Glorious Goodwood

Following on the heels of Operations Perch, Epsom, Martlet, Windsor, and Charnwood, the staff of the Allied 21st Army Group developed the plans for the next major British assault, Operation Goodwood. Due to a shortage of infantry it would consist …

1944-07-18

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Following on the heels of Operations Perch, Epsom, Martlet, Windsor, and Charnwood, the staff of the Allied 21st Army Group developed the plans for the next major British assault, Operation Goodwood. Due to a shortage of infantry it would consist solely of the British VIII Corps' three armored divisions: Guards, 7th, and 11th. The three divisions would launch the attack out of the Orne Bridgehead with Guards Armoured moving southeast, 11th Armoured southwest and 7th Armoured due south. Simultaneously, the Canadian II Corps was to launch an attack to liberate Caen south of the Orne River. Standing in the way of Guards Armoured were elements of the German 21st Panzer Division and 503rd Heavy Tank Battalion fielding its dreaded Tiger II tanks. The two forces clashed when the Germans launched a counterattack to block the British advance near Cagny. While by many historians to be a failure on a tactical level, Operation Goodwood, was, nonetheless, highly successful strategically. The German divisions committed in response and subsequently pinned down during and after the battle, enabled US forces of Operation Cobra to breakout against limited German Resistance.

Caen, France

Operation Goodwood was a British offensive in the Second World War, that took place between 18 and 20 July 1944 as part of the battle for Caen in Normandy, France. The objective of the operation was a limited attack to the south, from the Orne bridgehead, to capture the rest of Caen and the Bourguébus Ridge beyond. At least one historian has called the operation the largest tank battle that the British Army has ever fought. Goodwood was preceded by Operations Greenline and Pomegranate in the Second Battle of the Odon west of Caen, to divert German attention from the area east of Caen. Goodwood began when the British VIII Corps, with three armoured divisions, attacked to seize the German-held Bourguébus Ridge, the area between Bretteville-sur-Laize and Vimont and to inflict maximum casualties on the Germans. On 18 July, the British I Corps conducted an attack to secure a series of villages to the east of VIII Corps; to the west, the II Canadian Corps launched Operation Atlantic, synchronised with Goodwood, to capture the Caen suburbs south of the Orne River. When the operation ended on 20 July, the armoured divisions had broken through the outer German defences and advanced 7 mi (11 km) but had been stopped short of Bourguébus Ridge, only armoured cars having penetrated further south and beyond the ridge.

Wikipedia: Operation Goodwood

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