#0711_01: Le Dezert - Panzer Lehr Counterattacks - Battles of Normandy

le Dezert, North of St Lo: July 11th, 1944. (Scenario Size: Division-. Head to Head or Human vs AI for either side) On 10 July the Panzer Lehr Division took over the sector of Kampfgruppe Heintz (275. Infanteriedivision) west of the Vire. It had about 100 operational Panzers having lost the rest of its establishment of 232 tanks and tank-hunters in the fighting against the British in the Caen sector. The division’s commander Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein meet with the Seventh Army commander SS-Oberstgruppenführer Paul Hausser to discuss plans for a counter attack. It was agreed that 901. Panzergrenadier Regiment and thirty Panther tanks of the 6. Panzer Regiment would advance from le Hommet-d’Arthenay towards St-Jean-de-Daye. Meanwhile further east another Kampfgruppe consisting of the 902. Panzergrenadier Regiment, and Panzer IV tanks would attack from Pont-Hébert to St-Fromond. To minimise the effect of Allied air superiority they attack would begin at night. The aim was to destroy the Vire bridgehead south of the Vire-Taute canal and therefore eliminate the most direct and immediate threat to St-Lô.