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Busting the Bocage
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(click picture for larger version) |
“The hedgerow country of northwestern France—the Bocage—presented a trying challenge to the U.S. Army in 1944. During the Normandy invasion, U.S. forces faced a stubborn German Army defending from an extensive network of small fields surrounded by living banks of hedges bordered by sunken dirt lanes. German forces fighting from these ready-made defensive positions were, at first, able to curb most of the American advances and make the attempts very costly. Or the U.S. Army, busting through the difficult Bocage country required tactical, doctrinal, and organizational ingenuity.
“Busting the Bocage: American Combined Arms Operations in France, 6 June—31 July 1944 shows how the U.S. Army identified and overcame the problems of fighting in difficult terrain. The adoption of new tactics combined with technical innovations and good small-unit leadership enabled American forces to defeat a well-prepared and skillful enemy. In the hedgerow country, the U.S. Army eventually brought the separate components of the combined arms team—infantry, armor, and artillery—to bear on the enemy simultaneously. The resulting successes were costly but effective. Combat in the Bocage demonstrated the U.S. Army’s capability to fight and win in a new and hostile environment.”
– Combat Studies Institute
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