The Old Hickory Division absorbed the brunt of the 2nd SS Panzer Division’s attack. That counterattack came on August 7 in the form of a determined assault by tanks of the German XLVII Panzer Corps, ordered by Adolf Hitler to capture Mortain and seize Avranches at all costs, cutting off Patton’s tankers in Brittany. Shortly afterwards the 30th Division took over at Mortain, with the mission of holding open the vital corridor against possible enemy counterattack. Collins’s VII Corps nevertheless held on, and on August 3 the 1st Infantry Division captured the town of Mortain just under twenty miles east of Avranches, widening the gap. German forces fought desperately to seal the gap at Avranches. Patton’s Third Army and the deployment of American armored units for the liberation of Brittany. The advance that followed culminated in the capture of Avranches at the Cotentin Peninsula’s southwestern edge, followed by the activation of Lieutenant General George S. The division subsequently played an important role in Operation Cobra, which commenced on July 25 and led to the American breakout from Normandy. The 30th Division returned to Europe during World War II under the command of Major General Leland Hobbs, landing on Normandy’s Omaha Beach on June 11, 1944, and proceeding to the base of the Cotentin Peninsula, where it was deployed in the vicinity of St. It helped to break Germany’s Hindenburg Line in September-October 1918. The 30th Division’s distinguished combat record stretches back to World War I, when it was formed as an Army National Guard unit drawn from Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas, and informally dubbed the “Old Hickory” Division. According to the announcement, “This action rightfully recognizes our veterans who triumphed against incredible odds, as well as those who died during a critical battle that helped ensure the Allied victory in Europe.”
Trump announced that the US Army will be awarding the Presidential Unit Citation to the 30th Infantry Division, in recognition of its heroic stand at the Battle of Mortain, France, August 7-12, 1944.
Top Image: The 30th Division at Mortain, August 1944, by Keith Rocco.
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