Battle for the Bocage: Normandy 1944: The Fight for Point 103, Tilly-sur-Seulles, Vilers Bocage

by Tim Saunders

Overview

This WWII military study examines the combat experiences of three Allied divisions charged with spearheading the invasion of Normandy.

To lead the charge into France after the Normandy landings, General Montgomery brought three veteran desert formations back from the Mediterranean. They were the 50th Infantry and 7th Armored divisions, plus 4th Armored Brigade. Their task beyond the beaches was to push south to Villers Bocage with armor on the evening of D-Day in order to disrupt German counter-attacks on the beachhead.

Difficulties on 50th Division’s beaches allowed time for German reinforcements to arrive in Normandy. As a result, 4th Armored Brigade was firmly blocked just south of Point 103 after an advance of less than five miles. A major counter-attack by Panzer Lehr failed, as did a renewed British attempt, this time by the vaunted 7th Armored Division, which was halted at Tilly sur Seulles. From here the fighting became a progressively attritional struggle in the hedgerows of the Bocage country south of Bayeux.

More units were drawn into the fighting, which steadily extended west. Finally, an opportunity to outflank the German defenses via the Caumont Gap allowed 7th Armored Division to reach Villers Bocage. There then followed what the battalions of 50th Division describe as their ‘most unpleasant period of the war’, in bitter fighting, at often very close quarters, for the ‘next hedgerow’.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526784247
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	07/08/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	865,106
File size:	77 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Tim Saunders served as an infantry officer with the British Army for thirty years, during which time he took the opportunity to visit campaigns far and wide, from ancient to modern. Since leaving the Army he has become a full time military historian, with this being his sixteenth book, has made nearly fifty full documentary films with Battlefield History and Pen & Sword. He is an active guide and Accredited Member of the Guild of Battlefield Guides.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vi

Introduction vii

Timeline x

Glossary of Terms xii

1 Planning and Preparations 1

2 D-Day: 6 June 1944 23

3 D+1: 7 June 1944 43

4 The Advance Begins 55

5 Advance to Point 103 and Saint-Pierre 71

6 Attack and Counter-Attack 91

7 'Tiger Hill': 11 June 1944 119

8 Tilly-sur-Seulles and Essex Wood 141

9 La Belle Épine and Bernières-Bocage 161

10 A Change of Tack: 12 June 1944 177

11 Operation PERCH: Villers-Bocage 195

12 The Island Position 225

13 50th Division's Operations: 13-14 June 239

14 Hiatus 277

15 Tilly-sur-Seulles: 16-18 June 289

16 The Western Flank: 16-19 June 303

Appendices

I Order of Battle, 8-19 June 1944 331

II 8 Armoured Brigade Operation Order 335

III 101st Schwere Panzer Battalion and Tiger Reliability 339

IV 7th Armoured Division's Situation Report 343

V German and British Ranks 345

Notes 347

Index 355