Operation Lüttich

Battle context

Operation Lüttich was a German armored counterattack ordered by Hitler to recover ground lost during Operation Cobra and sever American supply lines by pushing through Mortain to the Avranches coast. The objective was to isolate Third United States Army units that had advanced into Brittany by cutting them off at the base of the Cotentin peninsula. The attack pitted roughly equal forces against each other, with the United States sustaining approximately 10,000 casualties. The operation is known in British and American histories as the Mortain counter-attack. Its failure left German forces in Normandy increasingly vulnerable, as the thrust toward Avranches exposed German flanks and contributed to the conditions that led to the encirclement battles that followed in the broader Overlord campaign. Bradley and Patton commanded on the American side against Günther von Kluge's forces, and the repulse of the German effort confirmed Allied operational momentum in northwestern France.