Although the Germans stymied Operation Cobra at the point of attack on the previous day by determined defense, they had been hurt far worse than most Americans realized. One man who understood the situation was General "Lighting Joe" Collins who looked past the gloom and doom reports from his spearhead units and sensed victory. It was a good thing for the Allies that he controlled the armored reserve, because he sent them forward early on the 26th even the planned battlefield conditions for their employment had not been met.

Before going forward, Colonel Truman D. Boudinot gathered his commanders together and grimly informed them, "We're going to make a breakout ... even if means the elimination of CCB." Things started well as the 18th Infantry Regiment passed through the 9th Infantry Division without a hitch. That was the last good news Colonel Boudinot received that day. The rest of his command struggled just to reach the front. Later, a massive air strike failed to suppress the defenders at Marigny, and they bloodily repulsed all CCB efforts to dislodge them.

In the midst of the confusion and killing, Sergeant E. A. Struble and his crew lay helpless in a field after their tank was destroyed. A persistent machine gunner turned back all German efforts to reach them. In an ironic twist, unbeknownst to either man, his twin brother Elmer was firing that machine gun.

Use a Heer unit for the SS Tiger tank, or use an SS Tiger from Beyond Normandy, Black SS, Kursk South Flank, Road to Berlin, or Sinister Forces.