25th July 1944 – the US General Omar Bradley launches Operation Cobra to break out from the Cotentin bridgehead. Advancing on a narrow front from Lessay on the east coast towards Avranches, and from west of St. Lô towards Villedieu-les-Poêles and Brécey (by 31st July they had secured an opening into Brittany and central France). 111 Americans were killed and 490 wounded by the heavy Allied bombardment west of St Lô, which preceded the advance, when the smokeline of the pathfinder bombers drifted back over Allied troops. Nevertheless VII Corps moved forward to attack the remains of the Panzer Lehr.
In the east 2nd Canadian Corps launched a new attempt on the Bourgébus Ridge. Beaten back by 9th SS Panzer they provided an adequate diversion from the offensive in the west. The Germans continued to deploy 14 Divisions (including six panzer divisions) against the 14 British/Canadian Divisions around Caen but only 11 seriously weakened divisions faced the 15 American divisions deployed in their advance. The Americans had also devised a method for cutting through the hedgerows of the bocage with a pair of steel tusks welded onto the front of Sherman tanks - the 'Rhino' (from ‘Overlord’ by Max Hastings, Macmillan 2016 edition).
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