Operation Goodwood

Operation Goodwood
Part of the Battle for Caen
Two M4 Sherman tanks, a Sherman Firefly carrying infantry and a Sherman Crab wait for the order to advance at the start of Operation Goodwood, 18 July
Date 18–20 July 1944 Location Normandy, France 49°10′54″N 00°16′03″W / 49.18167°N 0.26750°W / 49.18167; -0.26750 Result See Aftermath section
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Bernard Montgomery Miles Dempsey John Crocker Richard O'Connor	Günther von Kluge Heinrich Eberbach Sepp Dietrich Hans von Obstfelder
Strength
3 armoured divisions (c. 1,100 tanks) 2 infantry divisions 1 armoured brigade	3 armoured divisions 2 heavy tank battalions (377 tanks) 4 infantry divisions
Casualties and losses
4,000–5,000[1][2] 217–500 tanks	2,000 prisoners[3] 75–100 tanks[4][5]

Operation Goodwood was a British offensive during the Second World War, which took place between 18 and 20 July 1944 as part of the larger battle for Caen in Normandy, France. The objective of the operation was a limited attack to the south, from the Orne bridgehead, to capture the rest of Caen and the Bourguébus Ridge beyond.^[6]

Goodwood was preceded by Operations Greenline and Pomegranate in the Second Battle of the Odon west of Caen, to divert German attention from the area east of Caen. Goodwood began when the British VIII Corps, with three armoured divisions, attacked to seize the German-held Bourguébus Ridge, the area between Bretteville-sur-Laize and Vimont and to inflict maximum casualties on the Germans. On 18 July, the British I Corps conducted an attack to secure a series of villages to the east of VIII Corps; to the west, the II Canadian Corps launched Operation Atlantic, synchronised with Goodwood, to capture the Caen suburbs south of the Orne River. When the operation ended on 20 July, the armoured divisions had broken through the outer German defences and advanced 7 mi (11 km) but had been stopped short of Bourguébus Ridge, only armoured cars having penetrated further south and beyond the ridge.

While Goodwood failed in its primary aim, it forced the Germans to keep powerful formations opposite the British and Canadians on the eastern flank of the Normandy beachhead and Operation Cobra, the First US Army attack which began on 25 July, caused the weaker German defences opposite to collapse.^[6]