Civilians at the heart of war
New bombings on Norman cities
Having missed their initial targets during the bombing raids of June 6th, some Allied objectives were once again targeted by the Royal Air Force . Vire, Condé-sur-Noireau, Lisieux, Argentan, Saint-Lô and Coutances were under bombardment.
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 raids from the Baldwin swept the coast at Formigny, Trévières, and Etreham. During the day, National Route 13 was bombed by the Texas, the Arkansas, the Glasgow, the Georges Leygues , and the Montcalm . The objective was to push back the German resistance lines preventing the expansion of the bridgehead.
While Saint-Pierre-du-Mont was reached shortly before 11:00 AM, before a German attack forced the group to turn back, trapped for the night, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer was cleared around 9:0 AM by the 3rd Battalion of the 115th Regiment , supported offshore by fire from the Priest. Formigny, for its part, was attacked in the evening by the 26th Regiment of the 1st US Infantry Division. Patrols sent along the RN 13 reported that the Germans were 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 Company C of the 2nd Battalion – the capture of the guns at Pointe de la Percée could not be completed at dawn on June 6th. The survivors of Company C, having landed on Omaha Beach at Dog Green, seized the guns at Pointe de la Percée that morning. These were two 76mm Skoda field guns capable of firing broadside along the entire beach.
Still isolated and running low on ammunition at Pointe du Hoc, Colonel Rudder's men called for reinforcements. On the afternoon of June 6, his pleas were answered: about thirty soldiers, the survivors of Company A of the 5th Ranger Battalion who had landed on Omaha Beach, arrived by sea with ammunition. On the morning of June 7, after a night of fighting, only 90 men were still fit for combat. A relief force of 500 men from the 1st Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment (29th Infantry Division) and the 5th Rangers set out that morning for Pointe du Hoc. They reached Pointe du Hoc the following day around noon, having forced the Germans to retreat towards Grandcamp, finally liberating 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 continuous air cover for Operation Overlord in the days following June 6, the Allies planned to construct 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 834th Air Force Construction Battalion. The first elements of the emergency landing strip were put in place as early as June 7. While airfield A21 was operational by 18:00 PM, it wasn't until June 10 that the runway reached full capacity, remaining so until its closure on August 25, 1944. Two other emergency landing strips were established at the same time at Asnelles (British airfield B1) and Brucheville (American airfield A-16). A total of 81 airfields will be built in Normandy, both in the American sector – under the command of the 9th US Air Force – and in the Anglo-Canadian sector, under the command of the 2nd Tactical Air Force.
New reinforcements on Omaha
According to the plans drawn up by Allied strategists, reinforcements continued to arrive on Omaha Beach. In the afternoon, the first elements of General Robertson's 2nd Infantry Division (the Indian Head Division), consisting of the 9th Infantry Regiment, set foot on the sands of Omaha. They were to immediately participate in expanding the beachhead by clearing the last pockets of German resistance near the beaches. Following them came the very first elements of Major General Brooks' 2nd Armored Division, comprising nearly 15,000 men and 400 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 link-up between the paratroopers and the forces landed on Utah Beach was established at Sainte-Mère-Église when the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division met the 8th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division. Around 3:00 p.m., General Collins, commander of the U.S. VII Corps , entered Sainte-Mère-Église. There, at his command post located west of the town, he met with General Ridgway. The paratroopers participated in all the fighting to expand the narrow bridgehead established the previous day. By evening, a continuous front from Neuville-au-Plain to Chef-du-Pont, passing over the Pont de la Fière, was held by the 82nd Airborne , reinforced in the meantime by elements of the 325th Glider Regiment and elements of the 8th Infantry Regiment.
Meanwhile, the 101st Airborne continued its attacks on Saint-Côme-du-Mont and Houesville, but was unable to capture the villages, which were fiercely defended by German paratroopers. Turqueville, however, fell to the 8th Regiment after the Georgians of the 795th Battalion , surrounded, surrendered. The village briefly served as the headquarters for the recently landed 90th US 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 advance southward. On the coast, Port-en-Bessin, still held by the Germans, had to be liberated quickly so that the small port, like Grandcamp, Isigny, and Courseulles, could play a role in the deployment of Allied logistics before the two artificial harbors became operational. The men of 47 Royal Marines Commando launched another assault in the early hours of the morning, definitively liberating the fishing port the following day and capturing nearly 300 prisoners. Also along the coast, heavily damaged by Allied naval artillery fire on June 6th, the German battery at Longues-sur-Mer, still held by 184 German soldiers, surrendered without a fight to the British troops who had come inland.
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 that landed on Sword Beach, the objective was twofold: to consolidate the airborne bridgehead on the right bank of the Orne River alongside the 6th Airborne Division against attacks by the 21st Panzer Division, and to definitively liberate the coastal towns where the Germans were still resisting from their various strongpoints, at Lion-sur-Mer, Luc-sur-Mer, and Langrune-sur-Mer. Meanwhile, the infantry brigades of General Rennie's 3rd British Division, which had captured the beaches but failed to consolidate the bridgehead, needed to advance again towards Caen. To do this, General Rennie's troops would have to break through the firmly entrenched German lines of resistance 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
Following deadly fighting, Lion-sur-Mer was liberated in the evening by the 41st Royal Marine Commando (4th Special Service Brigade) which landed at the western end of Hermanville after it had seized the fortified German position codenamed "Troute" (two anti-tank guns, mortars, machine guns) with the help of naval support.
Originally planning to land at Houlgate or Bénerville, the 46th Royal Marine Commando (4th Brigade ) under Lieutenant-Colonel Hardy finally landed at 6:00 a.m. on June 7th to reach Saint-Aubin and attack the Petit-Enfer strongpoint. The fortified position fell at 18:00 p.m., leaving 65 prisoners from the German 716th Division in the hands of the commandos. Further along, Luc-sur-Mer was liberated by the 41st Royal Marine Commando shortly before 22:00 p.m. after linking up with the 46th RMC.
The front of the 3e British division
In the morning, the 3rd Infantry Division and its 185th Brigade , advancing north towards Caen, encountered a significant stronghold in the Bois de Lébisey, held by elements of the 21st Panzer Division. Cresserons fell to the 1st South Lancashire Regiment (8th British Brigade), advancing from Hermanville-sur-Mer, after the defensive withdrawal of the grenadiers of the 21st Panzer Division. The village of Mathieu was attacked by the King's Own Scottish Borderers (9th Infantry Brigade). At 17:00 PM, the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Ulster Rifles (9th Brigade ) attempted to capture Cambes-en-Plaine, defended by grenadiers of the SS division. The British advanced no further south, halted by the men and tanks of the 21st Panzer Division.
The action of the British paratroopers
The 12th and 13th Parachute Battalions occupied Ranville and Bas-de-Ranville. While the 2nd Ox and Bucks Battalion of the British 6th Airborne Division captured the village of Hérouvillette before encountering resistance at Escoville, the 1st Royal Ulster Rifles (the Irish battalion of the British 6th Airborne Brigade) launched an assault on the village of Sainte-Honorine-la-Chardonnette around noon. There, too, the resistance of Major von Luck's 125th Panzer Grenadiers was fierce. The Irish retreated, leaving nearly 60 men behind enemy lines, only 20 of whom would rejoin their own lines the following day. General Gale's men nevertheless managed to hold the ridge, thus securing the plain. The outcome of this day remains rather in favour 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
The 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade ( Regina Rifles Regiment , Royal Winnipeg Rifles ) resumed its advance on the evening of June 6th. Its route was clear of all German presence. During the morning, the villages of Secqueville, Putot-en-Bessin, Norrey-en-Bessin, and Bretteville-l'Orgueilleuse were captured one after another. 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 25th Regiment of the 12th SS Panzer Division, reached the outskirts of Caen by capturing Ardenne Abbey. Meyer established his command post there, the abbey's towers offering a magnificent panoramic view of the plain, the sea, and Allied movements. He had received orders from his superior, General Fritz Witt, to drive the British back into the sea. The 1st Battalion of his 25th Regiment positioned itself around Epron, the 2nd around Saint-Contest, while the 3rd Battalion took up positions to protect National Route 13.
Meyer is 34 years old and has a solid background as an SS fighter who participated in the campaigns in Poland, France, Yugoslavia, and Greece before joining the 12th SS Hitlerjugend in the spring of 1943.
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 High Command in Berlin to deploy reinforcements from Brittany and south of the Loire River. From its cantonment in Thouars (Deux-Sèvres), the 17th SS Grenadier Division Goetz von Berlichingen set off towards Saint-Lô, while General Stegmann's 77th Infantry Division left Saint-Malo for the Normandy front. The first train convoy, composed of the German 275th Division , left southern Morbihan and reached Rennes in the afternoon. Divided into nine convoys, the division was unable to advance due to sabotage of the railway lines. The first convoys managed to leave Redon around 7:00 PM. Meanwhile, the Panzer Leher, which had set out the previous day from Chartres, suffered its first attack in Normandy around 5:30 AM, near Falaise, on the road from Vire to Bény-Bocage. The damage is terrible for a division not yet engaged on 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 was held between German generals to plan a counter-attack in front of Caen. Field Marshal Rommel, who had come from his command post at La Roche-Guyon, attended the meeting. Richter's division, the 716th Infantry Division, had already lost 3,000 men on Gold, Juno, and Sword beaches, while General Kraiss had suffered nearly 1,200 casualties in his 352nd Division on Omaha Beach . Under these circumstances, it seemed difficult for German strategists to prevent the expansion of the Allied beachheads.
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.
