30 Infantry Division (USA) redeployed to secure newly seized Mortain
After assisting in the seizure of Tessy-sur-Vire, the 30th Infantry Division was pinched out by friendly units.
The division redeployed to secure newly seized Mortain.
It 32 had barely arrived when the Germans launched a desperate counterattack on 7 August, hoping to reach the sea at Avranches and cut off General George S.Patton’s Third Army.
The weight of this three-armored-division attack hit squarely on the 30th Infantry Division.
The Germans pushed quickly into Mortain, but the Americans doggedly held on to nearby Hill 317 and other key terrain features.
Reinforcing artillery fires and air strikes helped the defenders, but the greatest honors went to determined infantrymen defending their positions against long odds.
Nearby units reinforced quickly, and the Germans got the worst of a confused melee.
They left over 100 destroyed tanks on the Mortain battlefield, and their participating divisions were severely mauled.
The attack had been contained by local forces, and had no significant effect on Patton’s advance.