BATTLE GROUP • OVERLORD BATTLES BEYOND THE BEACHES 125 BATTLE GROUP • OVERLORD 126 BATTLE GROUP • OVERLORD 127 BATTLE GROUP • OVERLORD THE BATTLE FOR NORMANDY JUNE that targeted bridges, railways and Division, blocked the direct route British Sector movement by roads, additional to the town against 3rd Infantry With the Allies ashore, they were German units began to re-deploy to Division. Further west, 50th Infantry now in a race to reinforce their Normandy and join the front. Division quickly seized Bayeux and hard won lodgement area. New began to push south, until they ran men, equipment, guns and supplies On June 7th, D-Day +1, the into the formidable Panzer Lehr poured across the beaches night immediate objective for the British Division and became heavy engaged and day, and construction began Army remained unchanged in a fght for the town of Tilly-sur- on two foating Mulberry harbours – the capture of Caen. It would not Seulles, which was fnally captured to speed the unloading operations. fnally fall until mid-July, and the on June 17th after heavy fghting. Harbour A was later destroyed by following fve weeks were spent in a storm. The Germans, too, were hard fghting all along the front, for East of the Orne, the 6th Parachute racing to reinforce and meet the minimal gains. First, the arrival of Division, reinforced by commandos, invasion threat. Dogged by a sluggish 12th SS Panzer Division in Caen and and then 51st Infantry Division, higher command structure and an their sudden counter-attack against fought off repeated German attacks Allied air interdiction of Normandy the 3rd Canadian Division, was and made their own local counter- followed by a prolonged engagement attacks to secure their positions, but along a front which changed little an attempt by 51st Infantry Division Below: Men of the Regina Rifles take cover. for four weeks. 21st Panzer Division, to outfank Caen from east ended This is staged propoganda photograph (Canadian National Archive 3396083) aided by 16th Luftwaffe Field with little ground gained. 128 BATTLE GROUP • OVERLORD The frst British Armoured Division towns, sometimes in dense bocage Above: An MG42 team cover the wood line from behind a railway embankment (7th Armoured) deployed into country. But repeated British pressure (Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-301-1970-07, Hasse) Normandy and joined the front prevented the Germans from massing on June 12th. Its attack, part of their vaunted panzer divisions for was to link up the two beachheads, Operation Perch, to outfank Caen any combined counter-offensive to and this involved capturing the town from the west, ended in defeat throw the invasion back into the sea. of Carentan, the objective of 101st after the disastrous ambush and The ground gained might have been Airborne Division. In heavy fghting subsequent fghting at Villers Bocage. small, but the lodgement area had against German Fallschirmjäger, They then withdrew to reinforced by been increased and secured. Carentan was frst encircled then 33rd Armoured Brigade. seized by US paratroopers on June US Sector 12th. A counter-attack by 17th Other British operations throughout After the bloodbath on Omaha SS Panzer Grenadier ‘Götz von June, all connected to the capture of beach, the US divisions, now being Berlichingen’ was repulsed on Caen, including Operation Martlet, rapidly reinforced with fresh troops, June 13th, in which the paratroops which preceded Operation Epsom started to push further south against were aided by US 2nd Armoured on June 26th, which would see three scattered but an often skilful German Division’s tanks. divisions force a crossing over the defence. The 1st and 29th Infantry Orne river and begin prolonged Divisions became entangled in Meanwhile, new US divisions were fghting on and around Hill 112. By bocage fghting, but linked up with deploying over Utah beach and began the end of June, this dominant high 101st Airborne and, on June 12th, 1st to press west from the beachhead, ground had been captured many Infantry Division captured the town forcing passages across the fooded times, but was again back in German of Caumont from strong German Merderet river with the objective of hands. resistance (mostly likely the Panzer cutting off the Cherbourg peninsula Lehr reconnaissance battalion). from further reinforcements from the The fghting during June had been south, before turning towards the non-stop and attritional. It was Despite this diffcult fghting, it was vital port itself. a cat-and-mouse war of limited towards Cherbourg that the main US attacks, fought for hamlets and effort was focussed. First, the priority In the closer bocage country, the 129 BATTLE GROUP • OVERLORD three British armoured divisions (7th, 11th and Guards) all attacked east and south of Caen. They met ferce resistance and lost hundreds of tanks over the next three days, whilst gaining just fve miles. Goodwood failed to break through the German frontline. In Operation Atlantic, Canadian troops fought for and cleared the steelworks and Caen’s eastern suburbs. There was then heavy fghting around the villages south of Caen, either side of the Caen-Falaise highway. On July 30th, Operation Bluecoat began, launched from the Caumont area and aimed at capturing the town of Vire and aiding the US Operation Cobra breakout. In wooded and hilly terrain, the British advance was diffcult and slow, with many German counter-attacks being encountered. There was sustained heavy fghting to capture the highpoint at Mont Pincon. Above: 3" mortar crew of the Regina Rifles The last stubborn resistance on the US Sector dig in near Bretteville l’Orgueilleuse. Cherbourg peninsula was overrun on With Cherbourg secured and (Canadian National Archive 3256086) June 30th, at Cap de la Hague. engineers working to bring its port going was very slow, but on June 17th back into a working condition, the US troops reached Barneville-sur- JULY focus of US operations turned south, Mers on the western coast, sealing the British Sector towards a breakout from the diffcult peninsula. Despite counter-attacks Carpiquet airfeld, east of Caen, fnally bocage country, and towards the to break out of the pocket, the US fell to the Canadians after a month of strategically important town of St Lo. 9th Infantry Division had secured fghting and, on July 7th, Operation all the roads south from Cherbourg Charnwood launched a new thrust The attack was to be a general by June 18th. The main effort of directly at Caen. After a heavy RAF offensive, with three US Corps the attack then turned northwards; bombing raid, Caen was reduced involved. American doctrine was with the 4th, 9th and 79th Infantry to rubble. The German defenders to apply pressure along the entire Divisions pushing daily towards withdrew, and offered little further enemy front until it cracked, then ‘fortress’ Cherbourg. In hard fghting, resistance in the town itself, whilst strike at the weakness, rather than the trapped defenders were forced still holding the large Colombelles mass their forces to attempt to back from their defensive positions steelworks, east of the town. force a narrow breakthrough. This and bunkers, one after the other, and doctrine required massive logistical the port was encircled. US troops Hill 112 was recaptured by Operation support, but (probably uniquely and tank destroyers of 9th Infantry Jupiter but, on July 11th, forces of in Normandy) the US Army had Division fought their way into the 10th SS Panzer ‘Frundsberg’ had it. The main thrust for St Lo would city on June 24th, and its German again retaken the hill from the British. be conducted by XIXth Corps’ commander surrendered Cherbourg It fell to the British for the fnal time four divisions: 29th, 30th and 35th on June 26th, when tank destroyers on August 4th. Infantry, supported by 3rd Armoured opened fre on his command post. Division. The surrender only came after the Operation Goodwood began on July port facilities had been demolished. 18th, after heavy bomber attacks, The attack began on July 7th in the Vire river valley, east of Carentan, 130 BATTLE GROUP • OVERLORD with a heavy artillery preparation. With the objective taken, the offensive They became cut-off and fought Four days of bitter fghting followed was complete. The US divisions re- surrounded for fve days, being around St Jean de Daye and Le Pont grouped, re-equipped and reinforced resupplied by airdrops. Repeated Hébert. The Germans deployed ready for Operation Cobra – the German attacks on Hill 262 were elements of 2nd SS Panzer Division, breakout from Normandy. Cobra repulsed. Canadian forces reached and Fallschirmjäger units to the began on July 25th, after the carpet the beset Poles on August 21st. defence and the advance was, as ever, bombing of a target area just west of By the end of August, British and slow. St Lo. This massed USAAF frepower Commonwealth forces were engaged all but annihilated Panzer Lehr’s in a general advance, from the coast Meanwhile, elsewhere along the positions and this then allowed to Falaise they pushed eastwards, line, other infantry divisions were 2nd Armoured Division to attack towards the Seine river, then over pressing forwards, holding German and fght its way through the few it and on, across northern France units in place and drawing any survivors, breaking into open to the Belgian border, pursuing reinforcements to them, away from country. The decisive breakthrough the defeated Germans who offered the main effort. On July 11th, the had been made. More US tank units only delaying rearguard actions. By Panzer Lehr Division (redeployed fooded through the new gap as the early September, Commonwealth from the British sector), launched a German front began to crumble, their armoured spearheads had liberated heavy counter-attack in the Le Desert forward units having to withdraw to most of France and were speedily area.