Operation Cobra

Saint Lo
Operation Cobra
	Part of Operation Overlord
	; M4 Sherman tanks and infantrymen of the U.S. 4th Armored Division in Coutances
Date	25–31 July 1944
Location	Saint-Lô, Normandy, France49°06′55″N 1°05′25″W / 49.115277°N 1.090277°W
Result	Allied victory
Belligerents
United States; United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Bernard Montgomery; Omar Bradley; Lesley J. McNair †	Günther von Kluge; Paul Hausser
Units involved
First Army: VII Corps 2nd Armored Div.; 3rd Armored Div.; 1st Infantry Div.; 9th Infantry Div.; 30th Infantry Div.; ; VIII Corps 4th Armored Div.; 6th Armored Div.; ;	Seventh Army: II Para. Corps 5th Para. Div.; 2nd Panzer Div.; Panzer Lehr Div.; ; LXXXIV Corps 2nd SS Pz. Div.; 17th SS Pzgr. Div.; 116th Panzer Div.; 352nd Inf. Div.; ;
Strength
8 infantry divisions; 3 armored divisions ; 2,451 tanks and tank destroyers	2 infantry divisions; 1 parachute division; 4 understrength Panzer divisions; 1 Panzergrenadier division; 190 tanks and assault guns
Casualties and losses
1,800 casualties ; at least 109 medium tanks destroyed or damaged ; unknown number of light tanks and tank destroyers	1,250 killed and/or captured ; 144 tanks & self-propelled guns destroyed/abandoned; 2,447 soft-skinned vehicles destroyed/abandoned; 252 artillery pieces destroyed/abandoned

Operation Cobra was an offensive launched by the First United States Army under Lieutenant General Omar Bradley seven weeks after the D-Day landings, during the Normandy campaign of World War II. The intention was to take advantage of the distraction of the Germans by the British and Canadian attacks around Caen in Operation Goodwood,^[12] and thereby break through the German defenses that were penning in their forces, while the Germans were unbalanced. Once a corridor had been created, the First Army would then be able to advance into Brittany, rolling up the German flanks once free of the constraints of the bocage country. After a slow start, the offensive gathered momentum and German resistance collapsed as scattered remnants of broken units fought to escape to the Seine. Lacking the resources to cope with the situation, the German response was ineffectual and the entire Normandy front soon collapsed. Operation Cobra, together with concurrent offensives by the British Second Army and the Canadian First Army, was decisive in securing an Allied victory in the Normandy campaign.

Having been delayed several times by poor weather, Operation Cobra commenced on 25 July 1944, with a concentrated aerial bombardment from thousands of Allied aircraft. Supporting offensives had drawn the bulk of German armored reserves toward the British and Canadian sector and, coupled with the general lack of men and materiel available to the Germans, it was impossible for them to form successive lines of defense. Units of the U.S. VII Corps led the initial two-division assault, while other First U.S. Army corps mounted supporting attacks designed to pin German units in place. Progress was slow on the first day but opposition started to crumble once the defensive crust had been broken. By 27 July, most organized resistance had been overcome and the VII and VIII Corps advanced rapidly, isolating the Cotentin Peninsula.

By 31 July, XIX Corps had destroyed the last forces opposing the First Army, which emerged from the bocage. Reinforcements were moved west by Field Marshal Günther von Kluge and employed in various counterattacks, the largest of which, Unternehmen Lüttich (Operation Liège), was launched on 7 August between Mortain and Avranches. Although this led to the bloodiest phase of the battle, it was mounted by already exhausted and understrength units and was a costly failure. On 8 August, troops of the newly activated Third United States Army captured the city of Le Mans, formerly the German 7th Army headquarters. Operation Cobra transformed the high-intensity infantry combat of Normandy into rapid maneuver warfare and led to the creation of the Falaise pocket and the loss of the German strategic position in northwestern France.

^ Cite error: The named reference Williams204 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Bercuson232 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Pugsley, p. 47
^ Cite error: The named reference Zaloga, p.30 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b Cite error: The named reference Hastings236 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b Cite error: The named reference Jackson113 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Green, p. 62
^ Pugsley, p. 53
^ Stephen Napier, Armoured Campaign
^ "Operation Cobra". 24 February 2016.
^ ^a ^b Hastings, p. 313
^ Trew, p. 64

Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).

[Williams204-1] Cite error: The named reference Williams204 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Bercuson232-2] Cite error: The named reference Bercuson232 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[strength-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Pugsley, p. 47

[Zaloga,_p.30-4] Cite error: The named reference Zaloga, p.30 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Hastings236-5] Cite error: The named reference Hastings236 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Jackson113-6] Cite error: The named reference Jackson113 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[7] Green, p. 62

[8] Pugsley, p. 53

[Stephen_Napier,_Armoured_Campaign-10] Stephen Napier, Armoured Campaign

[11] "Operation Cobra". 24 February 2016.

[Hastings313-12] Hastings, p. 313

[Trew,_p._64-13] Trew, p. 64

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