Canadian Military History Volume 1 Issue 1 Article 5 1992 Fifth Brigade at Verrieres Ridge Terry Copp Wilfrid Laurier University,
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[email protected]. Copp: Fifth Brigade at Verrieres Ridge FIFTH BRIGADE VERRIERES RIDGE Terry Copp he Fifth Canadian Infantry Brigade arrived crossing of the Orne opposite the race course T in France on 16 July 1944 during the worst in Caen. The next morning the Regiment de days of the battle of Normandy. The Allies had Maisonneuve and the Calgary Highlanders went expected heavy losses on the D-Day beaches into action and by the evening of the 21st all and then, once through the Atlantic Wall, three battalions held positions on the lower lighter casualties in a war of rapid movement. slope of Verrieres Ridge. On the night of the The opposite had happened. The coastal 22nd the Maisonneuves were assigned to clear defences had been quickly breached, but then the village of Etavaux as part of a British (43rd there were only slow movement and horrendous West Riding Division) operation to capture casualties. In one month more than 40,000 Maltot on the west bank of the Orne. The U.S.