Sword Beach
Sword, commonly known as Sword Beach, was the code name given to one of the five main landing areas along the Normandy coast during the initial assault phase, Operation Neptune, of Operation Overlord. The Allied invasion of German-occupied France commenced on 6 June 1944. Stretching from Ouistreham to Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, the beach proved to be the easternmost landing site of the invasion after the abortion of an attack on a sixth beach, code-named Band. Taking Sword was to be the responsibility of the British Army with sea transport, mine sweeping and a naval bombardment force provided by the British Royal Navy as well as elements from the Polish, Norwegian and other Allied navies.
Among the five beaches of the operation, Sword is the nearest to Caen, about from the goal of the 3rd Infantry Division. The landings were achieved with low Allied casualties but the advance from the beach was slowed by traffic congestion and resistance in defended areas behind the beach. Further progress towards Caen was halted by the only armoured counter-attack of the day, mounted by the 21st Panzer Division.
Background
Following the Fall of France, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill vowed to return to continental Europe and liberate the Nazi German-occupied nations. The Western Allies agreed to open a Second Front in northern Europe in 1942 to aid the Soviet Union. However, with resources for an invasion lacking, it was postponed but planning was undertaken that in the event of the German position in western Europe becoming critically weakened or the Soviet Union's situation becoming dire, forces could be landed in France; Operation Sledgehammer. At the same time, planning was underway for a major landing in occupied France during 1943; Operation Roundup. In August 1942, Canadian and British forces attempted an abortive landing—Operation Jubilee—at the Calais port-town of Dieppe; the landing was designed to test the feasibility of a cross-channel invasion. The attack was poorly planned and ended in disaster; 4,963 soldiers were killed, wounded or captured. The decision to prosecute the Battle of the Atlantic to its closure, the lack of landing craft, invading Sicily in July 1943, and Italy in September following the defeat of Axis forces in North Africa in May 1943 resulted in the postponement of any assault on northern Europe till 1944.Having succeeded in opening up an offensive front in southern Europe, gaining valuable experience in amphibious assaults and inland fighting, Allied planners returned to the plans to invade Northern France. Now scheduled for 5 June 1944, the beaches of Normandy were selected as landing sites, with a zone of operations extending from the Cotentin Peninsula to Caen. Operation Overlord called for the British Second Army to assault between the River Orne and Port en Bessin, capture the German-occupied city of Caen and form a front line from Caumont-l'Éventé to the south-east of Caen, in order to acquire airfields and protect the left flank of the United States First Army while it captured Cherbourg. Possession of Caen and its surroundings would give Second Army a suitable staging area for a push south to capture the city of Falaise, which could then be used as a pivot for an advance on Argentan, the Touques River and then towards the Seine River. Overlord would constitute the largest amphibious operation in military history. After delays, due to both logistical difficulties and poor weather, the D-Day of Overlord was moved to 6 June 1944. Eisenhower and Bernard Montgomery, commander of 21st Army Group, aimed to capture Caen within the first day, and liberate Paris within 90 days.
Plans
Allied
The coastline of Normandy was divided into seventeen sectors, with codenames using a spelling alphabet—from Able, west of Omaha, to Roger on the east flank of Sword. Eight further sectors were added when the invasion was extended to include Utah on the Cotentin Peninsula. Sectors were further subdivided into beaches identified by the colours Green, Red, and White.The Anglo-Canadian assault landings on D-Day were to be carried out by the British Second Army, under Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey. The Second Army's I Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General John Crocker, was assigned to take Sword. To Major General Tom Rennie's 3rd Infantry Division fell the task of assaulting the beaches and seizing the main British objective on D-Day, the historic Norman city of Caen. Attached to the 3rd Infantry Division for the assault were the 27th Independent Armoured Brigade, the 1st Special Service Brigade, No. 41 Commando of the 4th Special Service Brigade, Royal Marine armoured support, additional artillery and engineers, and elements of the 79th Armoured Division. 6th Beach Group was deployed to assist the troops and landing craft landing on Sword and to develop the beach maintenance area.
The 3rd Infantry Division was ordered to advance on Caen, from Sword, with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division advancing on its western flank to secure Carpiquet airfield, from Juno Beach, on the outskirts of the city. The 3rd Infantry was also ordered to relieve the elements of the 6th Airborne Division that had secured the bridges over the River Orne and Caen Canal during Operation Tonga, secure the high ground north of Caen, and "if possible Caen itself". The last point was further reinforced when I Corps' commander, General Crocker, instructed the division, prior to the invasion, that by nightfall the city must be either captured or "effectively masked" with troops based north-west of the city and Bénouville.
Sword stretched about from Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer in the west to the mouth of the River Orne in the east. It was further sub-divided into four landing sectors; from west to east these sectors were 'Oboe', 'Peter', 'Queen', and finally 'Roger'. Each sector was also divided into multiple beaches. The sector chosen for the assault was the wide 'White' and 'Red' beaches of 'Queen' sector, as shallow reefs blocked access to the other sectors. Two infantry battalions supported by DD tanks would lead the assault followed up by the commandos and the rest of the division; the landing was due to start at 07:25 hours.
German
On 23 March 1942, Führer Directive Number 40 called for the official creation of the Atlantic Wall—a line of concrete gun emplacements, machine-gun nests, minefields and beach obstacles stretching along the French coast. Fortifications were initially concentrated around ports, but were extended into other areas beginning in late 1943. While the German Army had seen its strength and morale heavily depleted by campaigns in the Soviet Union, North Africa and Italy, it remained a powerful fighting force. Most of the German divisions along the French coast in late 1943, however, were either formations of new recruits or battered veteran units still resting and rebuilding after service on the Eastern Front; altogether some 856,000 soldiers were stationed in France, predominantly along the Channel coast. They were supported by an additional 60,000 Hilfswillige.Under the command of Field Marshals Erwin Rommel and Gerd von Rundstedt, the defences of the Atlantic Wall were heavily upgraded; in the first six months of 1944, 1.2 million tons of steel and 17.3 million cubic yards of concrete were laid. The coast of northern France was also studded with four million antitank and anti-personnel mines, and 500,000 beach obstacles.
On and behind Sword, twenty strongpoints, including several artillery batteries, were constructed. The coastline was littered with wooden stakes, mines, hedgehogs, and Dragon's teeth, while along the top of the beach, the Germans had constructed a network of trenches, gun pits, mortar pits, and machine gun nests. Barbed wire surrounded these positions and lined the beach. The beachfront itself, being generally flat and exposed, was guarded by a few scattered bunkers, with machine gun and sniper posts in some of the holiday homes and tourist facilities lining the shore. To reinforce the defences, six strongpoints had been constructed, each with at least eight 5 cm Pak 38 50 mm anti-tank guns, four 75 mm guns, and one 88 mm gun. One of the strongpoints, faced directly on to Queen sector. Exits from the beaches had been blocked with various obstacles, and behind the beaches, six artillery batteries had been positioned, three of which were based within three strongpoints; these latter batteries had four 100 mm guns and up to ten 155mm guns. In addition, positioned east of the River Orne was the Merville Gun Battery, containing four Czechoslovak 100 mm howitzers which were within range of Sword and the invasion fleet. Between Cherbourg and the River Seine there were a total of 32 batteries capable of firing on to the five invasion beaches; half of them were positioned in casemates of reinforced concrete.
File:Ouistreham.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|German defence at Ouistreham in Normandy; the turret is from a Renault FT-17 tank
Since the spring of 1942, Generalleutnant Wilhelm Richter's 8,000-man strong 716th Infantry Division had been positioned to defend the Calvados coast of Normandy. In March 1942, the 352nd Infantry Division assumed control of the western Calvados coast, leaving the 716th in position north of Caen covering an 8-mile stretch of coastline. The division comprised four regular infantry battalions, two Ost battalions, and artillery units. Four infantry companies were spread along Sword, with two positioned facing Queen sector—another four were positioned inland behind the beach. Further inland, Generalleutnant's Edgar Feuchtinger's 16,297 strong 21st Panzer Division had been positioned on both sides of the River Orne around Caen to provide an immediate counter-attack force should a landing take place. In May 1944, two Panzergrenadier battalions and an antitank battalion from the 21st Panzer Division were placed under Richter's command; this deployment eliminated 21st Panzer as a mobile reserve. One of these battalions, along with the division's anti-tank guns and several mobile 155 mm guns, was positioned on Périers Ridge, which rose to about above sea level, south of Sword.