German 716th Infantry Division

▣ Unit · 1944 – 1944

The 716th Infantry Division was the static garrison division defending the coast in the British and Canadian sector, holding the front from Arromanches to the Orne. Its units stood directly in the path of the Gold, Juno and Sword landings on 6 June 1944 and were among the first German troops to be engaged. Although the division was badly shaken by the assault and by Allied naval and air bombardment, its resistance in the strongpoints around the beaches helped slow the push inland. It was gradually worn down in the fighting for the Caen approaches and by late June much of it had been destroyed or absorbed, the survivors being used to hold secondary sectors. The positions shown here are schematic and trace the division's coastal front from the landing beaches to the Caen sector. Its fate was typical of the static divisions, which were expected to hold ground but were unable to manoeuvre against a landing.

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

• Normandy landings

Reuse this data: open dataset (GeoJSON / CSV, CC BY 4.0)