Dangy (Manche)
The cities of Normandy during the 1944 battles
- Liberation: 27 July 1944
- Deployed units:
82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Combat Command B, 2nd Armored Division
Panzer-Lehr-Division
- History:
Following the battles fought by the 82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion in the early hours of the day at Quibou, the Americans of Combat Command B continued their advance towards Notre-Dame-de-Cenilly, liberating Dangy en route. At the same time, this village housed the command post of Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein, commander of the Panzer-Lehr-Division. The Americans, who were unaware of this intelligence, nonetheless bombarded any armoured vehicles that attempted the slightest movement in the Dangy sector.
When A Squadron of the 82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion reached the outskirts of Dangy, the Germans did not expect to have to fight a ground battle so soon: according to their intelligence, the Americans were still several kilometres away, in the Hébécrevon sector. When the first reconnaissance vehicles entered Dangy at full speed, firing several shells and bursts of machine-gun fire, the Germans were taken completely by surprise. Several dozen of them surrendered, shocked by what had just happened, while others resisted in spite of everything. A Panther tank and a half-track, survivors of the Panzer-Lehr-Division, were neutralised on the outskirts of the village by the men commanded by Lieutenant Danford J. Bubolz, a member of this reconnaissance unit.
As soon as the first shots were fired, General Bayerlein’s command post was taken by surprise: in their haste, he and his staff managed to flee without encountering the American troops, leaving Dangy on foot and heading south towards the woods. The Americans unknowingly failed to capture the general commanding the Panzer-Lehr-Division.
At the end of the rapid search of the village, A Squadron of the 82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion destroyed a German reconnaissance and command vehicle, parked under cover in a garage, two half-tracks and an 88 mm gun. Meanwhile, in the air, two P-47 Thunderbolts neutralised four Panther tanks moving towards Dangy: observing that an American unit was in the village, one of the pilots contacted Bubolz, himself on board his M8 75 mm HMC assault gun, and asked him if he needed air support. ‘Dan’ Bubolz declined the offer immediately: he felt he had set up a defensive system that would enable him to stop any opposing counter-attack aimed at retaking the village.
A few minutes later, when the reconnaissance unit received the order to resume the advance towards Notre-Dame-de-Cenilly, Lieutenant Bubolz was seriously injured in an explosion a few hundred metres south of Dangy and had to be evacuated.
Map of Dangy :
