Big Pigeon - Iowa's Pottawattamie Area
  • Pigeon Home
    • Usage Hints
    • Acknowledgments
    • Resources >
      • Free Sites
      • Pay Sites
      • Print Resources
      • Search Engines
      • Land Records
      • Resources - Denmark >
        • Finding Danish Ancestors
    • Project Mgt - Public >
      • Website Overview
      • Website Log
      • Project Overview
      • Mac Computer Use
      • Weebly Use
      • Reunion Use
      • Project History
      • Image Provenance
    • Project Mgt - Private >
      • Site Management
      • Site Plan
      • Contact List
      • Backup Info & Log
      • System Info & Log
      • Image Storage
      • E-Mail Log
      • Asset Organization
      • History Index
      • Binders & Photos
      • Upon My Death
      • Donations & Dispersal
  • Family
    • Photos - Recent
    • Christiansen
    • Rasmussen
    • Christiansen/Rasmussen News
    • Larsen/Larson
    • Hansen
    • Larsen/Hansen News
    • Allied Families
    • Wall of Honor
  • St. Paul's
    • Early Families >
      • Early Families Help
      • Early Families More Lists
    • St. Paul's Roots
    • St. Paul's Timeline
    • St. Paul's Resources
  • PottCo
    • Early History >
      • Missouri River
      • Native Americans
      • Colonial Period
    • Pott. Co. History
    • Big Pigeon Area >
      • Area Towns >
        • Beebeetown
        • Crescent
        • Honey Creeek
        • Loveland
        • Neola
        • Persia
        • Underwood
        • Weston
        • Lost Locales
      • Danes from Dronninglund
      • Maps & Plats
      • Big Pigeon Galleries >
        • Gallery 1 - Area Historic Structures
        • Gallery 2 - Grange Sunday School
    • Avoca >
      • Gold Star Avoca
      • Cuppy's Grove
    • Pott. Co. Addendum
    • LDS History >
      • LDS Links
      • Gallery 1 - Mormon Maps
    • A House Divided >
      • Endnotes
      • Niels Peder Pedersen
      • Ane Katrine Pedersen
      • Kirsten Pedersen
      • Kirsten's Story >
        • Kirsten's LDS Daughters
        • Kirsten's Daughter, Karen Bondo
        • Kirsten's Son, Anders Johnson
        • Kirsten's Niece, Christine Mortensen
        • Kirsten's Niece, Anne Marie Larsen
    • More History >
      • Iowa History
      • American History
  • WWII Home
    • Big Pigeon & WWII
  • WWII Roster
    • Roster Records >
      • Roster-A
      • Roster-B
      • Roster-C
      • Roster-D
      • Roster-EF
      • Roster-G
      • Roster-H
      • Roster-IJ
      • Roster-K
      • Roster-L
      • Roster-M
      • Roster-NO
      • Roster-P
      • Roster-QR
      • Roster-S
      • Roster-TUV
      • Roster-WXYZ
    • Other WWII Era Dead >
      • Other In-Service Dead
      • Post-Separation Dead
      • Remaining WWII Dead
    • Roster Residences >
      • Council Bluffs
      • Rural Pott. Co.
      • Audubon Co.
      • Cass Co.
      • Harrison Co.
      • Mills Co.
      • Montgomery Co.
      • Shelby Co.
      • Other SW Iowa Counties
      • Other Iowa Counties
      • StatesBorderingIowa
      • Other States
    • Roster Fatalities >
      • War with Japan
      • Battle of the Atlantic
      • Mediterranean Theater
      • European Theater
      • Stateside Deaths
      • The Air Dead
      • The Sea Dead
      • Aggregate Roster Data
    • Roster Sources >
      • 1946 War Dept. Report
      • 1946 Navy Dept. Report
      • Pottawattamie Area
    • Roster Notes >
      • Awards for Valor
      • About the Roster
      • Members Not in St. Paul's
    • Roster Photos >
      • Roster Photos - Contents
      • Photos of Individuals
      • Land War with Japan
      • Air War with Japan
      • Sea War with Japan
      • Land War with Germany
      • Air War with Germany
      • Sea War with Germany
      • Stateside
      • Memorials
      • Cemeteries
    • Roster Outliers >
      • War Dept. Errors
      • Navy Dept. Omissions
      • Multiple Names
      • Pott. Co. Discrepancies
    • Roster Additions >
      • Recent Roster Additions
      • Old Roster Additions Log
    • Roster Attic >
      • Roster Planning
  • WWII US
    • WWII Overview
    • WWII Organization
    • WWII Web Sources >
      • Web Sources - Personnel
      • Web Sources - Japan
      • Web Sources - Germany
    • WWII Personnel >
      • WWII Casualties
      • WWII Deaths
      • WWII Burials
      • Service Numbers
    • WWII Ground Forces >
      • High Level Organization
      • Infantry Organization >
        • Infantry Equipment
      • Ground Forces - Japan
      • Ground Forces - The MTO
    • WWII in The Air
    • WWII at Sea
    • WWII at Home
    • Civilian Victims
    • Strategic Bombing
    • The Cold War
    • World War I >
      • Iowa In World War I
  • Japan
    • WWII - Japan Overview
    • Japan Ascendant
    • Japan Lashes Out >
      • Pearl Harbor
      • Guam & Wake Island
      • Malaya & Singapore Lost
      • The Dutch Indies Lost
      • The Philippines Lost
      • New Guinea & Solomons
    • Japan Overreaches >
      • Coral Sea
      • Midway
    • South & SW Pacific >
      • Solomons Naval War
      • Solomon Is., Guadalcanal
      • SE New Guinea, Papua
      • NE New Guinea, Lae to Madang
      • Solomon Is., New Georgia
      • Solomon Is., Bougainville
      • Bismarck Archipelago
      • Western New Guinea
    • North Pacific >
      • Alaska
      • Attu & Kiska
      • Pacific Lend-Lease Routes
    • Central Pacific >
      • Gilbert Islands
      • Marshall Islands
      • Mariana Islands
      • Palau Islands
    • Philippines Liberated >
      • Leyte
      • Battle of Leyte Gulf
      • Philippines Naval War
      • Luzon
      • Southern Philippines
    • Iwo Jima & Okinawa >
      • Iwo Jima
      • Land Battle of Okinawa
      • Naval Battle of Okinawa
    • Japan Overpowered >
      • Japan Under Attack
      • Strategic Air War - Japan
      • Japan Vanquished
    • US Naval War w/ Japan >
      • US Submarine Force
      • Third & Fifth Fleets
    • US Air Force War w/ Japan >
      • Fifth Air Force
      • Seventh Air Force
      • Thirteenth Air Force
    • The Pacific Base Areas
    • China-Burma-India >
      • China - 1941-45
      • India - 1942-45
      • Burma - 1941-45
      • Crossing the Hump
  • Germany
    • WWII-Germany Overview
    • Battle of the Atlantic
    • The MTO >
      • MTO Overview >
        • MTO Background
      • North Africa >
        • Operation Torch
        • The Race to Tunis
        • Tunisia
      • Italy >
        • Sicily
        • Italy Leaves the Axis
        • Salerno-Naples-Foggia
        • To the Gustav Line
        • Battle of Anzio
        • Cassino/the Gustav Line
        • Cassino to Rome
        • Rome To Florence
        • Northern Apennines
        • The Po Valley
      • MTO Air War
      • MTO Sea War
      • MTO Comm. Zone
    • The ETO >
      • ETO Overview >
        • ETO Background
      • ETO Orders of Battle >
        • ETO Unit Subordination
      • Normandy Campaign >
        • D-Day
        • ETO, 6 June 1944
        • Normandy, June 1944
        • ETO, 30 June 1944
        • Normandy, July 1944
        • After D-Day
      • Liberation >
        • Operation Cobra
        • ETO, 1 August 1944
        • Brittany
        • Normandy
        • Northern France & Belgium
        • ETO, 25 August 1944
        • Southern France
      • War of Attrition >
        • ETO, 15 September 1944
        • Netherlands 1944
        • Rhineland 1944 >
          • V Corps at the West Wall
          • Aachen
          • Hürtgen Forest
          • Operation Queen
          • Queen/Hürtgen
          • Last 1944 Offensives
        • Lorraine/Alsace 1944 >
          • Lorraine/Third Army
          • Lorraine/Seventh Army
          • Alsace/Seventh Army
        • ETO, 15 December 1944
      • Ardennes/The Bulge >
        • Before the Bulge
        • The Bulge Begins
        • The Bulge Grows
        • Ardennes, 25 December 1944
        • The Bulge Contained
        • The Bulge Eliminated
        • Ardennes/Bulge Details
        • Ardennes/Bulge Overview
      • Alsace 1945 >
        • Alsace, Nordwind
        • Alsace, Colmar Pocket
      • Siegfried Line 1945 >
        • ETO, 26 January 1945
        • Operation Blackcock
        • First US Effort
        • Roer River Dams
        • VIII Corps to Prüm
        • XII Corps to Bitburg
        • XX Corps to Trier
      • To the Rhine >
        • ETO, 1 March 1945
        • Ops. Veritable & Grenade
        • Operation Lumberjack
        • Operation Undertone
        • Patton's Probing Attacks
        • Ninth & First Armies
        • Third & Seventh Armies
      • Central Europe >
        • Crossing the Rhine
        • Beyond the Rhine
        • ETO, 4 April 1945
        • Central Germany
        • Southern Germany
        • Germany Surrenders
      • ETO Air War
      • ETO Sea War
      • ETO Comm. Zone
    • The Eastern Front
Picture
Picture
Liberation
Picture
bigpigeon.us webpage WWII-Germany > The ETO > Liberation > Operation Cobra, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 9 Sep 2022.

US penetration of German defenses in Normandy began with carpet bombing of German lines west of St. Lo, followed by VII Corps advance through the bombed area. In the next few days,VIII Corps, with two armored divisions, raced along the coast to the base of the Brittany Peninsula.
Operation Cobra, 25-31 July 1944 - US First Army penetrates German defenses in Normandy
Operation Cobra Timeline:
  • 25 July - Operation Cobra, breakout from the Normandy invasion area, begins with massive American carpet bombing west of St. Lo.
  • 28 July - 4th Armored Division enters Coutances.
  • 30 July - VIII Corps enters Avranches.
  • 31 July - VIII Corps seizes Selune River crossings.
Operation Cobra - The Allied Breakout
Operation Cobra - The Allied Breakout
Operation Cobra included two infamous incidents of friendly fire:
  • On 24 July, preliminary carpet bombing by the Air Force killed 25 Americans.
  • On 25 July, the massive carpet bombing by 1,500 aircraft killed 111 more.
The dead included a three-star general and a former reporter for the Des Moines Register.

However, the carpet bombing achieved its goal of shattering the German defenses in the area. In the following few days, VII Corps made substantial advances to the south as shown on the above map.

Note that VIII Corps advanced even further, ending July at the gateway to the Brittany peninsula. On 1 August, Patton's Third Army was activated, VIII Corps was assigned to the Third Army, and VIII Corps entered Brittany.


​During Operation Cobra:
  • VII Corps consisted of the 2nd & 3rd Armored Divisions and the 1st, 9th, & 30th Infantry Divisions.
  • VIII Corps consisted of the 4th & 6th Armored Divisions.
Sources for Big Pigeon's The ETO > Liberation > Operation Cobra webpage:
​Major Sources:
  • Breakout and Pursuit, by Martin Blumenson, 1961, ~702 pp. [CMH #7-5]
Sources for webpage images:
  • Operation Cobra - The Allied Breakout, map, 

Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - The ETO > Liberation > Operation Cobra:
  • Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Roster module.
03-02  - The ETO > Liberation > Operation Cobra: (two dead, updated 31 Dec 2022)
† Block, Ernest August Sylvester "Sam", SN 37-120-000, US Army, Shelby Co.
  • 32nd Armored Regt., 3rd Armored Div., VII Corps, First Army; KIA 29 Jul 1944 E of Coutances, Manche Dept., Normandy, France; The ETO > Liberation > Operation Cobra.
† Paulsen, Laverne Henry, SN 37-445-364, US Army, Pott. Co.
  • Recon. Co., 66th Armored Regt., 2nd Armored Div., VII Corps, First Army; KIA 29 Jul 1944 S of St. Lo, Manche Dept., Normandy, France; The ETO > Liberation > Operation Cobra.
Proudly powered by Weebly