June 1944

Western Front - Battle For Caen

The 43rd Wessex Division, plus the 46th Highland Brigade, a brigade of the Canadian 3rd Division supported by the 4th Armored Brigade and the 31st Tank Brigade with artillery from 3 divisions and 2 Royal Artillery units, begin their attack at 0500. Operation JUPITER begins. Hill 112 lies midway between the Odon and Orne Rivers where they begin to converge before entering Caen. It is more than 1000 yards across the top with woods and wheatfields and where the road from Evrecy to Eterville runs across the summit. The objective for the British infantry is beyond Hill 112, the bridges over the Orne. In the first stage, the 129th Brigade is on the right and the 130th on the left are to take the hill. In the second stage, the 129th is to hold and the 130th is to break out to Eterville and Maltot. In the third stage, fast tanks and infanty in tracked vehicles are to make the dash for the Orne hoping to get the bridges intact.

The 129th Brigade, heading for Hill 112, is advancing across open cornfields when rocket launchers open fire. One of the units, the 4th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry, suffers heavy losses and becomes pinned down by machine-gun fire in the corn. The 130th Brigade captures Eterville and then advances toward the village of Maltot. The 7th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment and the 5th Battalion of the Dorsets, with their armor supporting tanks of the 44th Royal Tank Regiment, have little idea of the shock awaiting them. The 502nd SS Heavy Panzer Battalion equipped with Mark VI Tiger tanks is converging on the same spot. One company of Tigers smash through the hedgerows and see 4 Shermans in front of them. Their 88mm guns knock out 3 of them, the 4th escapes using high reverse. The Dorsets, unaware the other battalion has withdrawn, are soon engaged in house-to-house fighting in the village.

A mile and a half to the west, the British 129th Brigade almost reaches the small road crossing the top of Hill 112, but the heavy German fire forces the 4th Somerset Light Infantry in the middle to go to ground again. At 1700 hours the 5th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry is sent through the Somersets in another attempt to reach the top. They advance just over the brow of the hill when they are cut to pieces by machine-gun fire from the German positions on the reverse slope, then hit by panzers. The Tigers then move to St Martin to take part in a counterattack on the Hill, half of which is in British hands. At 2200 the 16 Tigers of the 1st Company, supported by grenadiers of the 9th SS Panzer Division, are to go up the hill and restore the situation for the Germans. At the same time, the commander of the 43rd Division, Maj-Gen G. Ivor Thomas, is planning to restore the situation for the British by committing his last immediate available reserve, the 5th Battalion of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DLCI). The British attack is to begin at 2230. As the Tigers go up the hill, the British guns open up as well as smoke. The German infantry have to take cover. The Tigers become vulnerable to a single man with a PIAT. The British have reached the line of the main road running across the top of Hill 112, and there the 129th Brigade is halted unable to advance over the crest to the road just beyond. It is in the center where the battle is fiercest, held by the 4th Somerset Light Infantry. At 2230 the 5th DCLI advance through them followed by their supporting tanks. In a wood on the far side of the ridge they meet the 1st Company of the 502nd Heavy Tank Battalion advancing again to the attack. It is not long before the men of the 5th DLCI come back running through the 4th Somersets in panic. All the anti-tank guns of the 5th DLCI have been destroyed. A smokescreen goes up to protect the retreat of the 5th DLCI, but the German Tigers keep advancing. A hundred yards away, the Bren carriers and other vehicles are loading up men and equipment, ready to retire, covered by 2 Churchill tanks which are quickly knocked out. The Tigers then fire at the helpless carriers when the order to retire comes. As the Tigers withdraw the British move forward and began to dig in 30 yards down the hill from the road.

Despite mortar and sniper fire, the Somersets hold on in slit trenches scraped out of the bare open slope. With mortar shell exploding continuously, the crew of the supporting armor remain closed down. Meanwhile, British artillery continued to hammer the summit.