Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was facing one of his greatest battlefield challenges during the first week of July 1944. In spite of a large concentration of German tanks opposite Caen, the Allies continued to expand their Normandy lodgment. Several armored counterattacks against the British Second Army had failed. Worse, the decision to conduct a protracted defense south of Cherbourg also led to defeat. When the full force of the American VII Corps struck the Cotentin Peninsula in mid-June, the Germans were compelled to rapidly retreat and give up the important port city, which surrendered on June 25.

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Cherbourg’s loss released four additional American infantry divisions for a renewed drive south toward Périers and St. Lô. Although the Americans found it very difficult to make significant gains in the hedgerows, the pressure they exerted on that portion of the front soon proved too great for Rommel to ignore. While additional divisions were en route from Brittany, they would most likely not arrive in time. Instead, Rommel was forced to divert panzer divisions from the Caen sector to shore up the depleted units facing the Americans until significant numbers of fresh infantry were available.

On July 7, the Americans crossed the Vire et Taute Canal north of St. Lô, prompting Rommel to shift Lt. Gen. Fritz Bayerlein’s elite Panzer Lehr from the Caen sector. Bayerlein was an experienced commander whose combat record included service with Rommel in North Africa. He commanded one of the best equipped and trained armored formations in the German army, and the ‘Desert Fox’ doubtless considered his old associate ideally suited to conduct this important attack.

To gain the advantage of surprise, Bayerlein planned to move his division westward during the hours of darkness, transferring only a portion each night spread over the period of several days. Despite his careful precautions, the Americans discovered that the transfer was taking place. The U.S. First Army intelligence report for July 10 noted: ‘Favored by the weather, the enemy conducted a general withdrawal to a line running from 1 1/2 kilometers south of and generally parallel to the St. Lô-Périers highway. This withdrawal was covered by the commitment of Replacement Battalion 371 and the noisy march of Panzer Lehr across our front and its commitment in front of XIX Corps. It should be noted that this division frequently broke radio silence en route.’

Fortunately for Bayerlein, the Americans did not equate his arrival with an imminent counterattack. Instead, they believed Panzer Lehr would be split up into battle groups to augment German infantry units already trying to hold the line.

Even before the bulk of his division arrived, Bayerlein turned his attention to drawing up a plan of attack. His immediate mission was to restore the situation north of St. Lô. Bayerlein planned to accomplish this by securing the towns of St. Jean de Daye and St. Fromond in a pre-dawn assault. Once those initial objectives were secured, Bayerlein would bring up artillery to place observed fire on crossings over the Vire River and Vire et Taute Canal. With their route of escape blocked to the north and east, the Americans facing Panzer Lehr would either be forced to surrender or flee westward across swampy terrain after abandoning their heavy equipment.

After receiving their chief’s orders, Bayerlein’s regimental commanders developed their own detailed plans. Colonel Georg Scholze, commanding Panzergrenadier Regiment (PGR) 901, planned to push north to St. Jean de Daye with two battle groups in the lead and one trailing. After the lead elements captured the town, the trailing battle group would occupy the high ground (Hill 30) located one mile to the northeast. From there, artillery fire could be placed on all crossings over the Vire et Taute Canal. Scholze’s regiment would be reinforced by a company of armored engineers and Panzerkampfwagen Mark V (Pzkw. V) Panther tanks from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th companies of Panzer Regiment 6.

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