Operation Goodwood
▶ Explore on the mapOperation Goodwood was a large British armoured offensive east of Caen on 18–20 July 1944. Three armoured divisions attacked across the open ground towards the Bourguebus ridge after an intensive air bombardment, the largest close-support effort yet mounted in Normandy. The advance gained ground and several villages, but the German defence, organised in depth around anti-tank guns and dug-in tanks, stopped the armour short of the ridge, and heavy rain turned the battlefield against further movement. The operation cost the British several hundred tanks, many recoverable, and did not achieve a breakout. Its purpose was in part to keep the German armour engaged east of the Orne so that the Americans could break out in the west, a strategic aim that was broadly achieved: the panzer divisions remained pinned around Caen while the American Operation Cobra prepared. The point recorded here is an approximate location for the battle area. In the aftermath, Allied commanders drew differing lessons about the value of massed armour against prepared anti-tank defences, a debate that continued long after the war.
Sources
- Wikimedia Commons — Charnwood (SVG, by EyeSerene)
- Wikimedia Commons — Operations Greenwood and Pomegranate, Normandy, July 1944 (EN.svg)
- Wikimedia Commons — Operation Tractable (SVG, by EyeSerene)
- Wikipedia — 352nd Infantry Division (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikipedia — Falaise pocket (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikipedia — Normandy landings (CC BY-SA 3.0)
- Wikipedia — Operation Overlord (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Related
Reuse this data: open dataset (GeoJSON / CSV, CC BY 4.0)