Operation Goodwood

Around 8 AM on July 18th, after an aerial bombardment of more than two hours' duration, Operation "Goodwood" started. Caen was being cleared successfully by the Canadian Corps, while the 11th Armored Division moved forward followed by the Guards Armored …

1944-07-20

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Around 8 AM on July 18th, after an aerial bombardment of more than two hours' duration, Operation "Goodwood" started. Caen was being cleared successfully by the Canadian Corps, while the 11th Armored Division moved forward followed by the Guards Armored and the 7th Armored, on a very constricted front. The forward German zone was penetrated successfully, but Allied intelligence had underestimated the strength of the German defensive around Cagny. In fact, the area was held by the powerful Battle Group Luck, comprised of the 125th Panzer Grenadiers, part of the 22nd Panzer Regiment, the Tigers of 503rd Heavy Tank Battalion and the formidable guns of the 200th Assault Gun Battalion. The British armored brigade roared toward its main objective, Bourguébus Ridge south of Cagny, while the infantry were absorbed in clearing the villages. The tanks therefore were advancing virtually unsupported against Battle Group Luck, which was a tank killing force par excellence. Montgomery was declaring the operation a complete success when the armored drive was stopped in a mass of burning tanks. On the following day, both sides contested the villages and on July 20th the same torrential rain that had delayed Operation 'Cobra' brought the offensive to a halt.

Cagny, 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, synchronized 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 defenses 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

German

British

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