Civilians at the heart of war
New bombings on Norman cities
Having missed the first time during the bombings of June 6, certain Allied objectives are once again the targets of the Royal Air ForceVire, Condé-sur-Noireau, Lisieux, Argentan, Saint-Lô and Coutances are under bombs.
Around 1:00 a.m., a new raid fell on Condé-sur-Noireau, killing 200 civilians, including the town's mayor. Condé was more than 70% destroyed. Thirty minutes later, it was Lisieux's turn to be shelled. The heart of the city was completely razed, with only the Sainte-Thérèse Basilica miraculously spared. It would serve as a shelter for thousands of homeless people. More than 700 Lisieux residents were killed that day.
Between 2:30 and 3:00 a.m., a new air raid targeted Caen: the Charité and Miséricorde districts, and the fire station were severely hit. The Lycée Malherbe received 7 refugees, the Saint-Etienne abbey another 000, while the Bon-Sauveur, transformed into a reception center, received 1 Caen residents and 500 wounded. The bridges over the Orne were destroyed by these new bombings. 2 new victims were found in the ruins of the city. In Coutances, 000 civilians were killed by the bombs, and 1 others perished in Saint-Lô.
At dawn on June 7, the human toll was heavy on the civilian side: nearly 3 dead, as many as the number of Allied fighters who fell on the beaches on June 000. In the afternoon, new bombings were carried out by the Allied flying fortresses over Flers, Condé-sur-Noireau, Lisieux, Argentan, Falaise, Avranches, l'Aigle, Valognes, but also in the perimeters of Alençon, Fougères, Mayenne, Rennes, in order to prevent any German reinforcements from these regions.
The sanitary block at Malherbe high school in Caen
From the first bombings on June 6, Caen refugees invaded the various reception centers organized for months by the Passive Defense services. The vast majority joined the Bon Sauveur Hospital and Reception Center No. 4 set up in the premises of the Malherbe high school – housed in the former convent buildings of the Abbaye-aux-Hommes – as well as the adjoining Saint-Etienne abbey church. On all floors of the high school, from the cellars to the attics, in the cloister, in the nave, in the bays and apses of Saint-Etienne, thousands of Caen residents found refuge everywhere. From June 7, the high school refectory was transformed into a supplementary hospital, some municipal services were transferred to the high school classrooms, a nursery and a feeding room were put into operation, and finally, a regulated food service provided hot meals twice a day to all refugees. It operated until July 15. From June 7, day after day, the Malherbe high school became a veritable anthill, a city within the city, housing half of the 20 Caen residents who had decided not to abandon their city despite the pain and tragedy.
American Sectors – Omaha Beach
The extension of the bridgehead
From 3:00 a.m., intensive bombing of the Baldwin sweep the coast at Formigny, Trévières and Etreham. During the day, the national road 13 is bombed by the Texas, Arkansas, Glasgow, Georges Leygues and MontcalmThe objective is to push back the German lines of resistance preventing the extension of the bridgehead.
While Saint-Pierre-du-Mont was reached shortly before 11:0 a.m., before a German attack forced the group to turn back, blocked for the night, Saint-Laurent-sur-mer was "cleaned" around 9:00 a.m. by the 3e battalion of 115e regiment, aided offshore by the gunfire of the Priest. Formigny for its part was attacked in the evening by the 26the 1th Regimentre American infantry division. Patrols sent along the RN 13 report that the Germans are firmly holding the position at Tour-en-Bessin.
The liberation of Colleville and Vierville
The village of Colleville-sur-Mer had been attacked the day before by men of the 16th Infantry Regiment. Facing stiff resistance from the fighters of the German 352nd Division, the GIs were unable to liberate the village. Around 10:00 a.m., Colleville-sur-Mer finally fell to soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division and an armored force, while the town of Huppain was attacked that evening.
Vierville was liberated on June 6th at 11:00 a.m. by soldiers of the 116th Infantry Regiment. But the Germans were far from capitulating. They counterattacked on June 7th around 5:30 a.m. At noon, after changing hands several times, the village of Vierville was finally liberated by American troops.
The fate of the Rangers
Initially assigned to Force B – in reality only C Company of the 2nde Battalion – The capture of the guns at Pointe de la Percée failed at dawn on June 6. The survivors of Company C, who had landed on Omaha Beach at Dog Green, captured the guns at Pointe de la Percée that morning. These were two 76 mm Skoda field guns that could fire broadsides along the entire beach.
Still isolated and short of ammunition at Pointe du Hoc, Colonel Rudder's men called for reinforcements. On the afternoon of June 6, his calls were heard: about thirty soldiers, the survivors of Company A of the 5the Ranger battalion landed on Omaha Beach arrived from the sea with ammunition. By the morning of June 7, after a night of fighting, only 90 men were still fit to fight. A relief force of 500 men from the 1er battalion of 116e infantry regiment (29e infantry division) and the 5the Rangers, then set off in the morning towards Pointe du Hoc. It reached Pointe du Hoc the next day around noon after forcing the Germans to withdraw towards Grandcamp to finally free the 90 survivors.
The artificial port of Saint-Laurent-sur-mer
A major innovation and stroke of genius by the British during Overlord, two artificial harbors were built off the coast of Normandy the day after the D-Day landings. Off the beaches of Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, the first structures of the artificial harbor, Mulberry A, were installed that morning. They consisted mainly of Phoenix caissons, concrete caissons weighing 1500 to 7000 tons designed to form a solid barrier to protect the harbor from the swell. Sheltered by this artificial breakwater, supplemented by old sunken buildings, jetties and floating docks would be installed within a period not to exceed three weeks, allowing the transport of men and equipment to the shore. A second artificial harbor, Mulberry B, was built in the same way off Arromanches-les-Bains.
First airfield above Omaha Beach
To ensure constant air cover for Operation Overlord in the aftermath of June 6, the Allies planned to build airfields in Normandy. The first airfield was American. It was built on the heights of Omaha Beach, on the Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer plateau by the 834the Air Force Engineering Construction Battalion. The first elements of the emergency landing strip were put in place on June 7. Although airfield A 21 was operational at 18:00 p.m., it was not until June 10 that the runway reached its full capacity, until its closure on August 25, 1944. Two other emergency landing strips were installed at the same time at Asnelles (British airfield B1) and Brucheville (American airfield A-16). A total of 81 airfields were built in Normandy, both in the American sector – under the command of the 9the US Air Force – only in the Anglo-Canadian sector, under the command of the 2e Tactical Air Force.
New reinforcements on Omaha
According to the schedules established by the Allied strategists, reinforcements in men continued to arrive at Omaha. In the afternoon, the first elements of the 2nde General Robertson's infantry division (the Indian Head Division) consisting of the 9the infantry regiment set foot on the sands of Omaha. They must participate without delay in widening the beachhead by clearing the last pockets of German resistance near the beaches. Behind them then arrive the very first elements of the 2nde American armored division under Major General Brooks, which consisted of nearly 15 men and 000 tanks, half of which were Sherman medium tanks. The "Hell on Wheels" division was thus the first American armored division to land on the continent.
Utah Beach
Clearing out pockets of German resistance
The junction of the paratroopers with the forces landed on Utah is established at Sainte-Mère-Eglise when the 505e 82nd Parachute Regimente Airborne meets the 8e 4th Infantry Regimente infantry division. Around 15:00 p.m., General Collins, commander of the 7the American corps, enters Sainte-Mère-Eglise. There he meets General Ridgway in his command post established to the west of the town. The paratroopers are involved in all the fighting to widen the thin bridgehead formed the day before. In the evening, a continuous front from Neuville-au-Plain to Chef-du-Pont, passing by the Fière bridge, is held by the 82nde Airborne, reinforced in the meantime by elements of the 325e glider regiment and elements of the 8the infantry regiment.
For its part, the 101e Airborne continued its attacks on Saint-Côme-du-Mont and Houesville without being able to conquer the villages fiercely defended by the German paratroopers. Turqueville, on the other hand, fell into the hands of the 8the regiment after the Georgians of the 795e battalion, surrounded, surrendered. The village became for a time the headquarters of the 90e recently landed American infantry division.
To open the road to Cherbourg, the Americans must now seize the German batteries of Azzevile and Crisbecq-Saint-Marcouf to the north of Sainte-Mère-Eglise.
The 22nd Regiment attacks the Crisbecq and Azeville batteries
Situated overlooking the sea 3 km, the Crisbecq naval battery, with its 4 x 210 mm guns and its garrison of 400 men, is the most powerful in the entire Bay of the Seine outside the fortresses of Le Havre and Cherbourg. Heavily damaged on June 6, it still remained dangerous on the 7th with one of its guns still intact aimed at Utah beach. Also, in the morning, the men of the 22nd Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division attacked the position, before having to fall back in the face of accumulating losses. The attack resumed on the 8th, this time accompanied by significant artillery support but without success, then on June 9 before the Americans, wanting to spare their troops, abandoned the position to move back towards Quinéville and Montebourg. The Crisbecq battery finally fell on June 12, 1944, having been evacuated the previous night by the Germans.
The 22nd Infantry Regiment also launched an assault on the Azeville battery, with its four 4mm guns and its garrison of 105 soldiers. The 170nd Battalion was immediately pushed back by a German counterattack on its starting line. Captain Treiber's garrison finally surrendered on June 2, 9, in the face of a flamethrower attack and intense naval artillery preparation.
The battles of the Pont de la Fière
For the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division, the fighting at the Fière Bridge, which began on June 6, intensified from the 7th. It lasted until June 9. The aim was to hold the Fière Bridge and the raised causeway that crossed the flooded Merderet Valley, prevent the enemy from advancing toward Sainte-Mère-Eglise, and attempt to gain a foothold on the other bank to link up with the airborne regiments dropped further west and isolated in the middle of enemy lines. On June 7, the Germans repeated their assaults after a heavy artillery preparation. But the 1st Battalion of the 505th Regiment resisted and held the bridge. The fighting raged for two days.
The Battle of La Fière was definitively won on June 9, when, under the leadership of General Gavin, the second in command of the 82nd Airborne, the fighters of the 507th Regiment and the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment recaptured the village of Cauquigny from the Germans, the exit point of the Fière causeway, at the cost of heavy losses on both sides.
British Sectors – Gold Beach
Secure and expand the beachhead
After linking up on their left flank with the Canadians who had landed on Juno, the British troops continued their penetration towards the South. On the coast, Port-en-Bessin, still in German hands, had to be quickly liberated so that the small ports, like Grandcamp, Isigny or Courseulles, could play a role in the deployment of Allied logistics before the two artificial ports came into service. The men of the 47the Royal Marines Commando launched another assault in the early hours of the morning, definitively liberating the fishing port the next day and capturing nearly 300 prisoners. Still along the coast, severely damaged by Allied naval artillery fire during June 6, the German battery at Longues-sur-Mer, still manned by 184 German soldiers, surrendered without a fight to the British troops who had arrived by land.
With the capture of Bayeux, along the national road 13, effective on June 7, the British finally controlled a strategic communication axis allowing them to harmonize their defensive system between Caen and the Cotentin.
Bayeux, the first city in France to be liberated on the continent
The British invested Bayeux without a fight on the morning of June 7. Since the day before, units of the 56th and 151st Brigades had been stationed at the city gates after landing on Gold Beach. The city's outskirts had even been invested by the 2nd Gloucester Regiment at Saint-Vigor. On the morning of the 7th, it was the soldiers of the 56th Brigade of the British 50th Division, those of the 2nd Essex Regiment, who entered the city first before enduring a few short skirmishes in front of the Post Office to the applause of a crowd of curious spectators. By mid-afternoon, Bayeux could finally celebrate its liberation. Completely evacuated by the Germans, who preferred to concentrate their efforts on the defense of Caen, spared by the Allied bombings, Bayeux, sub-prefecture of Calvados, thus became the first city in France to be liberated... on the continent.
The artificial port of Arromanches
Prefabricated in England and brought on site after being towed across the English Channel, the first Phoenix caissons were positioned and then sunk off the coast of Arromanches at midday to form the framework of a second artificial port after that of Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer. This marked the beginning of the construction of Mulberry B, also called "Port Winston" in honor of the English Prime Minister Winston Churchill who had the idea. 17 ships were also sunk offshore to form a blockship breakwater to complement the 115 concrete caissons. While Mulberry A at Saint-Laurent was assigned to American troops, the Mulberry at Arromanches was reserved for the British only. This functional distribution would be respected until the devastating storm that struck from June 19 to June 22 and completely destroyed the American port, making Arromanches the only artificial port of the Allies during the entire Battle of Normandy.
The BBC in Normandy
At the junction of the Gold Beach and Juno Beach sectors, the village of Creully was liberated on June 6 by the tanks of the 4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards. The following day, BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) operators set up a radio studio in the square tower of its medieval castle – already occupied by the English in 1417 during the Siege of Caen during the Hundred Years' War – open to all war correspondents covering the Battle of Normandy. The first broadcast was broadcast live on English radio on June 19, 1944. From the small vaulted room of this square tower, a few kilometers from the front line, the BBC's American, Canadian, and French war correspondents addressed both their Home Service and Armed Forces Programme audiences, as well as audiences further afield in Africa and the Pacific.
The landing of the Scots
While the first advanced elements of the division had landed on Gold Beach the previous evening, the bulk of the 51st Highland Infantry Division landed on the 7th at 8:00 a.m. A Territorial Division formed in 1939, the 51st Highland Division was largely captured in France in May 1940. Once reconstituted, it participated in the campaigns in North Africa from June 1942 and Sicily in July 1943. Highly experienced, its men were repatriated to Great Britain from November 1943 to prepare for Operation Overlord. As soon as they landed, the Scots were sent directly east of the Orne to support the British paratroopers of the 6th Airborne and thus reinforce the fragile beachhead. The first contact with the enemy was established at the German radar station at Douvres-la-Délivrande. The Scottish division will be engaged from June 9 in the Bavent Wood to the east of the Orne.
Sword Beach
British objectives
For the two commando brigades landed on Sword Beach, the objective is twofold: to consolidate the airborne bridgehead on the right bank of the Orne alongside the 6the Airborne facing attacks by the 21ste Panzer and definitively liberate the seaside towns where the Germans were still resisting within their various strongpoints, at Lion-sur-mer, Luc-sur-mer and Langrune-sur-mer. For their part, the infantry brigades of the 3rde General Rennie's British division, which had captured the beaches without succeeding in consolidating the beachhead, must push back towards Caen. To do this, General Rennie's troops will have to break through the firmly anchored German resistance lines at La Cambes, Lébisey and Blainville.
Commandos attack Bréville and Merville
No. 3 Commando (1st Special Service Brigade) moved along the Sallenelles/Ranville road and occupied the sector southwest of Amfreville to prevent any enemy infiltration. On the Merville side, it attempted to complete the work begun the day before by the paratroopers of Colonel Otway's 9th Battalion, before being pushed back by a combat group from the German 736th Grenadier Regiment, which had taken control of the position. While No. 4 Commando and the French of Commando Kieffer consolidated their position on the heights of Amfreville, No. 6 Commando (1st Special Brigade) distinguished itself by carrying out the only offensive action of the day: it managed to destroy 4 artillery pieces and two flak guns in front of the village of Bréville-les-Monts, without however managing to capture the village, which was fiercely defended by the Germans. Bréville thus continues to form a salient directly threatening Ranville in the heart of the paratroopers' sector.
The Royal Marine Commandos
After deadly fighting, Lion-sur-Mer was liberated in the evening by the 41ste Royal Marine Commando (4e Special Service Brigade) landed at the western end of Hermanville after capturing the German fortified position codenamed "Trout" (two anti-tank guns, mortars, machine guns) with the help of naval support.
Originally due to land in front of Houlgate or Bénerville, the 46e Royal Marine Commando (4e Brigade) of Lieutenant-Colonel Hardy finally landed at 6:00 a.m. on June 7 to go to Saint-Aubin and attack the strong point of Petit-enfer. The fortified position fell at 18:00 p.m. and left 65 prisoners from the 716the German division in the hands of the commandos. Further on, Luc-sur-Mer is liberated by the 41ste Royal Marine Commando shortly before 22 p.m. after linking up with the 00e RMC.
The front of the 3e British division
In the morning, the 3e infantry division and its 185the brigade which is heading towards Caen from the north, comes up against a major resistance nest held by elements of the 21st in the Lébisey woodse Panzer. Cresserons falls into the hands of the 1er South Lancashire (8e British brigade) from Hermanville-sur-mer, after the defensive withdrawal of the grenadiers of the 21ste Panzer. Mathieu's village is attacked by the Kings' Own Scottish Borderers (9e infantry brigade). At 17:00 p.m. on the 2nde battalion of Royal Ulster Rifles (9e brigade) attempts to capture Cambes-en-Plaine, defended by the grenadiers of the SS division. The British will not go further south, stopped by the men and tanks of the 21ste Panzer.
The action of the British paratroopers
Lesson 12e and 13the parachute battalions occupy Ranville and Bas-de-Ranville. While the 2e Ox and Bucks battalion of the 6e British Airborne captures the village of Hérouvillette, before coming up against Escoville on the 1ster Royal Ulster Rifles (the Irish battalion of the 6the British airborne brigade) launched an assault on the village of Sainte-Honorine-la-Chardonnette around midday. There too, the resistance of the 125the Major von Luck's Panzer Grenadier regiment is solid. The Irish retreat, leaving nearly 60 fighters behind enemy lines, only twenty of whom will rejoin their lines the next day. General Gale's men nevertheless manage to hold the ridge, thus sealing off the plain. The results of this day remain rather in favor of the Germans who were able to launch their offensives towards Ranville and Longueval, regroup at Sannerville and Troarn, but also east of Caen, at Banneville-la-Campagne, Cuverville and Touffréville.
The Canadian sector
The 7th's Forward Marche brigade
Firste Canadian Infantry Brigade (Regina Rifles Regiment, Royal Winnipeg Rifles) set out again to conquer its objectives on the evening of June 6. Its axis of march was cleared of any German presence. In the morning, the villages of Secqueville, Putot-en-Bessin, Norrey-en-Bessin and Bretteville-l'Orgueilleuse were then conquered one after the other. At this point, Foster's brigade was certainly the most advanced Allied unit inland. By the end of the day, its advance had reached the Paris-Cherbourg railway line and the Royal Winnipeg Rifles occupied Putot-en-Bessin.
Failure of the 9th Brigade before Authie, Buron and Saint-Contest
The 9th Canadian Brigade was given the objective of marching on Buron, Authie, Franqueville, and Carpiquet. Its advance would be covered by Allied naval artillery. Around 11:00 a.m., the North Nova Scotia Highlanders and the armored vehicles of the 27th Regiment easily crossed the anti-tank ditch at Buron, north of Caen. Buron was crossed around 11:50 a.m. Authie was reached without difficulty around 12:30 p.m. With Carpiquet in sight, artillery fire from the 25th Panzer Grenadier Regiment (12th SS Panzer Hitlerjugend) suddenly fell violently on the Scottish Canadians. Companies A and B of the Nova Scotias were decimated during their retreat to Buron. Company C, for its part, was annihilated in Authie by the grenadiers of the 25th Regiment. The retreat was ordered to Villons under the protection of Royal Navy gunfire. The Germans had put 400 men out of action, including 110 killed, and 21 Canadian tanks. Authie, Buron, and Saint-Contest could not be conquered.
The liberation of Saint-Aubin, Graye-sur-mer, Langrune-sur-Mer and Douvres-la-Délivrande
Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer fell to the soldiers of the North Shore Regiment (8th Canadian Brigade) after fighting against the Germans of the 736th Infantry Regiment. Graye-sur-Mer was conquered by the Royal Winnipeg Rifles (7th Canadian Brigade), who seized the last point of resistance in the town, a sanatorium to the west of the village, fiercely defended by a handful of German artillerymen. At 22:00 p.m., two troops of the 46th Royal Marine Commando, coming from Petit-Enfer via Luc-sur-Mer and Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, entered Douvres-la-Délivrande without a fight, which had been heavily bombarded since the previous day by naval artillery.
At Langrune-sur-Mer, the fighting undertaken the day before by the 48th Royal Marine Commando to capture the German strongpoint intensified between 11:30 a.m. and 15:30 p.m. Langrune was finally liberated by Lieutenant Colonel Moulton's men. By the end of the fighting, Moulton had lost half of the troops he had landed the day before east of Saint-Aubin.
German forces
Kurt Meyer moves into Ardenne Abbey
Kurt Meyer, commander of the 25the 12th Regimente SS, reached the gates of Caen by besieging Ardenne Abbey. Meyer set up his command post there, the abbey's towers offering a magnificent panorama of the plain, the sea and the Allied movements. He had received orders from his superior, General Fritz Witt, to drive the English back into the sea. On the 1ster battalion of its 25the regiment settles around Epron, on the 2nde around Saint-Contest, while the 3e battalion takes up position to protect the RN 13.
Meyer was 34 years old and had a solid background as an SS fighter, having participated in the campaigns in Poland, France, Yugoslavia, and Greece before joining the 1943th Infantry Regiment in the spring of 12.e SS Hitler Youth.
By moving towards Caen and quickly opposing the Canadians, Kurt Meyer – who would take command of the division on June 14 – would prevent the Allies from accessing Caen for more than a month.
Reinforcements in Normandy: the Führer gives the green light
In the early hours of the morning, von Rundstedt received authorization from the High Command in Berlin to deploy reinforcements from Brittany and the south of the Loire. From its cantonment in Thouars (Deux-Sèvres), the 17the SS Grenadier Division Goetz von Berlichingen sets off towards Saint-Lô, while the 77the General Stegmann's infantry division leaves Saint-Malo for the Normandy front. The first rail convoy composed of the 275the German division leaves southern Morbihan and reaches Rennes in the afternoon. Distributed across 9 convoys, the division cannot advance due to sabotage of the railways. The first convoys manage to leave Redon around 19:00 p.m. For its part, having set off the day before from Chartres, the Panzer Lher suffers its first attack in Normandy around 5:30 a.m., near Falaise, on the road from Vire to Bény-Bocage. The damage is terrible for a division not yet committed to the front.
Crisis meeting at General Richter's PC
In the underground rooms of General Richter's command post north of Caen, a new meeting is held between German generals to plan a counterattack on Caen. Field Marshal Rommel, who came from his command post at La Roche-Guyon, attends the meeting. Richter's division, the 716the infantry division, has already lost 3 men in front of the beaches of Gold, Juno and Sword while General Kraiss records in front of Omaha Beach nearly 000 losses in the ranks of his 1e division. Under these conditions, it seemed difficult for German strategists to prevent the expansion of the Allied bridgeheads.
However, they are placing their hopes in a major reinforcement, the 12e SS division which had set off the day before from the Bernay-Lisieux-Vimoutiers region, and which had been ordered to drive the British back into the sea north of Caen.
On June 7, General Witt's division, positioned in front of Caen, struck the Canadian advance head-on, inflicting heavy losses. In the absence of a major counterattack, the German command thus succeeded in permanently halting the Anglo-Canadian advance towards the Lower Normandy capital.
