In July 1944, the German Army concentrated more panzer divisions in the open fields south of Caen than in any other sector on the eastern or western front. Relying on infantry and artillery to meet the Soviet Union’s summer offensive and to check the Americans in the dense Bocage country in Normandy was a gamble, but Hitler and his senior officers knew a breakout in the Anglo-Canadian sector would open routes to Falaise and the River Seine while cutting off most of the German forces in Normandy. The Caen-Falaise plain was such good tank country that it could only be defended by the best panzer divisions.