command post moved into the presbytery of the « good Abbé Verger ». Defense Nevertheless, the position remained fragile. There was only the small Branet detachment which arrived towards mid-day to reinforce them, after some successful exploits in the Boucé area. The bulk of the Putz troops, held in reserve in the Ecouves forest, was a long time delayed. The French numbered only 130 compared to the enemy, but they had a lot of equipment, which led the Germans into making an error of judgement. Furthermore, the connivance of civilians was relied upon to inflate statistics, should they be interrogated by the Germans. On 14 August, help came from the sky as the American airforce attacked German positions. The attack hit some of the French units by mistake. Thus, on the western side of town, at "Udon's" crossing, the French tank Bir Hakeim was destroyed along with its crew and four nearby civilians. In the south, it was only on 17 August that a clearing operation (1 fatality) at Joué du Plain was able to relieve the prolonged pressure caused by an isolated group the SS.In the west, on 18 August, the 5th American armoured division finally arrived from Rânes. In the east, Argentan was finally captured by the 80th American Infantry Division on 20 August. Final liberation Under pressure from the Americans in the south and the British in the west, the German troops threw themselves against the Ecouché stranglehold. Ferocious confrontations pitted German armoured vehicles and infantry against the French position, which had to resist them in order to retain the Udon junction. From Goulet and Montgaroult in the north, the salvoes of shells from hidden Panther tanks rained down on the Shermans, piercing the armour of some of them - one of them the Massaouah -, and heavily damaging many village houses. On 16 August, the Germans launched a counter offensive against a group of infantry and tanks. A rain of French shells hindered their progress and an attack by the « Nueve » infantry soon moved into close combat, resulting in casualties on both sides, though the Germans were stopped. On the afternoon of 17 August, an attack by foot soldiers of the German SS « Das Reich » on the banks of the Orne became a rout. At the same time, some other Allied attacks were successful. The most notorious was the one carried out