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LE
MESNILBUS Manche
- 9 km south-east of Périers
Blietzkrieg for the American armoured divisions
Launched
in the morning of 25 July 1944, the Operation Cobra got some
initial success, but at the end of the day the breakthrough did not
occur. The next day, General Collins Commander in Chief of the VIIth
Corps decided to commit the armoured divisions to pierce German lines.
On 27 July, the 1st Infantry Division takes Marigny on the west flank,
the 90th Infantry Division liberated Periers on the east flank. The
Combat Command B under Colonel Boudinot progressed toward Saint-Lô
- Coutances road, but broke against delaying actions of SS Panzer
units. The VIIIth Corps attacked on the line Periers - Lessay and
moved easily in the day of 27 July. On 28, the Combat Command B of
the 4th Armoured Division entered Coutances; the Combat Command B
of the 2nd Armoured Division carried on a wide envelopment manoeuvre
by the south, and trapped thousands of German soldiers in Roncey.
West of Saint-Lô, the 83rd Infantry Division pushed back SS
units of the 17th Panzer-Grenadiere Division; on 29 July, infantry
of the 331st Regiment liberated Le Mesnilbus and reached Montcuit.
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Robert Lee Dufy monument
Monument
in memory of pilot Robert Lee Dufy, whose P47 Thunderbolt crashed
in Le Ménilbus on 27 July 1944. The aircraft was dig
up in 1992, after some investigation the pilot was identified,
he had been survived thanks to his parachute, and was living
in the United-States in Colorado.
Situation : at the edge of the D57
road, in the town center
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