June 1944

Western Front - Battle For Caen

The British 2nd Army is pushing forward toward Tilly-sur-Seulles in XXX Corps zone and Caen in I Corps zone against strong opposition.

The Germans devise a new plan to push the invasion back to the sea. It is to be a three-pronged armor attack: the 21st Panzer Division is to attack out of Caen; the 12th SS Panzer Grenadier in the center; and Panzer Lehr on the left near Bayeaux. It will begin as soon as the Panzer Lehr reaches the front and is deployed.

The Allies are making their own plan. With the 21st Panzer and the 12th SS dug in near Caen and on the defensive, they are to be encircled from the east and the west. Advancing out of the Airborne bridgehead east of the Orne will be the 51st Highland Division and the 4th Armored Brigade with Cagny as their objective. On the right side the blow will be delivered by XXX Corps with the 7th Armored Division leading the way toward Villers Bocage and Evrecy. When the leading elements of each have reached Cagny and Evrecy, the British 1st Airborne is to be dropped between them completing the encirclement of Caen. The Americans are to attack toward Caumont parallel with XXX Corps to enlarge the beachhead and divert attention from the major American effort to take Cherbourg.

The British and German plans are pretty much in oppostion of each other with timing virtually identical. There is bound to be head-on confrontation all along the line.

Battle Group Luck attacks toward Escoville while the 346th Infantry Division attacks the Airborne bridgehead from the opposite direction through the Breville gap. After a 90 minute artillery bombardment, the tanks of the 4th Company roll forward. Between the Germans and Ranville is just two battalions and some anti-tank guns. The problem for this plan is the difficult terrain for tanks. They have to pass through a narrow gap almost single file. When about 30 yards away the anti-tank guns open up and immediately knock out 3 tanks. The artillery of the British 3rd Division opens up next and more tank losses result. The surviving tank drivers began to reverse out of there crashing into each other. In just a few minutes, the German company was reduced to just 12 tanks with the loss of 32 men.

Later in the evening the Canadian 6th Armored Regiment encounters some German Panthers. In their Sherman Fireflies (a Sherman equipped with a 17pdr) they make quick work of the Germans knocking out 6 Panthers with 7 shots.

None of the plans for this day come off tidily or on time due to action already in progress. The Germans are forced to commit units prematurely because of enemy pressure. The British discover they did not have enough infantry up to protect the tanks or to reduce the number of German strongpoints in the British rear.