Patton and His Third Army (Annotated) E-Book

Brenton Greene Wallace

• Herausgeber: The P-47 Press
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

In Patton and His Third Army, Brenton Wallace details the actions of General George S. Patton and the Third Army from its preparations in Britain, to its first engagements with the enemy, through to the major battles countering the German offensives, liberating Paris and breaking across the Moselle into the Nazi heartland to subdue Hitler's forces.

Leseprobe

Patton and His Third Army

Brenton Greene Wallace

Published by The P-47 Press, 2019.

Copyright

––––––––

Patton and His Third Army by Brenton Greene Wallace.

Published 2019 by The P-47 Press.

Copyright 2019 by the P-47 Press. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-359-72725-4.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

1 | The Two Greatest Bluffs in History

2 | Preparation and Buildup

3 | The Staff—Headquarters Third U.S. Army

4 | Across the Beaches

5 | The Breakthrough

6 | Across France—The Bomb Explodes

7 | The Falaise Pocket

8 | Paris Falls

9 | Stopped, But Not by the Germans

10 | Line of the Moselle

11 | Capture of Metz and Saar Valley

12 | Battle of the Bulge

13 | Eifel Hills to the Rhine—Capture of Koblenzland

14 | Forcing the Rhine and Across Germany

15 | Patton the Man

Further Reading: Blood on the Rising Sun: The Japanese Invasion of the Philippines

1

The Two Greatest Bluffs in History

––––––––

FOR MANY MONTHS THROUGH 1942 and 1943 the United States Army Air Forces, together with Britain’s Royal Air Force, both operating from the British Isles, gained in strength and numbers. Slowly but surely they were knocking the German Luftwaffe out of the skies and dealing body blows to the cities and industries of Germany. Each day we read in the papers of the increasing number of bombers and the damage they were inflicting in “round the clock” bombing of vital targets. The R.A.F. dropped thousands of tons of bombs by night and our own precision bombers dropped more thousands by day.

Eight hundred planes today, a thousand tomorrow, and still they came. The losses, we were told, were small, and so they were, proportionately. Only 46 planes last night, 52 today; only five or six percent. But we couldn’t avoid a quick figuring up; 52 planes gone, each with nine or ten highly trained American or English crews, gone forever. We were told, too, that the destruction they wrought in Germany was terrific, and that “one of these days” Germany would realize she could stand no more and would capitulate. Magazine articles were written about it, commentators prophesied it and finally books appeared, all to prove that Germany could be defeated by air power alone.

However, the days rolled on into months and the months into two years and still, although obviously badly hurt by the air blows, Germany showed no real sign of quitting. We were forced to fight bitterly for Africa and Sicily and the Allied armies found the going slow in Italy. As time passed and the pounding of Germany from the air continued, the rumor spread that no ground invasion of the Continent would ever be made because it would not be necessary. Air power would do it all. Many believed this at the time. The tremendous flow of men and materiel from the United States to the British Isles for many long and tedious months was called “The Greatest Bluff in History.”

But it wasn’t a bluff. June 6, 1944, dawned and the world was electrified by the news that the American First Army and British and Canadian forces had successfully attacked the beaches of Normandy, had landed and had penetrated inland against almost insurmountable obstacles: mines, steel barriers, gun emplacements and every other device that a determined and crafty enemy had been able to construct during the two-year wait.

It was touch-and-go for several days, but finally a substantial sector of the coast was held securely and the Allied world breathed a little easier. The Germans were breathing uneasily. Anxiously their High Command checked the reports from spies in England and from Intelligence Units in Normandy to discover what reserves the Allies had. They knew that one corps of General George S. Patton Jr.’s, Third Army, the VIII, had been attached to the First Army for the invasion, but that most of his Third Army still were in England. It was in connection with them that the second of the “greatest bluffs in history” occurred.

––––––––

WE KNEW THAT GENERAL Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, had the highest esteem for General Patton and his Third Army, and we had heard that the Germans, having felt his quality in Sicily, feared him greatly. But we did not then know why Third Army Headquarters was left near the little town of Knutsford, a few miles south of Manchester and why our troops were scattered through England and Northern Ireland for more than three weeks after the invasion started.

It was part of the “cover plan,” as it was called. Keeping General Patton and his army where they were, and being sure to let the German agents find out that they were there, constituted such a threat to Germany, and her leaders so feared a direct thrust by the Third Army at some other point, that they kept 17 divisions along the Pas de Calais section of the Channel coast, afraid to use them as reinforcements in Normandy. So realistically was this “cover plan” carried out that each day ships on the east coast were loaded with troops and just at dusk they moved out into the Channel while it was still light enough for German observation planes to see them. Then, after darkness settled, they moved back again into port and unloaded.

Thus a double purpose was served. Troops and the crews of the ships had valuable training in quick loading and unloading, and a new battle had been won in the war of nerves we were waging against the Germans. They never could be sure whether a new invasion was really underway or whether it was just another bluff. In some cases where reinforcements actually were being sent the First Army in Normandy the ships would move into the Channel just before dark as if heading for a new point of invasion, then under cover of darkness would change course to head for the Normandy beaches. By such deceptive measures, the Germans were fooled completely.

On 28 June, the Third Army finally got orders to move. Secretly we slipped quietly and quickly down into southern England. Third Army Headquarters was set up in Braemer House and several other old manor houses just south of Salisbury. When we left, and for several weeks after we had arrived in France, radios and signal equipment belonging to our headquarters remained in place at Knutsford and were kept in operation exactly as if the full headquarters still was operating there.

In fact, some of the signal equipment was moved closer to the eastern coast of England to throw the Germans further off the trail. The long, cool, clear English summer evenings were ideal for relaxing, but nothing was further from our minds. The very air was tense. We were trained and ready. We knew that the shifting of headquarters presaged action. We tried to relax and keep calm. It was not easy.

Late in the afternoon of 3 July, we got word that there would be a staff meeting of Section Chiefs of the Headquarters at 1730 hours. It was an unusual time for a staff meeting. We assembled quietly. There was little of the usual talk as we waited for General Patton. Exactly at the appointed time of 1730, General Patton strode quickly but quietly in and took his place before us. For just a moment his glance roved over the ranks of his staff, the men who would be carrying out and putting into effect his battle orders. Then he spoke:

“Gentlemen, the moment for which we have all been working and training so long has at last arrived. Tomorrow we go to war! I congratulate you. And I prophesy that your names and the name of the Third Army will go down in history, or they will go down in the records of the Graves Registration Bureau.[1] Thank you. Goodnight!”

The Third Army was on the roll!

––––––––

2

Preparation and Buildup

––––––––

CHURCHILL CALLED GREAT Britain an “Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier.”[2] So it proved to be during the Battle of Britain, but it proved to be even more of an “Unsinkable Troop Carrier” during 1942, 1943 and early 1944. It was the base at which the Allied forces were built up for the invasion of the continent, and from which the assault on fortress Europe was launched in June 1944 in conjunction with the Russian drive from the east, to topple the Nazi Empire.

Early in 1942, several thousand American combat troops went to Northern Ireland, prepared to help ward off any German invasion. In addition to these combat troops, ETOUSA (European Theater of Operations United States Army) Headquarters was set up in London to work with the British in planning the invasion, and the reception and supply of all American troops to be used in that theater.

At a later date, SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces) Headquarters was set up which was the overall planning and combat command of the Allied invasion forces. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the Commander of ETOUSA and later also of SHAEF. In the latter headquarters, there were approximately half British and half American officers.

The section heads alternated, American and British, and under each one was a deputy of the opposite nationality. General Eisenhower was an ideal choice for Supreme Commander. The great British field marshal, later Viceroy of India, Sir Archibald Wavell once said: “The statesman or politician, who has to persuade and confute, must keep an open and flexible mind, accustomed to criticism and argument; the mind of the soldier, who commands and obeys without question is apt to be fixed, drilled, and attached to definite rules. That each should understand the other better is essential for the conduct of modern war.” General Eisenhower proved to be a diplomat and a statesman, as well as a soldier.

Under General Eisenhower, two plans were devised, both with code names. The first was called BOLERO—the concentration of troops, equipment and supplies in the United Kingdom (UK). The other was called OVERLORD—the plan for the invasion. The actual crossing of the Channel, after the ships had been loaded, was called NEPTUNE. This was under the command of the British Admiralty. The other two were combined British and American army operations. All were, of course, under the Supreme Commander, General Eisenhower.

The combined forces in Great Britain for the invasion were approximately 650,000 U.S. combat forces; 425,000 U.S. service forces; and approximately 650,000 British and Canadian combat forces in addition to their service troops. There were also some French, Polish and other Allied forces from various countries. For purposes of administration, the UK was divided into several Base Sections or Commands and our Service Forces followed in general the British administrative organization. There was an Eastern Base, a Southern Base, and a Western Base Section. There was also a Northern Ireland Base Section, comprising the six counties of Northern Ireland; and then there was the Central Base Section, which took in only London and its suburbs.

Many installations in these Base Sections, such as warehouses, camps, ordnance shops, hospitals, etc., were turned over completely to the Americans. Others were built by us. But many of the ports, such as Liverpool and Glasgow, were operated jointly. Some of the ports along the very southern coast of England, from which the invasion was to be launched, were kept strictly under the Admiralty. In fact some of the coast along the south, and some along the east and far in the north in Scotland, was forbidden territory, so secret were the activities going on there. Two of these secrets have been revealed as Operation MULBERRY, the famous floating docks that made it possible to supply the invasion forces, and Operation PLUTO, Pipeline Under the Ocean, which kept the Third Army supplied with fuel in their dash across Europe.

Large covered tanks were constructed on the Isle of Wight, just off the southern coast of England, in which enormous quantities of gasoline could be stored. They were connected by 5-inch pipes to the southern ports of England, where tankers docked and pumped the gasoline directly through the pipes to them.

From the Isle of Wight other pipes of the same size were laid on the floor of the Channel, extending across until they were close to the coast of France. After the invasion was successful and the port of Cherbourg was captured, the pipes were continued right up onto the land. Composition pipes, bolted together in sections, were then run along the surface of the ground and followed General Patton’s motorized columns as they dashed all over France. It was only the constant supply of tank and truck fuel brought by this means right up behind our lines that enabled us to travel so fast and so far.

In the buildup in England, one of the biggest problems was the housing of the million-odd American troops. In solving this problem we also worked closely with the British. They furnished the bulk of the accommodations, although some of the buildings were prefabricated ones brought from America and erected by our own Engineers.[3] Our Engineers also built many complete airfields and roads. Most of the camps, hospitals, warehouses, etc., were either converted buildings which had been remodeled by the British or brand new camps erected by their Engineers.

By the time all the American troops for the invasion had arrived, in addition to the Canadians and the British forces, every available building, new and old, was filled to capacity, many tent camps were in operation and thousands of troops were billeted on the populace. Great Britain and Ireland are most attractive and beautiful, as anyone who has been there knows. The people were delightfully pleasant and cordial to us and welcomed us like long lost relatives.

They were hospitable and cooperative, and endeavored in every possible way to make us feel at home in their country. Our relations with the British army were also cordial and cooperative. It was no easy matter for two armies to be quartered and trained in a small, congested country such as England without friction, but as far as I know, there was scarcely an unpleasant incident between the two in all the months that our troops were there.

They used to call us “the great American Army of Occupation,” but that was only in fun. A large part of the credit for this congenial and warm feeling between our soldiers and the soldiers and civilians of Great Britain was due to the feelings shown at the top, between our governments and high Army officers, and particularly the orders and indoctrination issued by our Supreme Theater Commander. Every American soldier, within 48 hours of his arrival at his station in the UK was given what was called an indoctrination lecture on four subjects—1. Security; 2. Passes, Leaves and Furloughs; 3. Relations with the British; and 4. The Color Question. No man could leave camp until he had been indoctrinated on these subjects.

Security was, of course, most important as we were then only a few miles across the Channel from the enemy. However, the two subjects most drilled into the officers and men were, that there were to be cordial relations established with the British, and that there was to be no color line drawn between our colored and white troops.

Each officer and enlisted man was impressed with the fact that he was a personal representative of the United States Army in his relations and dealings with the British people, civilian as well as military.

All troops were instructed that, instead of their arriving in a “foreign country,” they were themselves, in the eyes of the British people, the “foreigners” arriving in the British homeland and living among the people of that land, and that their conduct must be of the same high standard that they would require were the situation reversed. It was pointed out that the United Kingdom had been a nation at war for more than four years and conditions there were vastly different from those of peace.

There were relatively few households that had not sustained family or financial losses. The pay scale of the American soldier was higher than that of the British, our rations more elaborate and more recreational facilities had been provided. It was ordered that comparisons would not be made or discussed. England has a somewhat cold, damp climate, but it has compensations, we found, for the summers were delightfully cool. There were practically no flies, mosquitoes or other insects and the climate was quite healthful. In summer, daylight lasted until almost midnight and it got light again at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, due of course to the northern latitude and double daylight saving.

They say a foreign country is a place where everything is funny but the jokes. A story was told of an American soldier who met a pretty English girl and said to her: “Hello, Sweetheart, where have you been all my life?” And she proceeded to tell him. We soon found, however, that the English had a keen and subtle humor and a pleasing conversation. Many of the words they used were different from ours, but we soon understood each other.

All in all, the old saying “England and America are two similar countries, separated by a common language,” did not seem to work out. One of the most novel aids to speed the buildup was the decision of our High Command for all of our combat units to leave in the U.S. practically all the quartermaster and ordnance equipment they had been using during their training in the United States. The men alone, with their personal gear and some light, scarce articles of equipment, were loaded on the ships for overseas.

This accomplished several things. It enabled heavy, and in fact all kinds of equipment, guns, tanks, trucks, etc., to be shipped and stored in England months in advance while our troops were still training and consuming rations at home. When they arrived overseas the units were issued fine new equipment of every description, all of the latest design, ready for the rigors of what proved to be a long and strenuous campaign.

In addition to our buildup of combat and service troops in England, our Replacement (later called Reinforcement) System was organized and started to function. The system used was quite different from that used in World War I, where units which had suffered heavy casualties were taken out of the line for rest and reorganization, and other whole units sent in to relieve them. In this war, large Replacement Training Centers were established and after hostilities had commenced, a large Replacement Depot was located in each Army area, fairly well to the rear. Each Depot had attached to it several Replacement Battalions. Troops of all classifications, infantrymen, artillerymen, tankmen, radio operators, technicians of all descriptions, were fed from the Training Centers into the Depots and from there into the Replacement Battalions. In this way, when a frontline unit needed replacements, due to casualties of one kind or another, it put a requisition direct to its Corps Replacement Battalion for the needed number of men of certain specified categories.

Unless the Corps Battalion was low in “stock,” as it was called, the replacements would arrive in a matter of a few hours. In this way, it was possible to keep units at full strength, or nearly so, at all times. It also explains why it was possible for some divisions to remain in continuous combat for 9 and 10 months at a time.

In order that those men who were not casualties could get a much needed rest at times, a few individuals, or small groups and sometimes small or medium units would frequently be taken out of the line, particularly if the situation warranted it, and sent back to the rear areas for a few days rest and recreation. It was in taking care of these combat troops, back a few miles from the front for a short rest, that our Red Cross did some of its best work.

There were frequently no other healthful places for rest and recreation for these boys, except the Red Cross Centers set up in the towns behind the lines. Here they could write home, play games, get some hot coffee and food and talk to their buddies and the Red Cross workers before returning to their places in the battle line.

The date for the big invasion had been tentatively set for May or June 1944. Several weeks before the earliest possible date, Operation OVERLORD—the plan for the invasion—went into effect. This plan had been worked out by a Joint Planning Committee of British and American officers.

Everything about OVERLORD had to be done with the greatest secrecy. Those in the know, who had the top secret information, were comparatively few, and were sworn to silence. Only a handful of the highest officers in England had all, or nearly all, of the real information. No one, not even Eisenhower, had the date of D-Day, for he himself did not set it until almost the time.

For weeks beforehand, stores and supplies were accumulated in the vicinity of the debarkation ports by the Base Sections SOS (Service of Supply), for the Americans, and the equivalent British commands for the British. The British Movement Control and the U.S. Transportation Corps handled all of the troop movements and schedules, either by train or road in the UK.

Liaison was constant at this time between the military and the civil authorities—police, fire, etc.—and with the navy. The defense of this great movement chiefly A.A., smoke and firefighting units—rested with the British. The British also took care of all signal communications during this period.

All organizational equipment was marked with the unit serial number, the unit color stripes and the cubic feet and weight. Movement tables and troop lists were prepared. The troops were divided into the Assault and the Build Up forces. The Assault were the troops which made the actual assault landing across the beaches of Normandy. After these followed the Build Up troops, which reinforced and maintained the Allied Expeditionary Forces.

All troops initially passed through the Concentration Area. For some this might be their original home camp, for others a camp closer to the southern ports of England. From this Concentration Area, units moved by either rail or road to the Marshalling Areas. Units might remain here up to 2 weeks, usually 4 to 6 days. In these Marshalling Areas Static Forces cooked meals for the troops. This was called “hotel services.” The final markings were completed, defective vehicles replaced, all vehicles were waterproofed so that they could land in saltwater and not be ruined, and troops were broken down into unit parties and formed into craft loads.

From the Marshalling Areas, units then moved into the Embarkation Areas. This move was made under their own power over the roads, by craft or shiploads. In these Embarkation Areas were usually located a number of Embarkation Points—docks or improvised concrete docks for landing craft—called “Hards.” In the Embarkation Area, final preparations were completed. Time there varied from a couple of hours to 2 days. There the troops were briefed, the Landing Ration (a type of K-ration sufficient for 24 hours) and an Emergency Ration (chocolate reinforced with vitamins) were issued. A final hot meal was fed and the troops were ready to go aboard ship.

The time on shipboard was estimated as 48 hours, sometimes it was less. On shipboard Sea Passage Rations and vomit bags were issued. The actual mileage from the ports of southern England to the beaches of Normandy was about 100 miles.

3

The Staff—Headquarters Third U.S. Army

––––––––

BEFORE GIVING SOME facts about the Staff of Headquarters Third U.S. Army, it might be well to explain briefly what an Army is, and of what it is composed. The basic large combat unit is a division. There are three main types of divisions—Infantry, approximate strength 14,200; Armored, 10,723; and Airborne, 8,500. There are also special divisions organized for specific purposes—Mountain Divisions, Ski Divisions, etc.

The next higher organization is a Corps. A Corps consists of a Corps Headquarters to which are attached 2 or more divisions of any type, plus additional troops, such as artillery, engineers, quartermaster, medical, tank destroyer, cavalry, ordnance, etc.

The Army is the next higher organization and consists of an Army Headquarters and 2 or more Corps, plus a large number of separate groups and battalions of the same varying types as in a Corps. These separate units usually equal approximately the same number as the total number of troops in the divisions. In other words, if the number of troops in the divisions of the Army at any one time totaled say, 165,000, then the Corps and Army troops would probably total about 165,000 or a grand total in the whole Army of 330,000 troops.

Some of these separate units remain as Army troops, directly under the control of Army Headquarters, while others are attached from time to time to the various Corps. There is nothing permanent about either an Army or a Corps, except its Headquarters organization. Units are frequently switched back and forth between Corps and also between Armies. Some units, however, may remain with the same parent headquarters throughout a campaign or even throughout a whole war, as several of ours did from the time they were assigned to us in England until the last shot was fired in Austria and Czechoslovakia.

In addition to the ground forces assigned to an Army, a Tactical Air Force is also assigned for air support and reconnaissance. Squadrons of this Tactical Air Force are daily assigned to duty with each Corps of the Army. The next higher organization above the Army is the Army Group. This is composed of 2 or more Armies. Above the Army Group is the Supreme Headquarters of the Theater of Operations.

All headquarters have approximately the same organization. At the top, of course, is the Commanding General, who alone is responsible for all that his organization does or fails to do. Directly under him is the Chief of Staff, who is the Commander’s chief assistant and the coordinator of the staff. He in turn has a Deputy as his assistant.

The Staff itself is divided into four principal sections. These are called General Staff Sections: G-1; G-2; G-3; and G-4. G-1 is responsible for Personnel; G-2 for Military Intelligence; G-3 for Operations and Training; and G-4 for Supply and Evacuation. In large headquarters there has recently also been added a G-5 who has charge of Civil Affairs, Displaced Persons, etc.

In addition to the General Staff group there is also a Special Staff group consisting of all other staff sections, including specialists and heads of services. Included in this group are: Air Officer, Adjutant General, Antiaircraft, Artillery, Chaplain, Chemical, Engineer, Finance, Headquarters Commandant, Inspector General, Judge Advocate, Liaison, Ordnance, Provost Marshal, Quartermaster, Signal, and Surgeon.

The Staff assists the Commander in the exercise of command. It collects information, makes plans, arranges details and makes recommendations. A well-organized staff must coordinate activities; its members must work in harmony and consult and inform each other. The qualifications of a good staff officer are—ability, tact, the confidence of the Commander, courageous frankness and loyalty. The Tables of Organization call for 244 officers and 800 enlisted men in an Army Staff. Actually, when the Third Army got into operation across France it had a total of 801 officers alone. This included all of the attached officers, of course—air, OSS[4], military government detachments, French, English, etc. who were a part of, and traveled with our headquarters. Counting all of the necessary units which were a part of our headquarters such as Signal Battalion, Tank Destroyer Battalion, AAA Battalion, Cavalry Squadron, Ordnance Co., Military Police, etc., the whole headquarters totaled between 3,500 and 4,500.

When it is realized that for the first 5 or 6 weeks of our dash across France from Normandy almost to the German border we traveled over 500 miles, moving every 3 or 4 days with jumps of 20 to 80 miles each time, it can be seen that the Headquarters had to be fairly mobile. During my army career I have been a member of many staffs, among them three Army (one British), a Corps, two Base, and two Divisions, but in all my experience I have never worked on a Staff that could compare to that of Third U.S. Army. Some headquarters are like merry go rounds. You feel as though you are going in circles, so many motions are superfluous. This was particularly true in the Base headquarters where so much was done for appearance and for effect. Everyone tried to appear busy but actually a lot of the activity was wasteful and inefficient. The appearance of activity was frequently designed to impress someone higher up and the job was really a clock-punching one.

Not so in Third Army Headquarters, however. Nothing was done there for show or appearance. Everything was practical and for a purpose. The “Old Man” hated show and sham. He was interested in one thing only—efficiency; and his spirit permeated the whole organization. You had a feeling that Third Army was going in only one direction—forward.

All members of the Staff would willingly work all hours of the day or night if necessary to get a job done. But if our individual work was caught up, we could relax and josh each other and enjoy ourselves, without the slightest fear that anyone would criticize us for not being busy. A number of persons have asked if General Patton was not very difficult to work for, always driving you on. He was just the opposite and as I mentioned, his spirit carried through the whole staff. Everything around Headquarters was quiet, orderly, smooth and efficient.

Whether in tents in the field, or in buildings, it was like working in a large and very efficient business organization. The Old Man would not tolerate unnecessary noise or confusion. You either knew your job, or you didn’t. If you didn’t, or if you were the cause of any friction in the Headquarters, you were quickly and quietly gotten rid of, “rolled” as we called it—sent to some other organization. But if you knew your job you were allowed to perform it in your own way and were never told how to do a thing, only requested in a quiet gentlemanly way to do it. The rest was up to you. Results were all that counted.

There were few rules about the Headquarters but these were, of course, expected to be obeyed. When outside of quarters we were ordered to wear steel helmets, sidearms, and field uniform. We were at breakfast before 0730 and at our offices either in tents or buildings, every morning by 0800. This applied to Sundays as well as all holidays while we were in combat.

There were no exceptions. Normally we were free to go to our quarters after dinner in the evening, although as I have said, many times we worked well into the night. We were considered on duty 24 hours of every day. If we were absent, someone had to be on hand in our Section, in case of emergency. Our whereabouts was also known so that we could be reached if necessary. This of course was only good staff procedure.

No unnecessary words were uttered, only a word or two of praise from time to time for a job particularly well done. Most of the Staff, particularly the Chiefs of Sections, were a group of individualists. No two were alike, but all fine officers and most interesting and pleasant to work with. Each knew his own job and worked perfectly in harmony with the other.

My own assignment in the Headquarters was Assistant Chief of Staff G-3 Liaison. I was responsible for locating and placing in covered accommodations all Third Army troops, numbering some 325,000 throughout the United Kingdom. Again in Normandy, in the unbelievably congested area of the Cherbourg Peninsula, all Third Army units had to be placed in fields, orchards and woods, physically suitable and at the same time in conformity with the tactical plan, permitting the uninterrupted flow of all types of troops not only from the beaches but also through the historic breakthrough at Avranches.