LA
LONDE (castle) Calvados
- 4 km north of Caen
The bloodiest square mile for the British soldiers
At
the end of June 1944, Caen the D-day objective for the Allied Forces
was not liberated. On 26 June, the Offensive Epsom was starting
west of the Norman city. In the meantime, General Crocker Commander
of the Ist Army Corps launched attacks to the north to attract the
bulk of the German armoured divisions. On 27 June, the Operation
Mitten is carried out; after preliminary artillery fire, the
8th Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division reached a wood, lining
south-east La Londe castle. The German grenadiere of the 192nd Regiment
counter-attacked, while about thirty buried Panzer pushed back the
Sherman of the 27th Armoured Brigade Staffordshire Yeomanry. The
next day, the 1st Battalion The Suffolk Regiment renewed the assault
under heavy fire of the German defense. After a day of furious fight,
and heavy losses, the British captured La Londe castle. But they
were unable to move forward, the ambushed German tanks pinned them
down.
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Suffolk Regiment stele
