Dollmann tried to organize an immediate counter-attack with the 21st Panzer Division. Lieutenant General Fritz Bayerlein protested; he felt a column march in daytime was merely an invitation to the Allied air forces to decimate his division. He suggested alternative plans, but Dollmann remained adamant. This proved a costly mistake. Throughout the night of 6–7 June 1944, the Allies used their knowledge of the location of the German columns and flares to illuminate the enemy to find suitable targets to attack from the air. The 21st Panzer Division lost 5 tanks, 40 tank trucks, and 84 other vehicles destroyed. The depleted Panzer division left Rommel at a disadvantage in trying to arrange a counterattack, and so it was not until 9 June 1944 that he was able to muster his forces. Obtaining naval support or aerial cover from the Luftwaffe proved to be impossible. Not only were the Germans under-equipped compared to the Allies, the command and control requirements for coordinated attack and defense were hindered by a labyrinthine military and administrative bureaucracy, and the highest offices of leadership remained intransigent about the actual strategic situation. These factors made Rommel's job of coastal defense nearly impossible. Despite the desperate circumstances, Rommel, Rundstedt, and Dollmann kept fighting.