H2H-First Combat of the 116. Panzer - The Matrix Games version of West Front

Percy, France, [H2H]:[HIS] Despite Germany's worsening situation in Normandy in June 1944, the 116. Panzer had been detained at the Somme River. Indeed, Rommel's staff had 'secret plans' for the division, which were linked to Hitler's assassination plot. In case of 'internal disturbances,' Rommel wanted a reliable unit on hand. After the failed plot on July 20, 1944, and after Rommel got wounded, Generalfeldmarschall Kluge replaced Rundstedt. Subsequently, the 116. Panzer was ordered to join the 7th Army at Vire. Allied success in Operation Cobra had the German LXXXIV Armeekorps reeling. The 2. SS Panzer, Panzer Lehr, and 17. SS Panzergrenadier Divisions were badly mauled and in full retreat west of the Vire River, far south of St. Lo. The 2. Panzer and 116. Panzer Divisions were sent to close the gaps between Percy and Tessy-sur-Vire. Fighting under the XLVII Panzerkorps, the 116. Panzer was ordered to attack Villebaudon in concert with the 2. Panzer's attack on La Denisiere to the north. Army Group B expected them to advance west all the way west to Hambye! Opposing them was CCA of the 2nd Armored Division under General Maurice Rose. The 115th and 175th Regiments of the US 29th Division also had units strung along the road between Villebaudon and Percy to the south. Rose's plans were to take Percy and Tessy-sur-Vire. And then in the early morning, 30 July, 1944 somewhere on the other side of the bocage east of Villebaudon comes a clanking thunder; heralding the arrival of an onrushing wave of deadly steel: Panzers on the attack. American tank commanders slam shut the hatches of their Shermans, infantrymen hug the earth, ...and there - topping the rise! ... a glint of dawn reflects off the muzzle of the first German Panther... The attack of the 116. Panzer is about to begin!