Operation Bluecoat

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Operation Bluecoat Part of World War II, Battle of Normandy Date July 30 – August 7, 1944 Location Normandy, France Result British Victory Belligerents  United Kingdom  Germany Commanders Miles Dempsey Paul Hausser Strength 3 armoured divisions, 3 infantry divisions, 2 armoured brigades rising to: 3 Panzer Divisions, 3 infantry divisions Casualties and losses N/A N/A

v • d • e Battle of Normandy Neptune – Tonga – American Airborne Landings – Sword – Juno – Gold – Omaha – Utah – Pointe du Hoc – Brécourt Manor – La Caine – Perch – Carentan – Villers-Bocage – Cherbourg – Epsom – Charnwood – Jupiter – Goodwood – Atlantic – Verriéres Ridge – Spring – Cobra – Bluecoat – Totalise – Lüttich – Tractable – Falaise – Brest – Paris

Operation Bluecoat was an attack by the British Second Army at the Battle of Normandy during World War II, from 30 July 1944 to 7 August 1944. The geographical objectives of the attack were to secure the key road junction of Vire and the high ground of Mont Pinçon. Strategically, the attack was made to support the American exploitation of their breakout on the western flank of the Normandy beachhead.

Contents 1 Situation 2 The Attack 3 End of the Operation 4 Results 5 Forces 6 Notable Actions 7 References and footnotes 8 Links

[edit] Situation

On July 25, the American army broke out of the beachhead, in Operation Cobra. A few days earlier, the British and Canadian forces had launched Operation Goodwood south of Caen on the eastern flank of the Allied beachhead. This had induced the Germans to concentrate the bulk of their forces, particularly their armoured units, in this sector. As this would make further Allied progress on this part of the front difficult and costly, the armour of the British Second Army under Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey was switched westward towards Villers-Bocage adjacent to the American army. Originally, Dempsey planned to attack on August 2, but the speed of events on the American front forced him to advance the date.

Initially, only two weak German infantry divisions held the intended attack frontage, south and east of Caumont, although they had laid extensive minefields and constructed substantial defences. They also occupied ideal terrain for defence, the bocage.

[edit] The Attack

A preliminary bombardment by over 1,000 bombers was supposed to prepare the way for the attack. The weather was poor, and many of the bombers could not find their targets. When the attack followed up, many units were held up by minefields and steep gullies, but in the centre, the attackers gained five miles.

On the next day (July 31), units of British 11th Armoured Division captured a bridge over the River Soulevre intact, and broke up the first German armoured units sent to counter-attack.

British forces were now only five miles from Vire, but this was on the American side of the boundary between the British and American armies, and the British attack was diverted south-east. This gave the German Seventh Army time to regroup, and move SS Panzer Divisions to reinforce their defences.

[edit] End of the Operation

The British advance was held up by these reinforcements. British VIII Corps also had to protect its own eastern flank, because British XXX Corps had not maintained the same rate of advance. (The Corps commander, Gerard Bucknall was dismissed on August 2 and the commander of 7th Armoured Division, George Erskine, relieved of command the next day.) The advance was brought to a temporary halt on August 4.

After renewed efforts, Vire fell to British and American forces on August 6. On the same day, British 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division captured Mont Pinçon.

[edit] Results

Operation Bluecoat drew substantial forces away from the projected German counter-attack at Avranches, and contributed substantially to the later encirclement of the German forces at the Falaise Pocket.

[edit] Forces

British
British Second Army (Miles Dempsey)

British VIII Corps (Richard O'Connor)

British 15th (Scottish) Division (Gordon MacMillan)

British Guards Armoured Division (Allan Adair)

British 11th Armoured Division ("Pip" Roberts)

British 3rd Infantry Division (temporarily attached^[1]) (Lashmer Whistler)

British 6th Guards Tank Brigade (Gerald Verney to 3 August then Sir Walter Barttellot)

British XXX Corps (Gerard Bucknall)

British 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division (Gwilym Thomas)

British 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division (Douglas Graham)

British 7th Armoured Division (George Erskine to 4 August then Gerald Verney)

British 8th Armoured Brigade (George Prior-Palmer)

German
German Fifth Panzer Army (Heinrich Eberbach)
initially present:

German XLVII Panzer Corps (part) (Hans Freiherr von Funck)

German 276th Infantry Division (Kurt Badinski)

German 326th Infantry Division (Viktor von Drabich-Wächter)

reinforcements:

II SS Panzer Corps (Wilhelm Bittrich)

9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen (Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock)

10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg (Heinz Harmel)

German 21st Panzer Division (Edgar Feuchtinger)

1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (part) (Theodor Wisch)

[edit] Notable Actions

• Night attack by 5th DCLI on Les Plessis Grimoult, south of Mont Pinçon.
• Destruction of most of a Squadron from 6th Guards Tank Brigade by Jagdpanthers from 654 schwere Panzerjägerabteilung

[edit] References and footnotes

• UK MoD Brochure on Normandy
• Delaforce, Patrick (1993). The Black Bull : from Normandy to the Baltic with the 11th Armoured Division. Stroud, Gloucs.: Sutton. ISBN 978-0750904063. 
• Delaforce, Patrick [1994] (2002). The Fighting Wessex Wyverns : from Normandy to Bremerhaven with the 43rd (Wessex) Division. Stroud, Gloucs.: Sutton. ISBN 978-0750931878. 
• Jary, Sydney [1987] (2003). 18 Platoon. Winchester, Hants.: Light Infantry. ISBN 978-1901655018. 
• Mead, Richard (2007). Churchill's Lions: A biographical guide to the key British generals of World War II. Stroud (UK): Spellmount, 544 pages. ISBN 978-1-86227-431-0. 
• Wilmot, Chester [1952] (1997). The Struggle For Europe. Ware, UK: Wordsworth Editions. ISBN 978-1853266775. 

[edit] Links

• Operation Bluecoat at memorial-montormel.org
• History of 11^th armoured division at memorial-montormel.org
• D-Day Tanks Website
• Les Plessis Grimoult (French website

Coordinates: 48°50′34″N 0°53′32″W / 48.84278, -0.89222 (Operation Bluecoat)

v • d • e Main articles on Battle of Normandy, Western Front, World War II Operations Key locations See also Operation Overlord (The overall invasion plan) Operation Neptune (The assault plan) American airborne landings in Normandy Operation Tonga (UK 6th Airborne) Operation Pluto (Pipe-Line Under The Ocean) Operation Fortitude (Deception plan) Operation Perch (UK) Operation Martlet (UK) Operation Epsom (UK) Operation Windsor (Canada) Operation Charnwood (UK) Operation Jupiter (UK) Operation Goodwood (UK) Operation Atlantic (Canada) Operation Spring (Canada) Operation Cobra (US) Operation Bluecoat (UK) Operation Totalize (Canada, Poland, UK) Operation Lüttich (German) Operation Tractable (Canada, Poland, UK) Battle for Brest (US) Battle for Caen (UK, Canada) Battle of Verriéres Ridge (Canada) Battle of Carentan (US) Battle of Cherbourg (US) Battle of Villers-Bocage (UK) Landing Points: Gold Beach (UK) Juno Beach (Canada) Omaha Beach (US) Pointe du Hoc (US) Sword Beach (UK) Utah Beach (US) Other: Falaise pocket Hill 262 Pegasus Bridge Le Havre Category:Operation Overlord Atlantic Wall D-Day Dieppe Raid Hobart's Funnies Allied forces in Normandy Mulberry Harbour Liberation of Paris (France) Operation Dragoon (France, UK, US) Operation Jedburgh (France, UK, US) Normandy US Cemetery & Memorial Brittany US Cemetery & Memorial More information on Battle of Normandy: D-day from Wiktionary D-day Textbooks from Wikibooks D-day Quotations from Wikiquote D-day Source texts from Wikisource D-day Images and media from Commons D-day from Wikinews

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