Normandy battle map, June - August 1944 | general layout of Allied Normandy campaign, with June D-Day airborne / naval landings at Normandy beachheads ( dark orange color ), then American " slug-fest " ( US slang for hard combat engagements ) among Normandy bocage countryside on western flank, while British launched repeated armor offensives against Germans on Normandy eastern flank centered at transportation hub city Caen ( medium brown color ), and suffered mass casualties for the piecemeal grounds that they gained.

Normandy | Wiki

British Gen. Montgomery railed against American forces for lack of initiative, thus enabled Germans to placed majority of her armor forces against the British / Commonwealth front. Then again, Montgomery still had a provincial view of her American allies via such comments concerning American military leadership & combat experience, he remarked " The British Army has been fighting and winning wars when America was still populated by naked savages ".

Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein | Wiki

American breakout of St. Lo sector ( medium yellow color ) enabled rapid advance onto France interior since Germans did not prepared in-depth defense, hence had no major centers of resistance ( expect at occupied French ports on Atlantic coast ). Fluid battle lines allowed US mechanized forces to forge eastward, with British forces forged southward from Caen, to form " Falaise Gap " or " Falaise Pocket " ( green color ) whereby German 17th Army ( along with other attached independent tank divisions ) in Normandy fought desperate battles out of this encirclement along narrow French roads. German veterans called these escape routes " Totengang " ( death passage ).

Falaise pocket | Wiki

Falaise Gap Photos | WW2P

Falaise - Road of Death | NBF

BTW, German 17th Army was actually assigned on Ostfront with Army Group South Ukraine in June 1944. It was not until July the formation was transferred to Westfront in Normandy. Its August 1944 order of battle listed as follows : 1) LXI Corps - 8th Panzer, 24th Panzer, 18th SS Panzergrenadier, 371st & 359th Infantry divisions, 2) XI SS Corps - 544th & 78th & 545th Infantry divisions, 3) Reserve - 154 Infantry division.

German 17th Army Order of Battle 1941 - 1945 PDF | CGS

Note that none of the main Panzer divisions ( ex. 1st SS Panzer, 12th SS Panzer, Panzer Lehr ) were listed within 17th Army OOB, for they were assigned as independent tank formations ( ex. I SS Panzer Korps, II SS Panzer Korps, 101 SS Heavy Tank Battalion ) under direct command of Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( OKW - German supreme military HQ & defacto oversight for Western Europe operations, its counterpart Oberkommando des Heeres or OKH oversaw Eastern Europe operations ).

Schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 101 | Wiki

I.SS-Panzer-Korps "Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler" | FGC

II.SS-Panzer-Korps | FGC

18th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel | Wiki

Oberkommando der Wehrmacht | Wiki

Operation Cobra, 25-29 July 1944 | Another schematic map showing terrain layout and course of breakthrough on St. Lo eastern sector towards Coutances. Surviving Panzer Lehr ( 116th Panzer Division ) elements from Allied carpet bombing, retreated southward and reassembled near Percy for counter-attacks. Note that Allies already captured city of St. Lo on 18 July 1944 prior to offensive, but city was heavily damaged by Allied artillery and air bombardment ( circa 450 civilians were killed by Allied bombing ) , hence served little as major logistical transport hub.

SAINT-LÔ/CLOVILLE/St-GEORGES D'ELLE | N44

St. Lo city was defended by German Luftwaffe Gen. Meindl Fallschirmjägeren ( paratroops ), along with self propelled antitank gun brigade. BTW, Gen. Meindl previously commanded Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment 1 in 1940-1941, and portions of 1942, unit was famous for its paratrooper assault and capture of Belgian Fort Eben-Emael, May 1940.

General der Fallschirmtruppe Eugen Meindl | GMH

TANKS! Sturmartillarie Self-Propelled Guns | YouTube

Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment | Wiki

Luftlande-Sturm-Regiment 1 | WW2DK

Brigade encompass about 3,000 to 5,000 troops, term sometimes used interchangeably with Regiment. A Division encompass about 10,000 to 15,000 troops, hence circa 3 Regiments. US Major General Charles Gerhardt launched city assault on July 18th morning via 3d Battalion - 116th Infantry Regiment - 29th, capturing city by afternoon.

Brigade | Wiki

The Major of St. Lo | US Major Thomas Howie, commanded 3d Battalion - 116th Infantry Regiment - 29th Infantry Division. On 16 July 1944 during battles around St. Lo city, Howie with 3rd Battalion broke thru German encirclement of its 2nd Battalion via close-quarter combat with grenades and bayonets. On July 17th in preparation for city assault, he was killed by enemy mortar fire.

Thomas D. Howie | Wiki

In homage, US Major Gen. Gerhardt ordered Howie's corpse be strapped to the lead jeep's hood as US forces entered the city, thus to make a point that "Howie" was first American infantryman to enter St. Lo, thus bestowed title " The Major of St. Lo ". Howie is buried, along with circa 9,400 American troops, at Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Colleville-sur-Mer - Normandy - France.

NORMANDY AMERICAN CEMETERY AND MEMORIAL | ABMC

116th Infantry - After Action Report | UTH

US medic ( as indicated by arm band and helmet insignia ) crouching over body of dead German soldier with another medic on right and American infantryman on left looking on, western Normandy, July 1944. Even in late-WW2 stages, German soldier still issued gas mask stored in cylindrical container on left side. Nevertheless, horrors of WW1 gas attacks and lack of effective protection for civilian urban centers compelled all WW2 nations with poison gas stockpiles to refrain from its general usage.

Why didn't the German use Gas Attacks in WW2? | AYC

Types of Poisonous Gases Used Against Human | HBP

The Geneva Convention ( international laws for conduct of warfare ), specifically forbids killing of un-armed civilians or military medical personnel as means to ensure semblance of chivalry on modern battlefield , but extra-judicial killings on unarmed populace or POWs were committed by both Allied and Axis personnel. Only question at hand is not whether such killings existed, but rather the magnitude of such killings.

Fourth Geneva Convention | Wiki

The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols | ICRC

Massacres and Atrocities of WWII in Western Europe | IIN

Normandy, 10 June 1944 | relatively clean & pristine US infantrymen smile from sight of Allied bombers overflight toward German targets in interior. Their confidence was short-lived and sorely shaken as Americans encountered Normandy bocage countryside and its natural defensive barriers leveraged by Germans. Most celebrate 6 June 1944 D-Day Landings as major combat feat, not realizing real staunch battles took place in immediate 2 months after D-Day, for there was major concern among western Allies than Germans could route additional armor divisions from Ostfront to bolster this stalemated Normandy front and ultimately push-out US & British/Commonwealth forces to evacuate the beachhead ( similar to British/Commonwealth fiasco of 1942 Dieppe Raid in France ).

Invasion of Normandy | Wiki

OPERATION JUBILEE ~ DIEPPE - AUG 19 1942 | COP

Compounding challenged of bocage countryside is its near identical landscape viewed from the air, which created multiple friendly-fire incidents by which American aircrafts bombed and killed American soldiers on the ground due to inability to pinpoint precise enemy locations.

Five U.S. Generals Killed By “Friendly Fire” | M5B

Pacific War, WW2 Friendly Fire | WW2P

McNair 3-Star Collar | Most notable Normandy friendly-fire incident was inflicted on US 30th Infantry Division and death of Gen. McNair. 24 July 1944, 300 US planes dropped circa 550 tons of bombs on St. Lo area, some of which fell on US 30th Infantry Division, which killed 25 and wounded 131 men. Story has it, constraint battlefront measured about 7,000 yards long and 2,500 yards wide. Thus aerial bombers flying from several thousand feet at some 250 mph ( to avoid low altitude enemy FLAK guns ), were hard-pressed to calculate proper bomb drop timing.

History of Old Hickory ( 30th Infantry Division ) | 30ID

Prior to St. Lo incident, 113th Field Artillery Battalion of 30th Infantry Division had its own mini-disaster when LST ship ferrying its men/equipment across English Channel struck German mine on 15 June 1944. With multiple wounded and a crippled ship, 2 bodies were recovered, but 18 listed as Missing In Action. Evidently, Allied vessels missed this free-floating mine during their channel mine sweeps. In addition, surviving veterans generally observed a " wall of silence " or " incapacity of recall " to any inquiries made by outsiders as respect to the deceased.

THE 113th F.A. Bn. Disaster | 30ID

25 July 1944, US 30th Infantry Division was friendly-shanked again when 77 bombers of US 8th Air Force dropped short their target, this time killing 111 and 490 men. Among the dead was US Gen. Lesley McNair who commanded US Army ground forces in Normandy. McNair flew in from England HQ on supervisory mission to personally observe Operation Cobra commencement and US close-support bombing efforts ( aka... hoping his presence will ensure no further friendly-fire incidents ). Story has it McNair and staff saw the bombs dropped short, dove for cover in near-by slit trench, but a bomb landed directly on his position ripping his body parts 60 feet into the air. His remains were only identified by piece of uniform bearing his 3-star collar insignia, for he was the most senior US army general killed in WW2.

Friendly Fire info | MQC

Note at time of his 1944 death, McNair rank was Lieutenant General, but in 1954 US Congress posthumously promoted his rank to full General. Due to decades-long miscommunication and misroute paperwork, his tombstone listed his rank as Lieutenant General until revisions were undertaken on 11 Nov 2010 !

Lesley J. McNair | Wiki

GEN. LESLEY J. MCNAIR | VDM

As military tactician, McNair began his career in artillery branch, thus espoused early WW2 American " Tank Destroyer " concept by which armor support for mechanized infantry units provided by towed anti-tank guns. Even with full knowledge that Germans were accelerating programs for self-propelled artillery, McNair seemed to have resisted such tow to self-propelled gun conversion. This is one reason US self-propelled anti-tank guns were not as widespread usage compared to German counterparts. As expected given its limbering and open combat position, towed anti-tank gun crew suffered disproportionate casualties ( ex. small arms, mortar, gun fire ) compared to self-propelled tank destroyer battalions.

German Self-Propelled Artillery | HWG

Normandy - American sector battlefield derelict, abandoned German Panzer IV tank in French village with US Jeep in background. Tank hit in roadwheel mid-section ( probably from aerial rocket attack ), cracking its assembly.

Panzer IV - Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf. G (SdKfz 161/1) | WW2A

Additional armour protection | PWN

Panzer IV also mounted Schürzen ( armor aprons ) as indicated by band around turret, and hinge apparatus for missing armor slabs hung off its side. Germans introduced armor aprons ( also called armor side-skirts ) in 1943 to withstand Soviet anti-tank rifles ( ex. PTRD & PTRS ) in close-quarter combat. In urban or heavily forested settings, armor aprons hung off the sides usually torn-off from obstacle collisions.

Soviet PTRD-41 | Wiki

Soviet PTRS-41 | Wiki

Myths about World War II Panzer ( Schürzen ) | PWN