The D-Day Atlas by John Man

Author:John Man
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510756748
Publisher: Skyhorse
Published: 2022-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

British Commandos relax for a moment after their first action

No sooner had the tanks set off, however, than they ran into Maurice’s forces, and swung away west into woodland.

Two miles short of Caen the Shropshires came up against infantry dug in on a wooded ridge in front of Lebisey. They needed reinforcements, and there were none. There was nothing for it but to pull back, and wait at Biéville. Though they could not have guessed it then, this was as near as the British would get to Caen for weeks.

Behind them, the German tanks had hit the Périers Ridge, only to find it now well guarded by the British. Another seven tanks went up in flames. But to their left, the Germans were in the clear. Several tanks and a company of infantry headed on northwards, unimpeded, striking the unguarded coast four miles further on at 8.00.

Back at their starting point, Feuchtinger despatched another 50 or so tanks to reinforce the advance force, but the tanks were brought to a sudden stop by an extraordinary sight. As they were slipping past Périers Ridge, a huge force of Allied planes – the largest glider-borne force in the whole war – droned low overhead in the evening sun. It consisted of scores of fighters protecting 250 transport planes, each towing a glider carrying infantry, artillery and light tanks to reinforce the 6th Airborne a few miles to the east. Swinging in low over the heads of the astonished Germans in a dense swarm, they would have been easy targets were it not for the Spitfires and Mustangs that dived down to rake the German tanks. As it was, only one of the gliders was brought down, though several were shot up on landing: one burning wreck briefly trapped its cargo, a tank, which escaped by bursting through the glider’s flimsy sides.

Back towards Caen, Feuchtinger too saw the huge airborne force, saw that it was clearly unopposed by any German planes, and concluded that the gliders would be landing directly in the path of his tanks. To advance into that would be suicidal. He recalled his tanks.

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