Operation Charnwood was an Anglo-Canadian offensive that took place from 8 to 9 July 1944, during the Battle for Caen, part of the larger Operation Overlord (code-name for the Battle of Normandy) in the Second World War. The operation was intended to capture the German-occupied city of Caen (French pronunciation: [kɑ̃]), which was an important objective for the Allies during the opening stages of Overlord. It was also hoped that the attack would forestall the transfer of German armoured units from the Anglo-Canadian sector to the American sector to the west, where an offensive was being prepared. The British and Canadians advanced on a broad front and by the evening of the second day had taken Caen up to the Orne and Odon rivers.
Preceded by a controversial bombing raid that destroyed much of the historic Old City of Caen, Operation Charnwood began at dawn on 8 July, with three infantry divisions attacking German positions north of Caen, behind a creeping barrage. Supported by three armoured brigades, the British I Corps made gradual progress against the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend and the 16th Luftwaffe Field Division. By the end of the day the 3rd Canadian Division and the British 3rd Infantry Division and 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division had cleared the villages in their path and reached the outskirts of the city. Moving into Caen at dawn the following morning, the Allies encountered resistance from remnants of German units who were beginning a withdrawal across the Orne. Carpiquet airfield fell to the Canadians during the early morning and by 18:00, the British and Canadians had linked up along the north bank of the Orne. The remaining bridges were defended or impassable and with German reserves opposite, I Corps ended the operation.
Operation Charnwood was mutually costly and a tactical success for the Allies. The Germans retired from north of the Orne River but did not stop sending formations to the American front. The Germans established another defensive line along two ridges to the south of the city. The Allies maintained the initiative and began Operation Jupiter the next day and Operation Goodwood and Operation Atlantic a week later, in which the rest of Caen was secured.
Background
The Norman city of Caen was one of the D-Day objectives for the British 3rd Infantry Division which landed on Sword Beach on 6 June 1944. The capture of Caen, while "ambitious", was the most important D-Day objective assigned to the British I Corps (Lieutenant-General Sir John Crocker).
The quick capture of that key city [Caen] and the neighbourhood of Carpiquet was the most ambitious, the most difficult and the most important task of Lieutenant-General J. T. Crocker's I Corps.
The initial Overlord plan called for the British Second Army to secure the city and then form a front line from Caumont-l'Éventé to the south-east of Caen, to acquire space for airfields and to protect the left flank of the United States First Army while it moved on Cherbourg. Possession of Caen and its environs would give the Second Army a suitable staging area for a push south to capture Falaise, which could then be used as the pivot for a swing left to advance on Argentan and then towards the Touques River. The terrain between Caen and Vimont was especially attractive to Allied planners, being open, dry and conducive to swift offensive operations. Since the Allies greatly outnumbered the Germans in tanks and mobile units, creating the conditions for a fluid, fast moving battle was to their advantage.
The 3rd Infantry Division came ashore as planned but was hampered by congestion in its beachhead, diversions en route and the late arrival of much of its armoured support. The division was unable to assault Caen in force and its lead elements were brought to a halt short of the outskirts. Later attacks failed as the German defenders were reinforced by the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. On 7 June the British began Operation Perch, a pincer attack by I Corps and XXX Corps, to encircle Caen from the east and west flanks. The I Corps attack south of the Orne River was halted by the 21st Panzer Division and the XXX Corps attack to the west of Caen was contained near Tilly-sur-Seulles by the Panzer-Lehr Division. To force the Panzer-Lehr Division to withdraw the British 7th Armoured Division attacked the western flank of the division on 13 June, through a gap created by the 1st US Infantry Division, to reach high ground near Villers-Bocage. In the Battle of Villers-Bocage, the 7th Armoured Division vanguard was ordered to retire and the Panzer-Lehr Division held its positions until XXX Corps captured Tilly-sur-Seulles on 19 June.
The next British offensive, codenamed Operation Epsom, was launched by VIII Corps on 26 June, after Operation Martlet (also known as Operation Dauntless) a preliminary attack on 25 June, to secure the right flank of VIII Corps. VIII Corps advanced to the west of Caen on a 4 mi (6.4 km) front from Rauray to Carpiquet. Once across the Odon and Orne rivers, VIII Corps was to make for high ground near Bretteville-sur-Laize and encircle Caen. The Germans managed to contain the offensive by committing all their strength, including the 9th SS-Panzer Division Hohenstaufen and 10th SS-Panzer Division Frundsberg of the II SS Panzer Corps, which had been sent from the Eastern Front soon after the D-Day and had been intended for a counter-offensive against Bayeux.
On 27 June, the 8th Infantry Brigade (1st Suffolk Regiment, 2nd East Yorkshire Regiment, 1st South Lancashire Regiment) of the 3rd Infantry Division, supported by the Staffordshire Yeomanry, of the 27th Armoured Brigade, and specialist armour from the 79th Armoured Division, began Operation Mitten. The objective was to seize the German-occupied Château la Londe and Château le Landel. The initial evening assault, led by the 1st Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment was repulsed but the following morning further attacks gained the objectives and destroyed several German tanks. Operation Mitten cost at least three British tanks and 268 men. Had it succeeded quicker, the 9th Brigade, supported by the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade, would have launched Operation Aberlour, to capture the villages of la Bijude, Épron, Galmache, St. Contest, Authie and Cussy but this follow-up operation was cancelled by Crocker. The area of the Châteaux was later called the "bloodiest square mile in Normandy".
Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt, supreme commander of the German forces in the west (OB West), directed on 1 July that Caen should be gradually abandoned and the bulk of the German armoured divisions be shifted to the west end of the beachhead against the US First Army but the city and its surroundings were considered by Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW, Armed Forces High Command) to be fundamental to the defence of Normandy. OKW wanted an arc of defensible terrain from the English Channel to the western banks of the Orne to be held and Adolf Hitler sacked Rundstedt and replaced him with Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge. Learning of this through Ultra, the Allied ground forces commander, General Bernard Montgomery, planned an offensive to capture Caen and to prevent a large redeployment of German forces from the Anglo-Canadian sector to the American front.
On 4 July, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division conducted Operation Windsor, to seize Carpiquet and the adjacent airfield from the 12th SS-Panzer Division. Carpiquet fell on 5 July, the airfield remained in German hands.
Prelude
Allies
Having failed to take Caen through successive flanking manoeuvres, Montgomery decided the next attack would be a frontal assault. Although Caen's strategic importance had vastly diminished since D-Day, he sought control of Bourguébus and the commanding high ground to the south. On 5 July the orders for Operation Charnwood were issued; it was to be launched at 04:20, an hour and a half before dawn on 8 July.
The objective of Charnwood was to clear Caen of its defenders up to the Orne river and if possible to secure bridgeheads in southern Caen. To achieve the latter it was planned to send an armoured column through the city to rush the bridges; it was hoped that I Corps could exploit the situation to sweep on through southern Caen towards the Bourguébus/Verrières ridge, paving the way for the British Second Army to advance towards Falaise. Historian Roger Cirillo argued the operation was designed to only clear the city of German forces; due to it being cut by both a river and a canal any attempts to make rapid progress through and beyond, were "in all probability, impossible."
Crocker's 115,000-strong I Corps was assigned the task of penetrating to the Orne and Odon rivers. The 3rd Infantry Division would attack on a one brigade front from the north-east, supported by the 33rd Armoured Brigade; the 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division would attack on a two brigade front from the north, supported by the 27th Armoured Brigade; and the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division would attack on a one brigade front from the northwest, supported by the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade. To maintain the maximum possible pressure on German forces in the sector, VIII Corps was placed on 24 hours notice to launch further attacks to the west of Caen.
In the light of lessons learned from the partial Canadian success during Operation Windsor, Charnwood was to be launched on a broad front to increase the pressure on the German defences and disperse their defensive fire. SHAEF planners had advised, on 10 June, that the best way to break a stalemate was to use air power to support an attack; this method was to be used for Charnwood as Montgomery enlisted the aid of RAF Bomber Command. Heavy bombers would attack Caen on the night preceding the assault, with 15% of the total bomb load being delayed action bombs set to explode when the ground attack was launched. A second wave of light bombers would follow the heavies and a third wave of American bombers would attack on the morning of the operation.
Additional support would be provided by rocket firing Typhoon fighter-bombers, the monitor HMS Roberts, the light cruisers HMS Belfast and HMS Emerald and the 16-inch guns of the battleship Rodney. Five divisions would contribute 656 guns for bombarding German positions to the south. In all, it was planned that 2,000 tons of bombs would be dropped on Caen before the infantry assault began. Due to the proximity of the target area to the Allied lines and the resulting risk of friendly casualties, the aiming point for the bombers was shifted 6,000 yd (3.4 mi; 5.5 km) to the south—beyond most of the main German defences screening the city. Following a long saturation bombardment, the three infantry divisions were to push through the fortified villages in their path and advance directly into Caen's northern suburbs.
Germans
Caen's defence fell to two divisions; the 12th SS Panzer Division of I SS Panzer Corps, and the 16th Luftwaffe Field Division of LXXXVI Corps. An assault on the city was expected, and it was assumed that further attacks in the Odon valley towards the Orne river would quickly follow suit. The 12th SS Panzer Division, commanded by Kurt Meyer, consisted of three panzergrenadier regiments including one—the 1st SS Panzergrenadier Regiment—borrowed from the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (1st SS Panzer Division). With its 61 surviving tanks 12th SS Panzer was holding the northwest approaches to Caen, defending the city and Carpiquet airfield from the 3rd Canadian and 59th British Infantry Divisions.
The main German defensive line, a 5.6 mi (9 km) arc of villages from the northeast to the west, was held by the 25th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment and elements of the 12th SS Panzer Regiment. Troops from the 26th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment were holding the western flank, concentrating their strength, which included mortar batteries and a few tanks, in the area around Carpiquet airfield. The 1st SS Panzergrenadier Regiment was occupying a line from Franqueville to the western end of Éterville; the villages formed mutually-supporting strongpoints with dug-in tanks and assault guns, and the defensive line was 2–3 miles (3.2–4.8 km) in depth, supplemented by anti-tank ditches, weapons pits, minefields and other obstacles. The rest of the division, with 35 tanks of the 12th SS Panzer Regiment, were held in reserve, with elements located north, west and south of the city. Most of the division's artillery had been moved back across the Orne, and the divisional command centre had been relocated from the Ardenne Abbey to Abbaye-aux-Dames in the centre of Caen.
The 16th Luftwaffe Field Division was an inexperienced infantry division that had only recently arrived in Normandy to relieve the 21st Panzer Division of its defence of Caen and its positions east of the Caen canal. The division was under-trained and lacked sufficient anti-tank weapons; to remedy the latter it was reinforced with a tank battalion from 21st Panzer. The Luftwaffe division was deployed on both sides of the Orne, with three battalions holding the villages to the immediate north of the city. The 1st SS Panzer Division was roughly 5 mi (8.0 km) south of Caen with a regiment of dual purpose 88 mm guns from the III Flak Corps. The II SS Panzer Korps was to the west, with the 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg around 2 mi (3.2 km) south-west of the city.