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Montgomery to Eisenhower, 13 July: "Am going to launch two very big attacks next week. Second Army will work up to the big operation on Tuesday 18 July [Goodwood] when 8 Corps with three armoured divisions will be launched to the country east of Orne.
![Montgomery to Eisenhower, 13 July: "Am going to launch two very big attacks next week. Second Army will work up to the big operation on Tuesday 18 July [Goodwood] when 8 Corps with three armoured divisions will be launched to the country east of Orne.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EdLqwOTWkAEWAaa.jpg "Montgomery to Eisenhower, 13 July: \"Am going to launch two very big attacks next week. Second Army will work up to the big operation on Tuesday 18 July [Goodwood] when 8 Corps with three armoured divisions will be launched to the country east of Orne.")
First Army launch a heavy attack with six divisions about 5 miles west of St. Lo on Wednesday 19 July [Cobra]."
Dempsey called it a "Double Blow" offensive.
Due to Britain’s dwindling infantry reserves, operation Goodwood focused on all three, under-used, armoured divisions - under the command of 8 Corps - in a thrust to the east of Caen to seize the high ground of Bourguebus Ridge, approximately six miles from the start line.
7 Armoured, 11 Armoured and Guards Armoured Division, as well as five independent armoured brigades and three independent tank brigades; a massive force totalling approximately 2,250 medium and 400 light tanks.
On 19 July 1944, operation Goodwood should have been followed by operation Cobra, but the Americans had not yet reached their start line (the Périers-Saint-Lô road) and the idea of a "Double Blow" had to be abandoned.
On 21 July 1944, Montgomery ordered Dempsey to shut down operation Goodwood, as the Canadians infantry had completed the capture of Caen.
Dempsey, 8 March 1951:
There had been an American attempt to break out of Normandy, before operation Cobra. It failed.
Dempsey, 21 February 1952:
On 24 July 1944, everything was in place, but overcast skies prevented the use of heavy bombers.
Bradley's three-corps approach had committed the majority of German forces to the extreme west of the American sector, away from Saint-Lô, where operation Cobra was to start.
Artillery and troops of 7 Corps were all lined up: 2 and 3 Armoured Division, 1, 4, 9 and 30 Infantry Division, just opposed by German Panzer Lehr Division and 252 Infantry Division.
On 25 July 1944, operation Cobra started west of Saint-Lô, and on the same day Canadian operation Spring was launched to *continue* to bind German forces in the east. Operation Cobra had a disastrous start when preparatory carpet-bombing fell short which resulted
in some 600 casualties within American 1 Army's 7 Corps and also killing Lieutenant-General McNair, who had come to observe the operation. However, that same bombing did stun the entire SS Panzer Lehr Division and left a hole in the German main line of resistance.
Leading 7 Corps advanced, ran into a brittle crust of German resistance, but this soon collapsed and the whole of new American 12 Army Group could now leave Normandy behind, finally, after seven weeks.
On 28 July, Eisenhower congratulated Montgomery in a personal message: "Am delighted that your basic plan has begun brilliantly to unfold with Bradley’s initial successes" and that Bradley
"begs of you to insist that Canadian and 2nd British Armies carry out their assignments with vigor and determination so that Bradley may bring your [master] plan to full fruition."
On 30 July 1944, Dempsey launches operation Bluecoat, a two-corps attack from Caumont, on American's 1 Army's left flank. It attracted German forces and acted as a left guard for the advancing Americans.
