The Men Too Dangerous for Hitler to Leave Standing

300 German tanks pushed through the French countryside for the coastal town of Avranches, moving in complete silence. The goal was to cut the American army in half. No headlights. No artillery barrage to maintain the surprise. Only the fog, and the darkness, and the ground trembling under their tracks. Patton's Third Army was already racing east through France, pushing deeper by the hour. Sever its supply lines at the coastal town, and the whole American advance would collapse on itself. The order had come down from Hitler himself: four Panzer divisions, among them some of the most battle-hardened SS units in the German army, men who had fought since the first days in the east. Just after midnight on August 7, 1944, the column rolled into Mortain, 19 miles from Avranches and squarely in the path of the advance. They came in ready for a fight and found the town all but empty. The Americans had pulled back ahead of them. One SS officer wrote afterward: (QUOTE) "Nobody expected our attack. The town was abandoned in panic and fear." But Mortain alone would not get them to Avranches. Rising sharply out of the flat Norman farmland just east of the town was Hill 314, a massive piece of craggy limestone, the highest point for miles in every direction. Every road to Avranches runs directly underneath it. Taking it was not optional. It was the prerequisite for everything else. They did not wait for morning. - As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Docs sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect. I do my best to keep it as visually accurate as possible. All content on Dark Docs is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas. -