SOMMERVIEU/VAUX-SUR-AURE
Calvados - 1 and 2 km north and nord-east of Caen
The 50th Infantry Division at the gate of Bayeux
The 50th British Infantry Division landed on 6 June 1944 on Gold beach
sector a six kilometers zone from Le Hamel to La Rivière. The
strongpoint of Le Hamel - Wn 37, according to German code - blocked
during several hours the 231st Brigade progression. The position was
held by a unit of the 716th German Infantry Division and was missed
by the allied bombardments. The 1st Hampshire suffered heavy losses
and waited reinforcement to seize the position. The 56th and 151st
Brigades unloaded around 11 a.m. and moved straight away towards Bayeux.
At the end of the day the 2nd Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment stopped
in Magny-en-Bessin. The 2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers advanced
northward, and bypassed a destroyed German signal station near Pouligny,
the Welsh liberated Vaux-sur-Aure and captured the bridge before midnight.
The 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment bivouaced next to Sommervieu, they
liberated the town the following day before entering Bayeux city.
South
Wales Borderers plaque Vaux-sur-Aure
Plaque
commemorating the capture of the bridge (and the liberation
of Vaux-sur-Aure) by the 2nd Battalion The South Wales Borderers,
of the 56th Brigade of the 49th West Riding Infantry Division,
in the evening on 6 June 1944. Situation
: on the bridge crossing the Aure river
B8
base stele Sommervieu
This stele remembers that airfield B8 of the Royal Air Force
was built in this place on August 1944. The 145th Wing of Free
French Airforce landed there for the first time on 19 August
1944 Situation
: west of the town, on Bayeux-Ryes road
South
Wales Borderers plaque 
B8
base stele
