Plan The attack was to take place in four stages; the 2nd Canadian Division would attack on the west side of the Caen–Falaise road with the 4th and 5th Canadian Infantry brigades after the 6th Canadian Infantry Brigade had cleared the start line by retaking the Beauvoir and Troteval farms and capturing Saint-Martin-de-Fontenay. The 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade, on the right flank, would then capture
May-sur-Orne and
Fontenay-le-Marmion. The 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade, on the left flank, would take Verrières and then Rocquincourt. The 3rd Canadian Division, on the east side of the road, was to capture Tilly-la-Campagne with the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade followed by Garciers-Secqueville. The infantry brigades would have the support of the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade. Phase I of the plan required the 2nd and 3rd Canadian divisions to capture May-sur-Orne, Verrières and Tilly-la-Campagne. Phase II, to begin at H+2½ hours, required the divisions to press on and capture Fontenay-le-Marmion, Rocquancourt and Carciers-Sequeville. In phase III, the 7th Armoured Division was to capture Point 122 and exploit towards Cintheaux and in phase IV the Guards Armoured Division was required to capture woods to the east of Garciers-Secqueville as the 3rd Canadian Division occupied La Hogue. Artillery support was to be provided by the divisional artilleries of the participating divisions, the
2nd Canadian Army Group Royal Artillery, the
8th Army Group Royal Artillery (8th AGRA) and
83 Group RAF. Twelve field regiments had 264 field guns, comprising a hundred and ninety-two
25-pounder gun-howitzers and ninety-six
105 mm howitzers, nine medium regiments with a hundred and forty-four
5.5-inch guns, two heavy regiments with sixteen
155 mm guns and sixteen
7.2-inch howitzers and a heavy anti-aircraft regiment with twenty-four
3.7-inch anti-aircraft guns in use as ground artillery, a total of 488 guns.
German preparations The Germans were expecting further attacks on
Verrières Ridge and sent reinforcements. Late on 19 July, a counter-attack against the gains made during Goodwood was delayed until the
116th Panzer Division had arrived, which had been ordered to move by road regardless of loss. At 10:30 p.m. the
XLVII Panzer Corps and the
II SS Panzer Corps were ordered to send (battlegroups) across the
Orne. The
1st SS Panzer Division had its normal panzer regiment with two panzer battalions, one with Panthers, the other with Panzer IVs and two infantry regiments comprising six battalions, one of which was mounted on half-tracks. The division had a battalion and its battalion had a company of tank destroyers. The divisions were supported by the artillery of the , recently reinforced by the 8th Brigade. The 1st SS Panzer Division was reinforced by the of the
272nd Infantry Division and the
101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion an independent Tiger detachment. The 272nd Infantry Division was reinforced by the reconnaissance battalion of
10th SS Panzer Division, an infantry battalion from the
9th SS Panzer Division, an armoured from the
2nd Panzer Division as its divisional reserve and counter-attack force and the
501st Heavy Panzer Battalion with Tiger Is and King Tigers. The left (east) flank was protected by 10th SS Panzer Division and
102nd SS Heavy Panzer Battalion with Tiger Is, firing from the high ground west of the Orne. The operational reserve for 1st SS Panzer Korps was 9th SS Panzer Division which had two south of Verrières directly behind the 272nd Infantry Division and the 1st SS Panzer Division. Available under OKW control was the 116th Panzer Division, assembling east of
Cramesnil and the remainder of the 2nd Panzer Division, south of May-sur-Orne, astride the Orne. British
Y service signals interception units discovered on 21 July that parts of the 2nd Panzer Division, the 9th SS Panzer Division and the 10th SS Panzer Division had been sent east of the Orne but the rest of the recent German moves were not known. ==Battle==