FONTENAY-LE-MARMION/LAIZE-LA-VILLE ROCQUANCOURT Calvados - 8 km south of Caen
Spring, Totalize... Objective Falaise
 With the Operation Spring General Montgomery went on his strategy to attract the bulk of the German armoured divisions. The offensive started on 24 July at the same time as Cobra at the opposite wing of the front line. The Germans were masters in the art of camouflage and ambush, they held firmly their positions. The soldiers of the 272nd German Infantry Division and the 9th SS Panzer-Division inflicted heavy losses to the British and the Canadians in May-sur-Orne and Rocquancourt. The attack was stopped and renewed on 7 August with the Operation Totalize; around 11 pm bombers and artillery stormed the area between May-sur-Orne and Fontenay-le-Marmion, west of RN 158. At midnight, the South Saskatchewan overwhelmed the Germans in Rocquancourt. May-sur-Orne was cleared on 8 August at 5 am, with support of Churchill Crocodile flamethrower tanks. In the evening, Fontenay-le-Marmion and Laize-la-Ville were liberated.
   
 
 
 
Mont Royal Fusiliers plaque
Laize-la-Ville
Plaque in memory of the Canadian soldiers of The Mont Royal Fusiliers Regiment (6th Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division), who liberated the town on 8 August 1944.
Situation : on the War Memorial, near D562 road
 
     
 
 
Canadian stele
Fontenay-le-Marmion
Stele dedicated to the Canadian soldiers killed in the fighting for the liberation of Fontenay-le-Marmion.
 Situation : in front of the town hall
  
 
Canadian stele
Rocquancourt
Stele commemorating the liberation of the town by the Canadian troops on 8 August 1944.
Situation : facing the church, near the War Memorial
 
     
ROAD MAP
 
INTERESTING WEB SITES

Association web site about Canadian soldiers on D-day
http://www.waramps.ca/military/wwii/dday.html
Personal web site about French Canadians in the Canadian Army
http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/m223040/page2du9dec.html
Personal web site about D-day and Normandy battle
http://www.debarquement-normandie.com/
 
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