 By the end of July only one and a half panzer divisions were facing American forces at the western end of the front, compared with six and a half facing the British and Canadians at the eastern end of the bridgehead.The German defence of Normandy was close to collapse when Operation Cobra breached the thin German defensive 'crust' in the west and few German mechanised units were available to counter-attack.Martin Blumenson, the American official historian, wrote after the war that had Goodwood created a breakthrough, "... Cobra would probably have been unnecessary".