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Vire, the II9th at last pushed the enemy past the
Pont-Hebert road and got definite control of the
ruined bridge, just as the 35th Division (p. 86)
fought up to it on the other bank. The right
flank problem was partly solved by success of the
9th Division on 14 July. That unit, beyond the
Terrette south of Ie Hommet-d'Arthenay, was
pushed down toward the II7th's flank. The 120th
Infantry, in reserve, was able to take its hattalions
back for shower baths in the St-Jean-de-Daye area.
But the respite would be short. The big attack
of IS July was coming up, and the 30th Division
staffs were working full time to ready their plans.
Seventh Army had little to say about this sector
of its strained lines, beyond recording defensive
successes at Pont-Hebert, which it believed still
held by German forces at the end of 14 July.
Army's attention was focused farther west, on the
American advance (9th Division) southwest and
west of Ie Desert.
First Army Progress, 11-14 July
The hard battles of VIII Corps finally produced
their fruits in this period. (See Map VII.) As
the three attacking divisions broke past the rough
Ia Haye-du-Puits-Mont-Castre hills, where they
had cracked the enemy's MLR, they found resistance
less and less tenacious. On 14 July, VIII
Corps came up to the line of the A y River; it had
reached the initial objectives prescribed in its attack
order, a gain of 12,000 yards in 12 days of
battle. But the corps was still far short of its assigned
ultimate objectives when orders from First
Army stopped the attack at the positions then
reached.
In the VII Corps zone, the 4th and 83d Divisions
continued to shoulder along tl,e Carentan­
Poriers highway, more and more aided by the
pressure exerted from the east by the 9th Division.
On 13 July, that unit drove nearly to the important
crossroads at les Champs-de-Losque. By
IS July, as a result of the hardest kind of fighting,
the 4th and 83d were on a line just north of Raids
and held the Sainteny hills which had been their
9 1
mam obstacle. But ahead of them the enemy
still held strong defensive positions, and had
shown no signs of making a voluntary withdrawal.
The cost to VII Corps of getting some
six square miles of ground along its peninsula
had been high. From 9 to 16 July, the corps lost
4,800 men; by IS July the three regiments of the
4th Division had suffered 2,300 casualties, including
three battalion commanders and nine rifle
company commanders.
First Army now called a halt to the offensive
west of the Taute, holding VlII and VII Corps
(except for the 9th Division) at the positions
reached on 14-15 July. Definite plans for a major
breakthrough operation (COBRA) were being
made, the outline plan reaming First Army on
13 July. The offensive now under way was to
continue, but would aim at more modest objectives
which would give suitable jump-off positions
for COBRA. The primary goal became the
ground along the St-L8-Periers highway in front
of the 9th and 30th Divisions. At the end of
IS July, the 30th Division was to come under VII
Corps in order to coordinate the continuing offensive
toward this area.
During the 12 days from 4 to IS July, ammunition
expenditure was greater than at any other
period during the first two months of First Army's
campaign. This occurred during a period when
control was being exercised and unrestricted firing
was not permitted, when units were limited
to one unit of fire for attack, one-half unit for
each subsequent day of attack, and one-third for
a "normal" day. But deeper and wider concentrations
of fire than was ordinary had to be employed
in hedgerow country to compensate for
lack of observation. Stocks became low in certain
types, particularly 105-mm howitzer, and
strict rationing was established to restore the stocks
for tl,e coming operations. Fortunately, the port
of Cherbourg, although thoroughly mined and
demolished by the Germans, had been rapidly
cleared for use. The first supplies from it began
to trickle south on IS July. Cherbourg was to
prove an essential aid, in the next weeks, to the