 At 22 : 00 on 6 August , Funck reported that his troops were still not concentrated , and the commander of the 116th Panzer Division " had made a mess of things " . In fact , this officer ( Gerhard von Schwerin ) had been so pessimistic about the operation that he had not even ordered his tank units to take part . This delay disjointed the German attack , but on the German left flank , the SS Panzer troops attacked the positions of the American 30th Infantry Division east of Mortain shortly after midnight . The Germans achieved temporary surprise , as the Ultra documents had arrived at U.S. First Army Headquarters too late to alert the troops to the immediate assault . They briefly captured Mortain but were unable to breach the lines of the 30th Division , as the 2nd Battalion of the 120th Infantry Regiment commanded Hill 314 , the dominant feature around Mortain . Although cut off , they were supplied by parachute drops . Of the 700 men who defended the position until 12 August , over 300 were killed . 
