@218@THE ROCK OF MORTAIN@4@

@218@SUBJ: TACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR @4@7 Aug. 1944

@218@AMERICAN OPERATIONS:@4@
    The Normandy front has been blown wide open. The newly activated Third Army is driving south as fast as they can make it through the narrow gap between Mortain and the Sea.
    You are in command of a Task Force of the 30th Infantry Division. You are responsible for the defense of Mortain and the high ground around it. You must hold at all cost!

@218@AMERICAN UNIT DISPOSITIONS:@4@
    For this operation the following forces will be engaged in the American sector:
 - elements of the 120th Infantry Regiment, 734th Tank Battalion and the 823rd Tank Destroyed Battalion (Towed)

@218@GERMAN OPERATIONS:@4@
    The Americans have broken out of Normandy. OKW has decreed an offensive to cut off the American divisions pouring south out of the bridgehead.
     You are in command of battalion kampfgruppe of the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich". You are ordered to take Mortain and the high ground around it.


@218@GERMAN UNIT DISPOSITIONS:@4@
    For this operation the following forces will be engaged in the German sector:
 - elements of SS Panzer Regiment 2, SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment ÒDeutschlandÓ and SS Panzerjager Battalion 2.

@218@WEATHER:@4@ Raining


@218@AFTER ACTION REPORT @4@
    The Mortain counteroffensive was doomed from the start. The German divisions were already exhausted from the long desperate fight in Normandy. At Mortain, the 30th held firm, earning the nickname "The Rock of Mortain." The German panzers were forced to continue the attack long after there was a chance of success. This needless sacrifice ensured their destruction in the looming pocket near Falaise.
