Operation Charnwood - Background

Background

Further information: Invasion of Normandy and Operation Overlord

The Normandy town of Caen was one of the D-Day objectives for the British 3rd Infantry Division which landed on Sword Beach on 6 June 1944. The capture of Caen, while "ambitious", was described by historian L F Ellis as the most important D-Day objective assigned to Lieutenant-General Crocker's I Corps. Operation Overlord called for the British Second Army to secure the city and then form a front line from Caumont-l'Éventé to the southeast of Caen, in order to acquire airfields and protect the left flank of the United States First Army while it moved on Cherbourg. Possession of Caen and its environs would give Second Army a suitable staging area for a push south to capture Falaise, which could then be used as the pivot for a swing left to advance on Argentan and then towards the Touques River. The terrain between Caen and Vimont was especially attractive to Allied planners, being open, dry and conducive to swift offensive operations. Since the Allies greatly outnumbered the Germans in tanks and mobile units, creating the conditions for a fluid, fast moving battle was to their advantage.

The 3rd Infantry Division came ashore as planned but hampered by congestion in its beachhead, the diversion of its strength en route and the late arrival of much of its armoured support, the division was unable to assault Caen in force and its lead elements were brought to a halt short of the city's outskirts. Follow-up attacks were unsuccessful as German resistance solidified around the rapidly-arriving 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend, so the British abandoned the direct approach and on 7 June launched Operation Perch, a pincer attack by I and XXX Corps. The intention was to encircle Caen from the east and west. However I Corps, striking south of the Orne River was halted by the 21st Panzer Division while XXX Corps's attack to the west of Caen stalled near Tilly-sur-Seulles in the face of heavy opposition from the Panzer-Lehr-Division. In an effort to force Panzerlehr to withdraw the British 7th Armoured Division attacked the German flank on 13 June, through a gap in the line aiming for high ground near Villers-Bocage. The resulting day-long tank battle ended when the 7th Armoured's vanguard was pulled back; the Panzer-Lehr-Division held its position until XXX Corps captured Tilly-sur-Seulles on 19 June.

Location of Caen in Normandy, northern France

The next British offensive, codenamed Operation Epsom, was launched by VIII Corps on 26 June. Preceded by Operation Martlet (also known as Operation Dauntless) to secure the corps' right flank, VIII Corps advanced to the west of Caen on a four-mile (6.4 km) front between Carpiquet and Rauray. Once across the Odon and Orne rivers the corps was to make for high ground near Bretteville-sur-Laize and encircle Caen. The Germans managed to contain the offensive but to do so were obliged to commit all their strength, including two SS panzer divisions newly arrived in Normandy and earmarked for an offensive against British and American positions around Bayeux.

On 27 June the 3rd Infantry Division's 8th Infantry Brigade, supported by the Staffordshire Yeomanry and specialist armour from the 79th Armoured Division, launched Operation Mitten. The objective was to seize two German-occupied châteaux—la Londe and le Landel. The initial evening assault, led by the South Lancashire Regiment, was repulsed but the following morning further attacks gained the objectives and destroyed several German tanks. Operation Mitten cost at least three British tanks and 268 men. Norman Scarfe claims that had Mitten gone more smoothly, the 9th Brigade, supported by the Canadian 9th Infantry Brigade, would have launched Operation Aberlour, an ambitious plan to capture the villages of la Bijude, Épron, Galmache, St. Contest, Authie and Cussy. However, this was cancelled by I Corps's commander Lieutenant-General John Crocker. Historian Terry Copp calls the fighting for these châteaux the "bloodiest square mile in Normandy".

With Caen's strategic value to the Germans apparently lessening, Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt, in command of German forces in the west (OB West), directed on 1 July that the city should be gradually abandoned. Rundstedt's intent was to shift the bulk of his armoured divisions to the American front but the city and its surroundings were considered by the German Armed Forces High Command (OKW) to be the linchpin of Normandy's defence. OKW was determined to hold an arc of defensible terrain from the English Channel to the western banks of the Orne; Adolf Hitler's response was to dismiss Rundstedt from command and replace him with Generalfeldmarschall Gunther von Kluge. Learning of this, the Allied ground forces commander, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, drew up an offensive with two goals: to capture Caen and to prevent a large redeployment of German forces from the Anglo-Canadian sector to the American front.

On 4 July, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division launched Operation Windsor, designed to seize Carpiquet and the adjacent airfield from the 12th SS Panzer Division. Although Carpiquet fell on 5 July, the airfield remained in German hands.