Once their initial jubilation was over, the Polish officers, together with Dull and Waters, settled down to work out the disposition of their troops for the night. That involved a 90-degree change in the Polish defensive line from its original orientation, toward Moissy and St. Lambert. The 10th Dragoons and 24th Lancers were to man the northern sector, including the road to St. Lambert. The American-defended southern sector would include the Dives River and the bridge. The eastern outskirts were covered by one company and a platoon of machine guns.

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The Germans were soon attacking Mont Ormel and Chambois. At that point, after retreating for days without a break, harassed by Allied aircraft and artillery, their units were losing their organizational structure. The infantry, armor and artillery units that hurled themselves at the Poles and Americans had been formed into ad hoc Kampfgruppen-battle groups consisting of the remnants of any units that could be mustered on the spot.

Just after midnight, small-arms fire broke out on the Polish left flank, soon joined by bursts of artillery. Germans advanced through Moissy and over its undefended bridge until the bridge collapsed, forcing them to abandon their heavy equipment. The German infantry proceeded toward Hill 262 South, only to come under fire from Polish and Canadian artillery. The waves of troops that followed them, seeing what was happening to their comrades, took to the Dives Valley or through the Gouffern woodland toward the American sector.

Before dawn on August 20, German troops moved silently under cover of darkness and early mist toward the Polish outposts. Suddenly, firing broke out and they stormed the Polish defenses with fixed bayonets, supported by self-propelled (SP) guns. The Poles opened fire with automatic weapons, and the Germans retired, leaving their dead behind. Soon another wave of German troops, supported by Tiger tanks, tried to overrun the Polish positions. The attack was well prepared, but the German tanks had to fire over the heads of the infantry, and in so doing, their 88mm shells failed to strike the Polish front-line elements. The Poles’ 6-pounder anti-tank guns had insufficient penetrating power to do much harm to the Tigers’ thick armor, but the German infantry suffered such heavy losses that they again withdrew. At that point, the Germans abandoned frontal assaults, but another force, supported by three SP guns, stormed the Polish right flank and succeeded in breaking through a portion of the 3rd Squadron’s sector. Hand-to-hand fighting broke out, and only by a determined counterattack and generous use of hand grenades were the Poles able to regain the lost ground.

The Polish left flank, next to the American right flank, also came under assault by SS infantry, backed by three SP guns. American flanking fire destroyed the SP guns, and the SS men found themselves caught in a cross-fire. A large number of Germans were captured, including a medical doctor with his orderlies, who were immediately put to good use, mainly tending to wounded prisoners. Further German attacks failed except for one occasion, when a strong SS group surprised the Allied left flank, broke into the perimeter and took a number of Americans prisoner. Amid the confusion of the fighting, however, the GIs managed to escape in the darkness and soon rejoined their unit.

In view of the serious situation developing in the neighboring sector, Zgorzelski sent the Americans one squadron of the newly arrived 24th Lancers. They regrouped their defenses in light of the previous night’s experience. ‘The enemy maintained pressure at a number of points and continued to pour troops through St. Lambert,’ Zgorzelski reported. ‘A specially designated battle group from the Canadian 4th Armored Division failed to capture the bridge in that locality, with the result that the enemy troops maintained their eastward movement, thus cutting across our supply lines leading from the north. At the same time, the American supplies were also cut off. We were running short of ammunition and particularly of much-needed mortar shells.

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