D-Day and The South of France
On 6 June 1944 Ramillies provided fire support for the Normandy Landings. Sword Beach, at the east of the landing area, was her assigned area with the primary task of silencing the Berneville battery. She began by opening fire on the 6" (152 mm) battery, knocking out four of the six guns in the first 80 minutes and keeping the attention of the rest, allowing landing craft to proceed unmolested. By evening she accounted for the other two guns.
During the course of the first day she repelled an attack by two German destroyers which fired five torpedoes at her, all missing. She also drove off a pack of E boats with her secondary 4- and 6-inch (102 and 152 mm) guns. That evening she returned to Portsmouth and reammunitioned the next day. She was back off Normandy on 8 June 1944 and knocked out another 6" battery.
On 9 June Ramillies, directed by forward observation posts, fired on German tanks, guns, infantry concentrations and motor vehicles with great success, breaking up German units before they could launch counterattacks. She also beat off an attack by German E-boats.
On 10 June she hit enemy railway marshalling yards near Caen, many miles inland.
On 11 June Ramillies hit a concentration of 200 enemy tanks, inflicting great damage. That night she bombarded more railway marshalling yards.
On 12 June she suffered a near miss when attacked by a dive bomber.
A German mobile artillery fired 32 rounds at Ramillies on 15 June, of which two hit the ship. One crew member was wounded in the leg. Ramillies moved out of range and continued her bombardment. On 16 June she continued her bombardment and on 17 June she hit a mobile battery.
In the course of her Normandy engagement she fired 1,002 15-inch (381 mm) shells, thought to be the greatest bombardment by any single ship to that time.
Ramillies provided similar fire support for the invasion of southern France on 15 August 1944. Her particular task was to silence the batteries at the entrance to Toulon harbour.
Read more about this topic: HMS Ramillies (07)
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