the Allied bombing, severed German communication lines, causing initial confusion among the troops. German field commanders were not able to communicate with Army GroupG's headquarters. Despite the hampered communications, German commanders acted independently to put measures in effect to counter the Allied invasion. Directly facing the brunt of the Allied landings was the German LXII Corps at Draguignan, commanded by Ferdinand Neuling. Allied paratroopers interrupted his communication lines and trapped his headquarters in the city. He, therefore, ordered the nearby 148th Infantry Division to counterattack against the beaches at LeMuy, just before the Allied paratroopers cut him off completely. Wiese, as commander of the 19th Army, was also unable to contact Blaskowitz's Army GroupG headquarters, but implemented a plan to push the Allied forces in the LeMuySaint-Raphaël region back into the sea unilaterally. With almost no mobile reserves to react against the beach landings, he ordered the commander of the 189th Infantry Division, Richard von Schwerin, to establish an ad hoc battle group (Kampfgruppe) from all nearby units to counterattack the Allied beachheads in this area. While vonSchwerin assembled all the men he could find, the 148th Infantry Division near Draguignan encountered heavy resistance from the FFI, which had been reinforced by British paratroopers, upsetting the plan for a swift counterattack toward the beaches. While the Germans were unable to mount a counterattack against the Allied beachheads on 15August, by the morning of 16August, vonSchwerin had finally assembled a force about the size of four infantry battalions. With this force, he launched a two-pronged assault towards LeMuy and the Allied beachhead, as well as toward Draguignan to relieve the LXIICorps headquarters there. By that time, the Allies had already landed a significant number of troops, vehicles, and tanks. The Allied mobile forces of the 45thDivision went out against the German forces themselves. The division surrounded the town of LesArcs, recently reoccupied by vonSchwerin's troops, and attempted to isolate the German forces there. After heavy fighting throughout the day, vonSchwerin ordered his troops to retreat under cover of night. At the same time, heavy fighting occurred at Saint-Raphaël. Mobile units of the 148th Infantry Division finally had arrived there and encountered the U.S. 3rd Division, which was trying to take Saint-Raphaël. This attack, however, was fruitless. By 17August, the German counter-attacks had been largely defeated, Saint-Raphaël was secured together with a large beachhead along the coastline, and mobile forces had linked