was sounded and the anti-aircraft guns were manned. Not long after, the planes had vanished from sight, illustrating an unintended red herring that this was simply a lone commando operation. Unable to get answers from the two prisoners, Reichert concluded that the two men were part of the expected invasion force and had landed outside headquarters knowingly as part of a plan to disrupt the division's command structure. As a first measure, the nearest available reinforcements, an engineering company, were called in from Saint Arnoult to reinforce headquarters; they would arrive some two hours later to find the compound in no danger. Other elements of LXXXI Corps were alerted of the incident, with Colonel Paul Frank of the nearby 364th Infantry Division hearing about it at around one o'clock. Over the next few hours, little action took place. According to Reichert, occasional machine gun fire could be heard, with the headquarters' poorly trained and nervous staff inadvertently firing at returning reconnaissance patrols who had been sent out to look for more paratroopers, and found no one. It was during this event that the divisional staff were engaging in a telephone conversation with the 15th Army's commander, General Hans von Salmuth, who misunderstood the commotion for the genuine invasion and alerted Marshal Erwin Rommel's stand in, General Hans Speidel immediately. Deciding not to alert his superior, Speidel went back to bed. In constant contact with his battalions, Reichert found there to be minimal Allied presence in his sector, allowing him to reorganize forces looking towards the Cotentin Peninsula, where he had expected the bulk of the invasion to be concentrated. At approximately 02:45, elements of the 21st Panzer Division operating alongside the 711th took further British paratroopers prisoner. Meanwhile, the men who had been stationed at the coast were largely safe in their newly built bunkers and pillboxes, with only a few casualties from enemy volleys from the sea. Two reserve battalions were ordered to mop-up Allied forces between the coast and the Saint-Arnoult-Varaville road, and from that road to Pont-l'Évêque. It was Reichert's intention to keep the roads free of Allied interference in order to maintain transport and communication routes. At 07:30, the Panzers began attacking the British units who had grouped together at Ouistreham, along the Orne, with the 711th Division defending the bridgehead. Defending the bridgehead was considered necessary in that it would provide the panzers with space