3rd Canadian Infantry Division - Fighting in Normandy

Fighting in Normandy

The 3rd Division later contributed greatly in the Battle of Normandy, forming the extreme left flank of the British Second Army facing Caen. On D+1 they advanced and captured their D-Day objectives, the first Allied unit to achieve that in Operation Overlord. The objectives were the villages of Authie and Carpiquet both of which saw heavy fighting, seesawing between the Canadians and the German defenders of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. Over the course of five days the 12th SS launched a series of counter-attacks in an attempt to crush the Canadian bridgehead and throw them back on the sea. The Canadians stubbornly held on, supported by the Allied Fleet and the RAF. At the end of the fifth day the 12th SS had lost a third of their armoured strength and were forced to stop the attacks and fall back. On 4 July the 3rd Canadian Division, along with the British 3rd and 59th Divisions supported by the 79th Armoured Division launched Operation Windsor, and captured the Carpiquet Airfield and the surrounding areas from the 12th SS after several hours of confused and hard fighting. On 8 July the Division participated in Operation Charnwood, the Second Army's final advance on the northern parts of Caen. Once again the Canadians excelled and captured all their objectives after suffering, once again, heavy casualties.

On 18 July Operation Atlantic was launched, the Canadian advance which would coincide with Operation Goodwood, happening further east by British forces in the area south of Caen. The 2nd and 3rd Canadian Divisions supported by integral armour support advanced towards Caen, one of the objectives being the village of Colombelles and the surrounding hills. This village and the surrounding area was defended by the battle-proven 21st Panzer Division. After several hours of confused fighting on the 18th and the 19th the Germans were forced back from the outskirts of the town and pushed back over the river Orne. The 3rd Canadian Division continued the advance on the 20th and the lead units came under heavy machine-gun and small arms fire from a chateau close to Colombelles. The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, with support from the 17th Duke of York's Royal Canadian Hussars, despite suffering heavy casualties pushed forward once again and captured the heavily fortified village of Gibberville. The rest of the Division captured Colombelles through the course of the day. The Canadians were then faced with the formidable German defensive positions on the Verrières Ridge, were the German SS troops had created excellent field fortifications and deployed hundreds of field artillery, Nebelwerfers and dug numbers of trenches and foxholes for defence. The 2nd Canadian Division's 4th and 6th Brigades assaulted the ridge, but suffered heavy losses and were forced to fall back. The attack went in during heavy rain which turned the ground to mud and bogged down the Canadian armoured support and kept the Hawker Typhoon fighter-bomber support from the RAF from showing up. After the failed attack, troops from both the 2nd and 12th SS Panzer Division counter-attacked, and only with support from the 3rd Canadian Division's 8th Brigade did they manage to beat the Germans back.

Meanwhile the British 3rd Division faced considerable resistance and advanced only with great cost of life. Tiger tanks from the 503rd Scwhere Panzer Abteilung (503rd Heavy Armour Battalion) caused ferocious losses among the British armour support. The British 7th Armoured Division, 11th Armoured Division and Guards Armoured Division faced opposition from the 1st and 12th SS Panzer Divisions and suffered heavy losses. Still the German casualties was not replaceable, and the losses inflicted by the Canadians and British was sorely felt. The German tanks could not easily be replaced as was the case with the Allied tank losses.

The offensive continued for two more days before the Allied offensive ground to a halt in face of stiffening German resistance. The German Panzer Divisions in the area had been bled completely dry, losing a staggering amount of tanks and men, which could not be easily replaced. Two days later, on 25 July, the American First Army launched Operation Cobra, since there were no German panzer divisions to stop them, all of the available panzer units being sent to stop the British/Canadian advance. The 3rd Canadian Division and the other units involved in the offensive were allowed to catch their breath and they dug in, expecting a German counter-attack which never came.