Operation Bluecoat

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CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................................................................6 NOTES ON CONTENT AND TERMINOLOGY........................................................................................................7 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................................................9 PART ONE: BREAKING IN Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

LATE JULY: CAUMONT ......................................................................................................................................13 SUNDAY 30 JULY: JOCKS AND CHURCHILLS....................................................................31 SUNDAY 30 JULY: BAFFING UP THE CHARLIE LOVE ..........................................57 SUNDAY 30 JULY: REACTIONS ................................................................................................................67

PART TWO: ACROSS THE SOULEUVRE Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9

MONDAY 31 JULY: DAWN’S EARLY LIGHT ..........................................................................79 MONDAY 31 JULY: DICKIE’S BRIDGE ............................................................................................85 MONDAY 31 JULY: AN ENEMY DIVIDED ................................................................................99 TUESDAY 1 AUGUST: LE BÉNY-BOCAGE....... ......................................................................107 MONDAY 31 JULY – TUESDAY 1 AUGUST: GUARDS GO SOUTH ......119

PART THREE: BREAKING THROUGH Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12

WEDNESDAY 2 AUGUST: HORNS OF THE BLACK BULL ............................139 WEDNESDAY 2 AUGUST: GUARDS ACROSS THE SOULEUVRE ........167 WEDNESDAY 2 AUGUST: ARRIVALS ..........................................................................................177

PART FOUR: BITE AND HOLD Chapter 13 Chapter 14

THURSDAY 3 AUGUST: EBB AND FLOW...............................................................................191 FRIDAY 4 AUGUST – SUNDAY 6 AUGUST: ON PERRIER RIDGE ........227

PART FIVE: THE HINGE OF NORMANDY Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17

SATURDAY 5 AUGUST – SUNDAY 13 AUGUST: ESTRY.....................................247 SATURDAY 5 AUGUST – SUNDAY 13 AUGUST: VIRE & GROUSE ....271 MORTAIN TO FALAISE ....................................................................................................................................299

APPENDIX I: APPENDIX II: APPENDIX III: APPENDIX IV: APPENDIX V:

BRITISH ARMY MAPS AND MAP REFERENCES GERMAN COMBAT TACTICS IN NORMANDY ARMOURED RECONNAISSANCE IN NORMANDY RESTRUCTURING THE BRITISH ARMOURED DIVISIONS MONTGOMERY, BLUECOAT, AND THE QUESTION OF VIRE BIBLIOGRAPHY & A BRIEF NOTE ON SOURCES

303 306 311 316 325 331

Index .......................................................................................................................................................................................334

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BLUECOAT 9

INTRODUCTION Few battle plans survive contact with the enemy. BLUECOAT is a case in point. Yet it was not only enemy action but other unforeseen events that led to changes as the operation unfolded.

The story of BLUECOAT is characterized by opportunities seized upon by individuals at the ‘sharp end’, some of whose initiatives shaped the battle no less than the directives of generals in the rear.

BLUECOAT was a very large operation indeed. In his earlier work on the subject, this author chose to focus on the actions of the British VIII Corps. This occasioned some dismay to veterans and admirers of XXX Corps, who felt that its part had received insufficient recognition. In the author’s defence: the post-war British Army Staff College tours of the BLUECOAT battlefield were principally concerned with VIII Corps operations. Indeed, these focused even more narrowly on the actions of 15th (Scottish) Division and 6th Guards Tank Brigade during 30 and 31 July. Though now able to discourse at twice the length of the previous work, the author still feels that the British side of the BLUECOAT story is best told from an VIII Corps standpoint. This should in no way disparage the XXX Corps struggle for Mont Pinçon and the Noireau, in spite of early tribulations and subsequent sackings. Their actions, together with those of the Canadians and Poles still further east and the Americans in the west, all played their part in the victorious conclusion of the Normandy campaign. All have been well covered in the histories of the campaign. Less well represented in the histories have been the strategic gains and tactical advances achieved by VIII Corps in this crucial period.

When this author first wrote about BLUECOAT, he was conscious of following in the footsteps of an accomplished historian and soldier: Major J J (‘Joe’) How, whose 1981 study was the first to do justice to this operation. Yet the intervening twenty-two years permitted new findings to be revealed. And now, a further six years on, although some repetition of details from the author’s previous account of Operation BLUECOAT is inevitable, the ‘Over the Battleground’ format allows the narrative to be presented in much greater detail than previously. In particular, this study further extends the story into early August to include the struggles for mastery of the Perrier Ridge and the bitter contest for possession of the German bulwark around the village of Estry as the battle for Normandy reached its climactic conclusion.

Lastly, the author continues to be surprised by the quantity of widely accepted Normandy myth that simply does not withstand close scrutiny. Wherever this work conflicts with numerous other Normandy histories, the author respectfully points out that frequent repetition of a story is no guarantee of accuracy. An appealing anecdote or a genuine mistake of place or time recorded in the field by a harassed Intelligence Officer finds its way into in a regimental history, and unless cross-checked against other sources risks being repeated, gaining credibility in the repetition. As the late, great Colonel A H Burne pointed out, and others have since echoed: ‘Whether history repeats itself may be a matter of doubt, but there can be no doubt that the gibe is true that historians repeat one another.’

Ian Daglish Alderley Edge 2009

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GOODWOOD

EPSOM

BLUECOAT

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GOODWOOD GOODWOOD was the largest tank battle fought in the 1944-45 campaign for north-west Europe.

This important study goes back to original sources, stripping away much of the myth that has grown up around this famous operation while bringing to light important but hitherto little-known episodes. For the first time, an accurate chronology of events is presented, using contemporary reminiscences and official records, supported by the hard evidence of detailed aerial reconnaissance photographs taken while the battle raged below

EPSOM Operation EPSOM was the first of Montgomery's major, set-piece Normandy battles: in which highly trained but largely inexperienced British 'follow-up' divisions confronted some of the best equipped, best led, and most experienced combat formations of the Third Reich.

EPSOM marked a turning point in the Normandy campaign. Before EPSOM, there remained the chance that a German counter-stroke in Normandy might seriously threaten the bridgehead. After EPSOM, the Allies retained the strategic initiative through to the liberation of France and Belgium.

11

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British carriers pause on the road leading down from Point 218 into Presles; Perrier Ridge on the far horizon.

(See page 149)

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Chapter 10

WEDNESDAY 2 AUGUST: THE HORNS OF THE BLACK BULL After a day spent in cautious and entirely necessary consolidation of 11th Armoured Division, Pip Roberts was prepared for a bold thrust south. There was every likelihood that enemies routed two days ago might soon regroup, so time was now of the essence if progress was to be made. Tiring of waiting for Guards Armoured to arrive, Roberts’ division would look after its own flanks as best it might. It was a calculated risk. ‘On this occasion it certainly paid to take the chance, though during the next few days many strange situations resulted from it and we became involved in one of the toughest battles we ever fought.’1 Meanwhile, ‘August 2nd was going to be an exciting day’.2 ORDERS As Roberts completed preparations for the day’s advance, he received news from VIII Corps. 11th Armoured Division was denied permission to enter the town of Vire, which was now declared to be in the American sector. Roberts records, ‘This was in some ways frustrating; Vire was a very important road centre and its occupation by us would have made life very difficult for the Germans.’3 So, in the early hours of 2 August, the axis of the day’s advance was changed: from due south towards Vire, to south-east into the German rear areas. The only 11th Armoured forces to approach Vire on 2 August would be reconnaissance troops of the Household Cavalry and the Cromwell tank squadrons of the Northamptonshire Yeomanry charged with screening the divisional right flank (which included Pip Roberts’ divisional headquarters when it settled at le Reculey).

The new direction of the division was assisted by neither roads nor terrain.

The main thoroughfares in the sector radiated out from the important road junction of Vire. Running dead-straight from the city to the north-north-east, right across the path of the advance, ran the main Vire to Villers-Bocage highway, the N 177 [modern D 577], already blocked by 11th Armoured between la Ferronnière and Cathéolles. An equally major artery, the N 812 [modern D 512] traced a straight line due east in the direction of Vassy, towards Condé-sur-Noireau and distant Falaise. A third, smaller country road bisected these two routes: the GC 55 [modern D 55] running north-east from Vire to Estry. Running across rather than along the axis of advance, these three

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roads did little to assist progress, but instead represented phase lines by which progress might be measured. Clockwise, from north to east, the three were respectively codenamed ‘COVENTRY’, ‘WARWICK’, and ‘RUGBY’. So, with the bulk of the division now committed to a south-easterly advance, the only roads available were a network of minor country lanes, little more than dirt tracks. And also lying at right angles to the divisional advance were two whaleback ridges.

Several lessons had been drawn by 11th Armoured Division and its commander from the experiences of GOODWOOD ten days before. One such was that the objective of a major operation should be a ‘tactical’ rather than merely ‘topographical’ feature, a truly defensible position rather than a convenient line on a map. ‘The advantage of finishing on a tactical feature on which either hull down or covered posns could be occupied, is immense.’4 Hence Pip Roberts’ decision that, ‘The Vire-Vassy road itself could not really be an objective… [but] we should hold these two very dominating ridges and then the Germans can attack us.

Since we would be within the range of the corps artillery, we could inflict very heavy casualties.’

The risks, of which Roberts was no less aware, were of exposed flanks and the lack of adequate roads behind the defensible ridges. Both of these were threats to the resupply of petrol and ammunition, without which, he recognised, ‘an armoured division is not much use.’5 The force that was about to be launched into enemy territory would exemplify Roberts’ ideas about flexible organization between brigades.

Indeed, rather than a structure based around two brigades, the division was divided into three regimental groups, each of an infantry battalion and a tank regiment. On the left of the division, the 23rd Hussars and 8th Rifle Brigade group was to follow the line: le Desert, Presles, Chênedollé. On their right, the 2nd Fife and Forfar and 3rd Monmouths group had to find a way from le Reculey to the Burcy ridge, and on to the Perrier ridge north of the Vire-Vassy road. From Cathéolles and la Ferronnière, 3rd RTR and 4th KSLI were hoping to be relieved by Guards Armoured Division before following the lead columns, their role to head south-east behind the Hussars-Rifles group, screening the division’s open left flank. A fourth regimental group was not formed. Still recovering from their losses on ‘Black Sunday’ the 1st Herefords were to remain in 159 Brigade reserve, out of action through the day. So, the 2nd Northants Yeomanry would have to operate without infantry, ironically reverting to a function not dissimilar to that reconnaissance role which Roberts had previously scorned. Operating on the extreme right flank, they would cover the approaches to Vire, probing the main roads through le Reculey and Étouvy, towards though not into Vire itself.

Accompanying or following closely behind these leading groups came the whole mobile panoply of the 1944 armoured division. 29 Brigade headquarters commanded the Hussars and Rifles group, with 75th Antitank Regiment’s two batteries of self-propelled M10s6 and the twenty-four self-

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WEDNESDAY 2 AUGUST: THE HORNS OF THE BLACK BULL • 143

23 Hussars 11th Armoured Division

8 Rifle Bde 2 Fife & Forfar 3 Mon

Reconnaissance

‘C OV EN TR Y’

23rd Hussars Sherman halts at St-Martin crossroads as elements of 11th Armoured Division move up.

K’ IC W AR ‘W

‘RUGBY’

Three regimental groups plunged into enemy territory.

propelled ‘Sexton’ 25-pounder field guns of the 13th Royal Horse Artillery.

159th Brigade HQ commanded the Fifes and Monmouths group, with the two towed 17-pounder antitank batteries and the towed 25-pounders of the 151st Field Regiment (the Ayrshire Yeomanry).

THE HUSSARS-RIFLES GROUP The 23rd Hussars’ quiet night had been brusquely cut short.

‘These Norman folk are very hospitable and as soon as we are given our areas, tanks sort themselves out in different yards and gardens, and immediately camouflage the vehicles as there is talk of an air attack tonight. Digging in is

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ordered and as my tank happens to be in a gravelled yard, this is a somewhat tedious operation. However, villagers give us a drink which they describe as “Whiskey”, which is in fact, Calvados, an extremely potent liquid, distilled from apples. Hardly have we settled down for the night, when news is received that orders will be issued at 3.30 a.m.’7 The Hussars formed-up with their new partners of 8th Battalion, The Rifle Brigade. ‘It was the first occasion on which we had worked together as a group… but the experience laid the foundations of a remarkable partnership between our two units.’8 A novel experience for the Rifles as well, who had until recently deployed single motor infantry companies with each tank regiment. Unlike the Monmouths’ ‘Motorized Infantry’ who had left their TCVs to ride on the tanks, the Rifles were ‘Motor Infantry’ with their own armoured vehicles, their companies now forming up to travel between the squadrons of Hussars.

The column formed, and with the Hussars’ colonel giving ‘some extremely rude orders about getting off the road wherever possible, and closing up our tail’, 9 things got under way.

About 06.30 hours the column reached the little hamlet of la Tihardière,

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LE BÉNY-BOCAGE

LA TIHARDIÈRE

LE DOMAINE

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Two German half-tracks were despatched by Sergeant Williams’ tank at the head of the Hussars’ B Squadron.

where a detachment of two German half-tracks was encountered. Though trying to escape, both were quickly despatched by Sergeant Williams’ tank at the head of the Hussars’ B Squadron. These were small, turreted half-tracks, model Sd.Kfz. 250/9, and on investigation turned out to belong to 2. Kompanie of the reconnaissance battalion of 9. SS-Panzerdivision. This first encounter with the Hohenstaufen revealed the alacrity with which SS-Hauptsturmführer Gräbner had driven his Aufklärungs-Abteilung in advance of the division’s move to the new sector; revealed too the urgent need for Roberts’ division to make progress before the German front could be stabilized.

A short time later the Hussars reached the main Vire road. A German tank was reported and there ensued ‘a lot of excitement’ before it disappeared.

Crossing the highway, with no major road to follow, the Hussars’ commander Lieutenant-Colonel Harding deployed his squadrons on a broad front, the Rifle Brigade platoons in their half-tracks and carriers following closely. The

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Viewpoint of the location shown opposite.

LE DOMAINE

BEAULIEU

LA CHAPELLE

N

LE DÉSERT

Photograph of the route la Tihardière – Beaulieu, 24 June, 16.30 hours.