Listen up. Hauts-Vents was a knuckle of roads west of St-Lô—the kind of crossroads that decides a campaign. The Germans threw together Kampfgruppe Heintz from the 275th Infantry to sit on it. We pushed XIX Corps—30th and 9th Infantry up front with 3rd Armored’s CCB—to rip that hinge off the door.

They fed in Panzer Lehr on the 10th and counterattacked hard on the 11th. Didn’t matter. We took Hill 91, smashed their thrusts, and CCB seized the Hauts-Vents crossroads. Result? Their screen cracked, their line started to sag, and St-Lô’s fall became a question of hours, not weeks.

Lesson: take the crossroads, break the spine, keep moving. Momentum wins France.

~~ General Howitzer