, before the overall situation deteriorated further. The main striking force assigned was the XLVII Panzer Corps, commanded by General Hans Freiherr von Funck. Instead of eight Panzer Divisions, only fourâ€â€one of them incompleteâ€â€could be relieved from their defensive tasks and assembled in time; the 2nd Panzer Division, 116th Panzer Division, the 2nd SS Panzer Division and part of the 1st SS Panzer Division, with a total of about 300 tanks. The Panzer Corps was supported by two Infantry Divisions and five Kampfgruppen, formed from the remnants of the Panzer Lehr Division and four equally battered infantry divisions.
Von Kluge ordered the attack to be mounted on the night of 6/7 August. To avoid alerting American forces to the attack, there would be no preparatory artillery bombardments. The intention was to hit the U.S. 30th Infantry Division, commanded by Major-General Leland Hobbs, east of Mortain, then cut through American defenses to reach the coast. Had surprise been achieved, the attack might well have succeeded, but Allied decoders at Ultra had intercepted and decrypted the orders for Operation Lüttich by August 4. As a result, Bradley was able to obtain air support from both the US 9th Air Force and the RAF.
7th of August:
By using reserves that were reaching the theater to replace panzer divisions already in the line, Kluge cobbled together four panzer divisions to launch the counterattack. The U.S. 30th Infantry Division, defending the position through which the Nazi counterattack would come, was a solid outfit, while the terrain favored the defenders. The initial attack, although raggedâ€â€only three of the assault groups jumped off at the correct timeâ€â€achieved some local successes. Yet, at St. Barthelmy north of Mortain, the 1st Battalion, 117th Infantry Regiment, blunted the attack of the 1st SS Panzer and 2nd Panzer Divisions until the sun burned through the fog on the morning of 7 August.
Meanwhile, the German advance had isolated four companies of the 2nd Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, on Hill 317, while approximately 70 tanks broke through Mortain and headed west. But they did not get far. From their vantage point on 317, the Americans called in massive artillery fire on the enemy columns. German attacks on Hill 317 failed to take out the Americans, while Allied fighter-bombers and artillery ceaselessly battered the Wehrmacht troops. By 12 August, when relief finally arrived, only 357 of approximately 700 men on Hill 317 were able to walk off under their own power. The four company commanders received Distinguished Service Crosses. The Mortain counterattack had failed. Nevertheless, Hitler flirted with the idea of resuming the counterattack and ordered two more panzer divisions facing the British to move west.
8th of August:
1400 Hrs: Das Reich launches a counterattack against the northern flank of the 35th Infantry Division. The 35th Division had been committed south of Mortain in order to seal up a gap which had developed between the 30th Division at Mortain and 2nd Armored Division at Barenton to the south. Barenton lies halfway between Mortain and Mayenne, where CCA, 3rd Armored Division, 1st U.S. Infantry Division, and 90th U.S. Infantry Division were in the process of breaking through LXXXI Armee Korps.
The counterattack consisted of elements of Krag's SS Panzeraufklarungs Abteilung 2., reinforced by reconnaissance troops from 2 Panzer Division and 116 Panzer Division, as well as a Pzkfw IV platoon and Panther platoon commanded by Willy Durr. Durr's panzers overrun a section of the 134th Infantry's cannon company, killing seven Americans and destroying two 105mm howitzers. The Pzkfw IV platoon is able to ambush the Sherman platoon supporting the 1/134th Infantry, knocking out five American tanks for no loss. One of Durr's Panthers also knocks out two M-10 TD's from the 654th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
The counterattack also overruns the aid station of the 2/134th Infantry and the motor park of the same battalion. A number of medics are captured, but the headquarters company of 2/134th Infantry does not suffer many casualties as the panzers do not have very much infantry support. After a Panther and Pzkfw IV are knocked out by bazooka fire, a pair of Pzkfw IVs occupy a position astride the main supply route leading to the 1/134th Infantry and 2/134th Infantry. Both of the U.S. battalion are cut off from support. Interestingly enough, the panzer crews capture several officers from the 134th Infantry, as well as medics from the 737th Tank Battalion, all of whom are released after being captured.
By 13 August, the offensive had fully halted, with German forces being driven out of Mortain. The Panzer Divisions involved in the attack lost over 150 of their tanks to Allied counterattacks and air strikes, nearly ½ of those committed. As Hitler ordered German forces in Normandy to hold their positions, the U.S. VII and XV Corps were swinging east and north toward Argentan. The German attack west left the 7th Army' and Panzergruppe West in danger of being encircled by Allied forces. As American forces advanced on Argentan, British and Canadian forces advanced on Falaise, threatening to cut off both armies in the newly-formed Falaise Pocket.
Although American casualties in Operation Lüttich were significantly lighter than in previous operations, certain sectors of the front, notably the positions held by the 30th Division around Mortain, took severe casualties. By the end of 7 August alone, nearly 1,000 men of the 30th Division had been killed. Estimates for American casualties from 6–13 August vary from 2,000-3,000 fatalities, with an unknown number of wounded.
Posted by Mitch Williamson in Battle on Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Interesting Battle, scale it down to a manageable level and make a campaign out of it.
Lighthorse
:RpS_sneaky:
Operation Lüttich
The German counter-offensive at Mortain was just the sort of orthodox armoured attack that Rommel had declared impossible against Allied air power. The offensive is also referred to in American and British histories of the Battle of Normandy simply as the Mortain counter-offensive. Only Hitler thought it would work.
Generalfeldmarshall Günther von Kluge was the German supreme commander in the West. After Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel was injured by Allied aircraft on 17 July, von Kluge also took over direct command of Army Group B, the formation conducting the battle in Normandy. He had warned Hitler on 22 July that the collapse of the front was imminent, but Hitler continued to order him to stand fast.
On 2 August, Hitler sent a directive to Von Kluge ordering "an immediate counterattack between Mortain and Avranches". General Walter Warlimontâ€â€the Deputy Chief of Staff at OKW, the German armed forces headquartersâ€â€was also sent to von Kluge's headquarters to ensure these orders were complied with. Von Kluge suggested that there was no chance of success, and the German forces in Normandy should retire to the Seine River, pivoting on the intact defences south of Caen, but on 4 August, Hitler categorically ordered the attack to be launched. He demanded that eight of the nine Panzer Divisions in Normandy be used in the attack, and that the Luftwaffe commit its entire reserve, including 1,000 fighters. According to Hitler, three qualifications had to be met for the attack to proceed. "Von Kluge must believe in it. He must be able to detach enough armour from the main front in Normandy to create an effective striking force, and he must achieve surprise".
Although ordered to wait "until every tank, gun and plane was assembled", von Kluge and SS General Paul Hausserâ€â€commanding the German 7th Army, which held the western part of the frontâ€â€decided to attack as soon as possible, before the overall situation deteriorated further. The main striking force assigned was the XLVII Panzer Corps, commanded by General Hans Freiherr von Funck. Instead of eight Panzer Divisions, only fourâ€â€one of them incompleteâ€â€could be relieved from their defensive tasks and assembled in time; the 2nd Panzer Division, 116th Panzer Division, the 2nd SS Panzer Division and part of the 1st SS Panzer Division, with a total of about 300 tanks. The Panzer Corps was supported by two Infantry Divisions and five Kampfgruppen, formed from the remnants of the Panzer Lehr Division and four equally battered infantry divisions.
Von Kluge ordered the attack to be mounted on the night of 6/7 August. To avoid alerting American forces to the attack, there would be no preparatory artillery bombardments. The intention was to hit the U.S. 30th Infantry Division, commanded by Major-General Leland Hobbs, east of Mortain, then cut through American defenses to reach the coast. Had surprise been achieved, the attack might well have succeeded, but Allied decoders at Ultra had intercepted and decrypted the orders for Operation Lüttich by August 4. As a result, Bradley was able to obtain air support from both the US 9th Air Force and the RAF.
7th of August:
By using reserves that were reaching the theater to replace panzer divisions already in the line, Kluge cobbled together four panzer divisions to launch the counterattack. The U.S. 30th Infantry Division, defending the position through which the Nazi counterattack would come, was a solid outfit, while the terrain favored the defenders. The initial attack, although raggedâ€â€only three of the assault groups jumped off at the correct timeâ€â€achieved some local successes. Yet, at St. Barthelmy north of Mortain, the 1st Battalion, 117th Infantry Regiment, blunted the attack of the 1st SS Panzer and 2nd Panzer Divisions until the sun burned through the fog on the morning of 7 August.
Meanwhile, the German advance had isolated four companies of the 2nd Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, on Hill 317, while approximately 70 tanks broke through Mortain and headed west. But they did not get far. From their vantage point on 317, the Americans called in massive artillery fire on the enemy columns. German attacks on Hill 317 failed to take out the Americans, while Allied fighter-bombers and artillery ceaselessly battered the Wehrmacht troops. By 12 August, when relief finally arrived, only 357 of approximately 700 men on Hill 317 were able to walk off under their own power. The four company commanders received Distinguished Service Crosses. The Mortain counterattack had failed. Nevertheless, Hitler flirted with the idea of resuming the counterattack and ordered two more panzer divisions facing the British to move west.
8th of August:
1400 Hrs: Das Reich launches a counterattack against the northern flank of the 35th Infantry Division. The 35th Division had been committed south of Mortain in order to seal up a gap which had developed between the 30th Division at Mortain and 2nd Armored Division at Barenton to the south. Barenton lies halfway between Mortain and Mayenne, where CCA, 3rd Armored Division, 1st U.S. Infantry Division, and 90th U.S. Infantry Division were in the process of breaking through LXXXI Armee Korps.
The counterattack consisted of elements of Krag's SS Panzeraufklarungs Abteilung 2., reinforced by reconnaissance troops from 2 Panzer Division and 116 Panzer Division, as well as a Pzkfw IV platoon and Panther platoon commanded by Willy Durr. Durr's panzers overrun a section of the 134th Infantry's cannon company, killing seven Americans and destroying two 105mm howitzers. The Pzkfw IV platoon is able to ambush the Sherman platoon supporting the 1/134th Infantry, knocking out five American tanks for no loss. One of Durr's Panthers also knocks out two M-10 TD's from the 654th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
The counterattack also overruns the aid station of the 2/134th Infantry and the motor park of the same battalion. A number of medics are captured, but the headquarters company of 2/134th Infantry does not suffer many casualties as the panzers do not have very much infantry support. After a Panther and Pzkfw IV are knocked out by bazooka fire, a pair of Pzkfw IVs occupy a position astride the main supply route leading to the 1/134th Infantry and 2/134th Infantry. Both of the U.S. battalion are cut off from support. Interestingly enough, the panzer crews capture several officers from the 134th Infantry, as well as medics from the 737th Tank Battalion, all of whom are released after being captured.
By 13 August, the offensive had fully halted, with German forces being driven out of Mortain. The Panzer Divisions involved in the attack lost over 150 of their tanks to Allied counterattacks and air strikes, nearly ½ of those committed. As Hitler ordered German forces in Normandy to hold their positions, the U.S. VII and XV Corps were swinging east and north toward Argentan. The German attack west left the 7th Army' and Panzergruppe West in danger of being encircled by Allied forces. As American forces advanced on Argentan, British and Canadian forces advanced on Falaise, threatening to cut off both armies in the newly-formed Falaise Pocket.
Although American casualties in Operation Lüttich were significantly lighter than in previous operations, certain sectors of the front, notably the positions held by the 30th Division around Mortain, took severe casualties. By the end of 7 August alone, nearly 1,000 men of the 30th Division had been killed. Estimates for American casualties from 6–13 August vary from 2,000-3,000 fatalities, with an unknown number of wounded.
Posted by Mitch Williamson in Battle on Tuesday, September 13, 2011