Operation Charnwood men of the 1/7th Battalion,
Royal Warwickshire Regiment dug in on the outskirts of
Caen, France, 9 July 1944. On 6 June 1944, the Allies launched
Operation Overlord, the invasion of German-occupied Western Europe, with landings at several points along the
Normandy coastline in France. The primary objective of the 21st Army Group was the capture of the city of
Caen. The initial assault, carried out by the
3rd Infantry Division, was unable to capture the city resulting in the prolonged
Battle of Caen. Subsequent operations, including Operations
Perch and
Epsom, also failed in their attempts to capture the city. In late June, Montgomery ordered XIICorps, part of the British
Second Army and of the 21st Army Group, to be shipped to France due to the need for fresh infantry formations. The 59th Division, which was still part of XIICorps, started transferring to Normandy on 21 June and completed the move on the 27th. Elements of the division landed at
Le Hamel, on
Gold Beach. The 59th was the final British infantry division to arrive in Normandy. The next large-scale attack in the attempt to seize Caen was
Operation Charnwood. While previous attacks had utilised
flanking manoeuvres, Charnwood was intended as a
frontal assault on the city. The attack would be undertaken by
ICorps, and on 4 July the 59th Division was assigned to the corps to take part in the impending operation. During the evening of 7 July, around of bombs were dropped on northern Caen. The first divisional casualties were also suffered, due to German shelling. The 59th Division, supported by the
27th Armoured Brigade, with the British 3rd Division on the left and the
3rd Canadian Division on the right, launched their attack the following morning. Charnwood began at 04:20, with the 176th and 177th Brigades leading the division's effort. On the western flank, 2/6SSR spearheaded the 177th Brigade's attack on
Galmanche and the surrounding wood; on the eastern flank, 6NSR led the 177th Brigade's move to capture
La Bijude. The division was initially opposed by elements of the
12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend's 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 25th SS-
Panzergrenadier Regiment, which put up a determined resistance inside the villages and from a trench system located between the two. At 07:30, following the capture of the first objectives, including La Bijude, the next stage of the offensive began. Fresh troops moved forward. The 176th Brigade's 7th Battalion,
Royal Norfolk Regiment advanced on
Épron; the 197th Brigade's 2/5th
Lancashire Fusiliers moved towards
Mâlon; and the 1/7th
Royal Warwickshire Regiment pushed towards
St-Contest. The area had not been thoroughly cleared, and surviving
Hitlerjugend troops reoccupied La Bijude, Galmanche, and the nearby trench system.
Panzer IV tanks, which were based in
Buron, moved forward to reinforce the frontline German infantry. The ensuing day-long battle saw mixed results, and the use of
flamethrowers. Heavy casualties were suffered in the attempt to capture Épron. The approach to the village was covered by thick hedges, steep banks, and cornfields. These factors, along with Épron's location on a
reverse slope from the direction of the British advance, provided excellent terrain advantage to the German defenders. As the Norfolks emerged from the cornfields, they were engaged by heavy German defensive fire.
Pinned down, the men were subjected to artillery and
mortar fire, which took a heavy toll. The German reoccupation of La Bijude further impeded attempts to capture Épron, as both positions were able to engage the attacking British troops. The 59th Division consolidated its hold on La Bijude and captured St-Contest; Épron fell following a German withdrawal; and
Hitlerjugend retained its hold on Galmanche and Mâlon. On 9 July, the 59th Division was ordered to consolidate the area it had captured and search for German holdouts, before advancing to capture the next line of German positions in the villages and farms of
Bitot,
Couvrechef, and
La Folie. At midday, the
33rd Armoured Brigade, attached to the 3rd Infantry Division, moved across the division's line of advance and captured Couvrechef. The 3rd Infantry's advance threatened to cut off the Germans still resisting the 59th's push south. The delay in capturing Bitot also impacted moves by the Canadians, who came under fire from the German positions there. The 3rd British and 3rd Canadian Divisions entered Caen during the day. The following morning, the 59th Division moved through the villages north of the city, mopping up remaining German units, before entering the city. During the operation, the division suffered 1,200 casualties including 239 men killed. The historian
John Buckley wrote "for the inexperienced troops of 59th Division for whom Charnwood was their baptism of fire, the grim and appalling realities of combat were a chastening experience."
Battle of Noyers With Operation Charnwood over, the division was transferred to XIICorps and withdrawn into reserve. It was allowed to rest, refit, and absorb replacements; these included men who had been left out of battlea practice intended to preserve a cadre of experienced troops and leaders, who would be able to absorb new troops and rebuild in the event of catastrophic losses. Detailed planning for the next attack,
Operation Goodwood, soon began. As part of this effort, the Second Army intended to launch several diversionary attacks by XII and
XXXCorps to divert German attention from the location of the main Goodwood thrust. On 13 July, the division was allocated to XXXCorps, and the next day moved into the area incorporating
Loucelles,
Cristot, and
Fontenay-le-Pesnel in preparation for the upcoming fight. Following the move, the division was subjected to German harassing artillery fire and suffered losses. The XXXCorps attack, code-named Operation Pomegranate, would form part of the larger
Second Battle of the Odon. The division's objectives were the capture of
Landelle,
Noyers,
Missy and the nearby orchard, and the destruction of German forces within these areas. Noyers, the main objective, is north of the
Odon river valley, astride the main road from Caen to Villers-Bocage. British corps commander Lieutenant-General
Richard O'Connor believed that Noyers, which could not be dominated from the high ground south of the river, was key to controlling the river valley, and subsequent operations to cross the river. The area was held by the German
276th and
277th Infantry Divisions. To assist the 59th Division, it was assigned elements of the 33rd Armoured Brigade and
79th Armoured Division; the latter was a formation that provided specialist armoured vehicles as needed. The first phase of the attack was assigned to three battalions, from the 197th and 177th Brigades, and intended to clear several villages and farms on the approach to Noyers. On 16 July, at 05:30, the attack started. The 5th
East Lancashire Regiment, on the right, met stiff German resistance which delayed their advance. By 08:00, they had reached their first objective and captured part of
Vendes. Subsequent German
counter-attacks, supported by tanks, overran some of the East Lancashire troops and pushed them back to their start line. Two South Staffordshire battalions, on the left flank, fared better. The 1/6SSR rapidly captured
Brettevillette and
Queudeville, but suffered heavy losses in the process. Further losses were suffered as a result of
anti-personnel mines, and most of the battalion's supporting tanks were lost on
anti-tank mines. The 5SSR captured the orchards near
Grainville-sur-Odon, and then advanced to capture
Les Nouillons. With most of the first-phase objectives captured,
flail tanks were brought up to breach German minefields. Due to the mixed results of the initial fighting, the second phase of the attack, to secure the line Landelle-Noyers-Missy, was delayed. At 17:30, the 2/6SSR launched an attack directly against Noyers. After initial progress, against determined German resistance, they entered the village but were forced back. At 18:15, the 6NSR launched an attack towards
Haut des Forges, and captured the area. After dark, the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers of the 197th Brigade made a second attempt to seize the uncaptured first-phase objectives. Heavy German mortar fire put a stop to this effort. On 17 July, the 176th Brigade launched an attack towards
Bordel, and captured the area the following day. The 197th Brigade made a further attempt to capture its first-phase objectives, which it finally achieved and then advanced to capture
Ferme de Guiberon. Meanwhile, repeated attempts were made to take Noyers. The 1/6SSR, 2/6SSR, and 5SSR made several attempts throughout the 17th, but their attacks were defeated by the German 277th Division holding the village, which had been reinforced by the
9th-SS Panzer Division's reconnaissance battalion. The following day, the 177th Brigade launched two major attacks on Noyers that were also repulsed. Preparations were made for the 197th Brigade to assault Noyers on the 19th, but Operation Pomegranate was closed down following the launch of Goodwood. Peter Knight, author of the 59th Divisional history, wrote "The aim of Pomegranate had been to attract enemy attention... away from the Caen Sector. In this we had succeeded, and Noyers itself had little tactical significance for us."
Simon Trew, a historian, supports this position, indicating that the attacks made by XII and XXX Corps forced the Germans to keep the
2nd Panzer, 9th-SS Panzer, and
10th-SS Panzer divisions committed to the wrong sector of the battlefield and away from where Goodwood was launched.
Ian Daglish, a historian, wrote "the results [of the fighting] were inconclusive", but they had the result of "keeping the defenders busy (and drawing in important parts of the elite 9. SS-Panzerdivision,
Hohenstaufen)." The fighting cost the division 1,250 men killed, wounded or missing. In exchange, 575 prisoners were taken. Following the battle, the division took over part of the front held by
49th (West Riding) Infantry Division. This resulted in all three of its brigades being committed to the frontline, to hold the entire sector. The following ten days involved manning the frontline, conducting
patrols into German-held territory, engaging in small-scale skirmishing with the Germans, and mutual mortar bombardments.
Battle of the Orne On 24 July, the division returned to XII Corps. The following day, the
American First Army launched a major offensive, codenamed
Operation Cobra, on the western flank of the Normandy beachhead. On 27 July, Montgomery ordered the Second Army to launch a major assault west of Noyers, codenamed
Operation Bluecoat, and maintain the pressure on the German forces along the rest of the front east of Noyers. As part of the latter, XIICorps was to push towards the
Orne River. The task assigned to the 59th Division was to clear the area around
Villers-Bocage, and then exploit towards
Thury-Harcourt on the Orne and attempt to establish a bridgehead. On 29 July, as a preliminary to any major move and to improve the division's position, the 197th Brigade launched an attack on
Juvigny. In a three-day battle for the village, the brigade suffered 402 casualties. On 3 August, following German withdrawals along XIICorps' front, the division advanced, supported by elements of the 34th Tank Brigade. The 197th led the attack, encountering German forces north of Villers-Bocage; however, the Germans soon withdrew and the town was captured without any fighting. On 4 August, the 176th Brigade took over the lead and engaged German forces near the Orne, losing several of their supporting tanks in the process.
Churchill AVRE tanks were moved up to engage and destroy German strongpoints. The northern riverbank was secured by nightfall. Patrols and reconnaissance missions were launched across the river, but a major effort was not conducted until the evening of 6 August. Near
Ouffières, elements of the 176th Brigade waded across the river, initially achieving surprise by using decoy smokescreens. A
Bailey bridge was erected, allowing the remainder of the brigade to cross as well as two
squadrons of
Churchill tanks from the
107th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps, part of the 34th Tank Brigade. Resistance to the crossing soon intensified, and the German
271st Infantry Division launched several counter-attacks that failed to dislodge the 59th, although it did result in some British positions being overrun. The division captured
Grimbosq, and further German counter-attacks were launched over the next two days, which included elements of the
Hitlerjugend. During these engagements, several German tanks were knocked out by the division's anti-tank guns, and several of the supporting Churchill tanks were lost. The 36-hour battle the division fought once across the Orne resulted in the
Victoria Cross (VC) being awarded to
Captain David Jamieson of the 7th Royal Norfolk Regiment. Despite having been severely wounded and evacuated from the battlefield, Jamieson returned to the frontline to direct and inspire his men, reporting targets and ordering artillery strikes. His VC citation stated: "He personally was largely responsible for the holding of this important bridgehead over the River Orne and for the repulse of seven German counter-attacks with great loss to the enemy." The Norfolks, who bore the brunt of the fighting, lost 226 men. German losses were reported to be heavy, and at least 200 prisoners were taken by the brigade. Lyne praised the brigade "... for the magnificent fight which they successfully waged in the Orne bridgehead", and commented that the front "is literally strewn with bodies of men of the 12th S.S. Division, killed during their repeated counter-attacks, which you so ably repulsed." Buckley described the division as having "battled hard in generally non-glamorous roles", and in this particular battle "displayed grit, determination and intelligence in securing and holding a crossing over the River Orne". More critically, as part of an examination of the Second Army's morale by the end of July, David French stated at least seven men of the 2/6SSR were found guilty of
mutiny for refusing to follow orders, and at least eight members of the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers were found with
self-inflicted wounds.
Final fighting and disbandment , demonstrate various German weapons. By mid-1944, the British Army was facing a manpower crisis as it did not have enough men to replace the losses suffered by frontline infantry units. While efforts were made to address this, such as transferring men from the
Royal Artillery and the
Royal Air Force to be retrained as infantry, the War Office began disbanding formations and transferring their men to other units to keep these as close to full strength as possible. This policy impacted the division shortly after the fighting along the Orne. Due to heavy losses within the division, as well as the 21st Army Group as a whole, along with a lack of infantry replacements, a reorganization was undertaken. An infantry battalion from each of the 177th and the 197th Brigades was disbanded, and these were replaced by battalions from the 176th Brigade. The remaining battalion of the 176th was also broken up, rendering the brigade non-existent, although it was not officially disbanded. The troops from the disbanded units were used to reinforce other formations to bring them up to strength. The
56th Independent Infantry Brigade, a formation under the direct command of the 21st Army Group, was temporarily assigned to the division on 5 August to bring the division back up to three brigades. The brigade consisted of the 2nd Battalion,
South Wales Borderers, the 2nd Battalion,
Gloucestershire Regiment (2nd Glosters), and the 2nd Battalion, 2nd
Essex Regiment (2nd Essex). The German 271st Infantry Division maintained its position around the 59th Division's bridgehead, and was able to make use of the rugged terrain north of Thury-Harcourt in its defensive effort. On 8 August, the 177th Brigade opened up the new phase of fighting. The brigade suffered casualties in an unsuccessful attempt to push south along the west bank of the Orne. Meanwhile, the 56th Brigade crossed the Orne near
Brieux, north of Thury-Harcourt. The next day, the 197th Brigade renewed the effort to expand the bridgehead by attacking south-east; Knight described this as "literally uphill fighting". The brigade was able to push through the German positions and secure the area around La Moissonière and Le Mesnil, a few miles north of Thury-Harcourt. Meanwhile, the 56th Brigade attacked south; taking the village of La Forge a Cambro, south of the 197th Brigade's positions, on the last ridge before Thury-Harcourt and captured upwards of 200 prisoners. Patrols from the brigade entered Thury-Harcourt by midnight and found it to be still held by the Germans. Efforts on 11 August by the 56th Brigade to take the town were thwarted, as were efforts by the 177th Brigade to force the Orne. While the 56th Brigade advanced south, securing the area around the village of
Esson, south of Thury-Harcourt, the
53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division crossed the Orne further south. Between the lead elements of that division and the 56th Brigade, Thury-Harcourt was almost completely surrounded. The historian Andrew Holborn described some of the fighting during this period: "...vicious actions fought within [the confines of wooded areas]. At one stage German forces armed with a preponderance of automatic weapons overran a platoon of 2nd Essex, and the situation could only be restored by the use of heavy artillery." In another instance "there was hand-to-hand fighting", with friendly fire from artillery and mortars "bursting in the trees". Despite their precarious position, German resistance did not dissipate. German artillery bombarded British positions, while German infantry conducted counterattacks and attempted to retake lost villages. By 12 August, Thury-Harcourt was believed to have been evacuated. The final attack was launched by the 2nd Glosters who had to navigate steeply descending terrain into the town. On the outskirts they were heavily engaged by German artillery and gunfire. German counter-attacks were also launched on other elements of the 56th Brigade during this period. The 2nd Glosters fought their way into the town, and engaged in house to house fighting to clear the strongly defended German positions that included at least one tank. By the end of the day, the battalion withdrew from the town that was now widely burning. The German defenders withdrew under the cover of darkness, and the battalion re-entered the town on 14 August to sweep for German holdouts and clear
booby traps. The historian
Terry Copp argued that the fighting the division took part in, a "five-day period of intense combat", has not been given "the attention it deserves". Copp, arguing against the Canadian official historian
Charles Perry Stacey's criticism of Canadian forces being too slow during
Operation Totalize, wrote Following a short break, during which the division undertook patrols, the 59th joined the fighting around what would become known as the
Falaise Pocket. On 16 August, the 197th Brigade reached
Ouilly. Two days later, the 177th Brigade took
Les Isles-Bardel following a brief engagement that ended as the Germans withdrew as part of their general retreat, before they could inflict a serious delay. On the 19th, the 56th Brigade was withdrawn from the division. Further efforts by the 177th Brigade to advance were impeded by German resistance over the course of the next two days. Once overcome, a more rapid advance was made. By August 1944, the manpower crisis had come to a head. In the United Kingdom, the vast majority of available replacements had already been dispatched to reinforce the 21st Army Group. By 7 August, a mere 2,654 fully trained and combat-ready men remained in the UK awaiting deployment. In an effort to maintain the frontline infantry strength across the 21st Army Group, Montgomery made the decision to cannibalise the 59th Division. He sent a telegram to Alan Brooke, which read: "Regret time has come when I must break up one Inf Div. My Inf Divs are so low in effective rifle strength that they can no (repeat no) longer fight effectively in major operations. Request permission to break up at once 59 Div." The historian
Carlo D'Este wrote that the division "had been selected because it was the junior division in the 21st Army Group and not as a result of its performance in battle." Once the decision was made, senior commanders within the 21st Army Group sent letters of appreciation to the division, and Montgomery personally visited the division's senior officers. The historian Stephen Hart wrote that towards "the end of the Normandy campaign, significant morale problems had emerged in as many as seven of the 21st Army Group's total of sixteen divisions" and that the remainder, which included the 59th, were rated by the 21st Army Group senior commanders "as completely reliable for offensive operations." On 26 August, the men of the division were dispersed among the other formations across the 21st Army Group. The 197th Brigade was not disbanded, instead, it was transformed into a battlefield clearance unit. In this new role of organising the clearance of all leftover equipment from battlefields, the brigade was assigned men from the
Royal Army Ordnance Corps,
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, and the
Royal Pioneer Corps in lieu of the infantry it had lost. The division was not formally disbanded until 19 October 1944. Lyne was subsequently given command of the
50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division in October, and one month later the
7th Armoured Division. The 59th Division was not re-raised post-war, when the TA was reformed in 1947. ==General officers commanding==