Operation Martlet (also known as Operation Dauntless) was part of a series of British attacks to capture the French town of Caen and its environs from German forces during the Battle of Normandy of World War II begun by the Allies. It was a preliminary operation undertaken on 25 June 1944 by XXX Corps of the British Second Army, to capture Rauray and the area around Noyers. The attack was to protect the right flank of VIII Corps as it began Operation Epsom, an offensive into the Odon Valley west of Caen, on 26 June. The 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division and the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division were to capture Juvigny-sur-Seulles, Vendes and Rauray, to prevent German counter-attacks against VIII Corps from the area of the Rauray Spur and then extend the attack towards Noyers and Aunay-sur-Odon. It was the first time in Normandy that the 49th (West Riding) Division operated as a division.
The attack front was held by the right flank of the Panzer Lehr Division and the left flank of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend, with the support of 60–80 88 mm guns of the III Flak Corps. The attack failed to achieve its objectives by the end of 25 June and the 49th (West Riding) Division continued the operation until 1 July, when the division defeated a counter-attack by Kampfgruppe Weidinger of 2nd SS-Panzer Division Das Reich and the 9th SS-Panzer Division Hohenstaufen, which lost c. 35 tanks and other armoured vehicles. The II SS Panzerkorps, had been intended for a counter-offensive west of Caen towards Bayeux but was so depleted by the losses of operations Martlet and Epsom and the danger of another British offensive near Caen, that it was reduced to the static defence of the Odon valley.
Background
Invasion of Normandy
The Norman town of Caen was the most important D-Day objective of I Corps of the British Second Army, which was to take Caen and form a front running from Caumont-l'Éventé in the west to the area south-east of Caen, to protect the eastern flank of the First US Army and form a jumping-off point for an advance southwards to capture Falaise. The 3rd Infantry Division landed on Sword Beach on 6 June but was stopped short of Caen by the 21st Panzer Division.
Operation Perch, a pincer attack to encircle Caen, was begun by I Corps and XXX Corps the following day. I Corps attacked southwards out of the bridgehead on the east bank of the Orne and was halted by the 21st Panzer Division after advancing a short distance; the attack by XXX Corps was held up west of Caen, north of Tilly-sur-Seulles, by the Panzer Lehr Division. The 7th Armoured Division side-stepped westwards and attacked through a gap on the right flank opened by the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division and the 1st US Infantry Division, capturing the town of Villers-Bocage. German forces counter-attacked immediately and the Battle of Villers-Bocage ended in a costly stalemate. The vanguard of the 7th Armoured Division withdrew from the town and by 17 June, the Panzer Lehr Division had also been forced back and XXX Corps had taken Tilly-sur-Seulles.
Battle for Caen
Allied offensive operations were postponed when a severe storm hit the English Channel on 19 June, which delayed the Allied build-up for three days and left them three divisional disembarkations behind schedule. Operation Dreadnought, an attack from the Orne bridgehead by VIII Corps to outflank Caen from the east, was cancelled. The poor weather grounded most Allied aircraft until 23 June, allowing the Germans to receive reinforcements relatively undisturbed and the equivalent of two German divisions, artillery and mortar units reached Normandy. Defensive positions were strengthened with minefields and about seventy 88 mm anti-tank guns were sited in hedgerows and woods on the approaches to Caen. On 23 June, the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division attacked Ste Honorine la Chardonnerette before dawn, captured the village and then repulsed a counter-attack, destroying thirteen German tanks. Further west, VIII Corps, which had recently arrived from England, was moved into line between XXX Corps and I Corps, to the west of Caen. Planning for an attack by VIII Corps on 26 June had begun and a preliminary attack by XXX Corps to capture high ground in the area west of VIII Corps was arranged for 25 June.
Prelude
Plan
Operation Epsom, the VIII Corps attack due on 26 June, was vulnerable to a German counter-attack from the Rauray Spur, an area of high ground to the west, which overlooked the line of advance of 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division around the village of Cheux. On 25 June, XXX Corps was to conduct Operation Martlet, seizing the Noyers area to deprive the Germans of observation eastwards and the opportunity to counter-attack VIII Corps from the high ground. When the flank of VIII Corps had been secured, XXX Corps was to attack southwards towards Noyers and Aunay-sur-Odon.
The 49th Division was to reach the first objective ("Barracuda") on the road between Juvigny and Fontenay, with three battalions and then advance 1,000 yd (910 m) south to the second objective ("Walrus") at Tessel Wood and the farm at St. Nicholas, with two fresh battalions. The division was then to advance to the final objective ("Albacore") at Rauray village and the Rauray Spur, to establish a line from Rauray to Vendes and Juvigny-sur-Seulles (Juvigny), to secure the right flank of the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division.
The 49th Division planned to advance on a two-brigade front, with the 146th Infantry Brigade on the right and the 147th Infantry Brigade on the left, to its first phase objective at Fontenay and then to Rauray. The 8th Armoured Brigade and the 70th Infantry Brigade were held back in support; an extra field artillery regiment and a regiment of M10 tank destroyers were added to the divisional artillery and for the first day, five VIII Corps field artillery regiments and parts of two anti-aircraft brigades operating as ground artillery were made available "on call". On the 50th Division front, a firm base was to be maintained, ready to follow up a German withdrawal.
German defences
Opposite XXX Corps, the German front was held by the Panzer Lehr Division and the left flank of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend, which held a 12 km (7.5 mi) front from Epron north of Caen westwards to Fontenay. The divisions were supported by 60–80 88 mm guns of the III Flakkorps, from Saint-André-sur-Orne to Aunay-sur-Odon, which had instructions to engage Allied tanks at ranges greater than 2,000 m (2,200 yd). South of the 49th Division, the German defences were held by the III Battalion, 26th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment and tanks from the 12th SS Panzer Regiment from the 12th SS Panzer Division. Both regiments were dug in behind extensive minefields in well-camouflaged positions but had been in action since the invasion and were tired. By 24 June, the 12th SS Panzer Division had suffered c. 2,550 casualties (about half of its infantry), had only c. 58 operational Panzer IV tanks, c. 44 operational Panthers and an unknown number of the ten Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyers in the division on 6 June. The Panzer Lehr Division had c. 33 operational Panzer IVs, c. 30 Panthers and a number of the forty Jagdpanzer IV and Sturmgeschütz III assault guns in the division on 1 June. Since the invasion the division had suffered c. 2,300 casualties, mostly from its infantry and was due to be relieved to refit, as soon as the 276th Division arrived from Belgium.
Battle
25 June
At 4:15 a.m. on the morning of 25 June, Operation Martlet commenced with a mass artillery bombardment, just ahead of the start line of the 49th Division. At 5:00 a.m. the bombardment began to creep forward and the infantry advanced downhill through cornfields. A thick ground mist had developed, reducing visibility to 5 yd (4.6 m) in places. In the 146th Infantry Brigade area on the right flank, the 4th Lincolns and tanks of the 24th Lancers advanced and after an hour, their field radios became ineffective and the infantry struggled to keep direction, shouting to identify themselves as they advanced through the mist, smoke and mortar bombs. A group of German half-tracks were destroyed by hand grenades and a German officer was shot while trying to signal with a bugle, as the battalion reached "Barracuda". As the sun rose, visibility increased to 60 yd (55 m) and a hot and sunny day began. On the left of 146th Brigade, the Hallamshire Battalion took compass bearings every few yards and reached "Barracuda" on the Fontenay–Tessel-Bretteville road, from where it came under fire from tanks of the 8th Company of II Battalion, 12th SS Panzer Regiment and two companies of III Battalion, 26th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment.
The Hallamshires knocked out two German tanks with 6-pounder anti-tank guns and then advanced laterally in both directions along the road, westwards to le Pont de Juvigny (le Pont) and eastwards to Fontenay, through shell and mortar fire. At noon the Tyneside Scottish moved up to le Haut d'Audrieu to consolidate the area and the 1/4th King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry advanced with the 24th Lancers through the 4th Lincolns, from the hamlet of Bas de Fontenay (Lower Fontenay), west of Fontenay village along the Juvigny road, to objective "Walrus" at Tessel Wood on the spur north of Vendes. The infantry advanced uphill and had made 100 yd (91 m) in four minutes behind a dense creeping bombardment, when a German Nebelwerfer bombardment began, slowing the advance and causing many casualties. The battalion eventually advanced 1 mi (1.6 km) to the edge of the wood. A counter-attack was repulsed and the 24th Lancers knocked out two German tanks.
On the left flank, in the 147th Infantry Brigade area, the 11th Royal Scots Fusiliers advancing towards "Barracuda" on the northern fringe of Fontenay, disappeared into the mist and immediately had many casualties. Soldiers held on to each other to maintain direction and when the sun rose, snipers and machine-gunners in their path began to inflict more losses. The survivors reached Fontenay and began to fight through the village hand-to-hand; they then came under fire from Parc de Boislonde to the north-east and were unable to get beyond the road to Tilly. At 8:20 p.m. the 1/7th Duke of Wellington's Regiment (1/7th Dukes) advanced through the remnants of the 11th RSF and continued the attack on the village. The III Battalion, 26th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment, which had been reinforced by troops sent from Caen by the 21st Panzer Division and from Vendes by the Panzer Lehr Division, held on to the woods and the east end of the village. Hand-to-hand fighting went on in the village all night.
By nightfall, the 49th Division had established a line roughly south-west from Fontenay, about 1 mi (1.6 km) short of Rauray and the high ground which had observation over the VIII Corps area. Cloud cover began to increase as plans were made for the Tyneside Scottish to attack Rauray at dawn. On the western flank of XXX Corps, the 50th Division had managed only to advance a short distance south of Tilly-sur-Seulles. German reserves behind the front opposite VIII Corps, had been moved west to reinforce the defenders attacked by XXX Corps, which was believed by the Germans to be the main axis of the British offensive. The weekly situation report by Army Group B for 19–26 June, recorded that a gap 5 km (3.1 mi) wide and 2 km (1.2 mi) deep had been forced at the junction of the defences of the Panzer Lehr and 12th SS Panzer divisions.
26 June
The 70th Infantry and 8th Armoured brigades prepared to advance south of Fontenay at 6:50 a.m., with Operation Epsom due to begin further west at 7:30 a.m. On the left flank of the 49th Division, the 7th Dukes and the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry attacked towards "Walrus" at 9:30 a.m., with the first objective being St. Nicholas farm, about 0.5 mi (0.8 km) away. The German garrison and hidden tanks repulsed the attack until 3:50 p.m., when a second attempt after a twenty-minute artillery barrage, took the farm and ground beyond. The Yeomanry tanks then advanced to the crossroads north of Rauray and the 11th DLI arrived at 9:00 p.m. to consolidate the position. A patrol lurked forward to the edge of the village for a night attack but found that despite a fighter-bomber attack with rockets during the day, the village was full of German infantry and the woods nearby were held by tanks.
In the centre, the 1st Tyneside Scottish and the 4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards prepared to attack la Grande Ferme, with the right flank guarded by the 24th Lancers and the 12th (Motorised) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (12th KRRC) of the 8th Armoured Brigade, making an advance towards Tessel-Bretteville. The attack began with less artillery support, as much of the extra artillery made available on 25 June, reverted to the support of VIII Corps. German return fire from tanks and concealed machine-guns forced the infantry under the cover of banks, which had been ranged by Nebelwerfers and were immediately bombarded. The rockets hit trees and hedges nearby and sent lethal wood splinters everywhere. Beyond le Bordel Rau stream, four dug-in tanks held up the attack, as well as a company of infantry in la Grande Ferme and infantry reinforcements from the 21st Panzer Division, dug in around Tessel Wood. The 12th KRRC crossed le Bordel Rau stream at midday but was pinned down beyond and six Dragoon Guard tanks were knocked out attacking the farm. At 4:00 p.m., the infantry were withdrawn 3 mi (4.8 km) to le Haut d'Audrieu, except for a small party which reached the farm.