EPRON Calvados 1 km north of Caen The Allied Forces were at the gate of Caen Caen was heavily damaged by the allied bombing. The weather was clear for the Bomber Command, who exceptionally gave support to the Operation Charnwood, launched on 7 July by the Ist Corps under General Crocker. The 59th British Infantry Division Staffordshire had landed in Normandy at the end of June, and met with its first important assault. The troops commanded by General Lyne attacked on a departure line from Galmanche to Epron. On 8 July at dawn, the 176th Brigade progressed behind the artillery shelling. The 6th Battalion The North Staffordshire Regiment captured the hamlet of La Bijude. The British were pulled back by a German counter-attack of infantry supported by tanks of the 21st Panzer-Division. The 7th Battalion The Royal Norfolk suffered heavy losses to take back the town in the afternoon, but the Germans of the 16th Luftwaffe-Feld-Division were expelled from the town. The British assaulted Epron using flame-thrower tanks, the town was liberated at 4:30 pm, then they formed a hedgehog display for the night.
59th Infantry Division stele Stele dedicated to the 59th British Infantry Division Staffordshire soldiers, who liberated the town in July 1944. Situation : behind the town hall
ROAD MAP			INTERESTING WEB SITES Epron city web site http://www.mairie-epron.fr Personal web site about the 59th Staffordshire British Infantry Division http://59div.morssweb.com/?frontpage Personal web site about the German Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend http://home.att.net/~SSPzHJ/Index.html Personal web site about the Normandy battle– articles and photographs http://www.warchronicle.com/dday/contents.htm Calvados departmental tourism office web site http://www.calvados-tourisme.com/   All rights of photos, texts, maps and graphics design are reserved