BATTLE OF VILLERS-BOCAGE
As one of the largest cities in Normandy, Caen was a communications hub at the centre of a major road network, connected to the English Channel through a canal. Its seizure after D Day would anchor the left flank of the Allied perimeter and deny the Nazis the advantage of the river and canal, which would otherwise be major obstacles to the inland advance.
General Bernard Law Montgomery, commander of Allied ground forces in Normandy, envisioned the capture of Caen within hours of British forces storming ashore. However, stiff German resistance from the veteran 21st Panzer Division, the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend and the 716th Infantry Division had stymied progress towards the city.
A week after the Normandy landings, Allied troops were slugging their way inland against fierce German opposition, but Caen remained firmly under enemy control despite numerous efforts by British forces to take the city in a direct assault. For Montgomery, though, an opportunity had developed as the US 1st Infantry Division pushed southward from Omaha Beach, compelling German forces to retreat and opening a gap west of Caen between the 352nd Infantry Division and Panzer Lehr, a crack German armoured division.
