Today, the villages in the southern plain of Caen have been completely rebuilt. Operation Goodwood enabled the Americans to launch Operation Cobra and to liberate Brittany.
The British had lost 400 tanks and over 5,500 men. The village lies on high ground and was a strategic point for the German artillery, who called it “the Bourguébus Ridge”.Īfter two days of bloody fighting, Operation Goodwood failed, due to poor conditions on the ground, and the Germans had only lost 100 tanks. But the allied tanks were easily pushed back by the German soldiers towards Bourguébus. This mission meant the Germans were drawn to the east of the city, enabling the Americans to launch Operation Cobra.įrom early on the morning of 18 July 1944, the Royal Air Force began bombing the Caen plain. Operation Goodwood was then launched by General Montgomery, with the aim of capturing the east of Caen with the help of 1350 tanks. Operation Goodwood, the most deadly tank battle of the war in NormandyĪfter Operation Charnwood, which led to the liberation of the south of Caen, the north of the city was still occupied by the Germans. Revisit the sites of the battles in the villages of Bourguébus, Grentheville, Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil and Tilly-la-Campagne.
For General Eiseinhower, “This was one of the greatest bloodbaths of the war”.
During the D-Day landings, two of the biggest tank battles in the Second World War took place in Caen-la-Mer: Operation Goodwood and Operation Totalize.
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