page_title: Operation Perch
section_title: Operation Overlord
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Perch / Background / Operation Overlord
caption_attribution_description: English: Caption 1: "The infantry, the humble foot soldiers, now about to fulfil their classical role." Caption 2: "Commando troops coming ashore from LCIs (Landing Craft Infantry)." The photograph shows commandos of the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division of the British Army coming ashore from Landing Craft Infantry at Gold Beach near La Rivière-Saint-Sauveur, Normandy, France, on 6 June 1944 at the start of the Invasion of Normandy during World War II. Dansk: Infanteri stormer i land nær La Riviere, Normandiet, på D-dag.
context_page_description: Operation Perch was a British offensive of the Second World War which took place from 7 to 14 June 1944, during the early stages of the Battle of Normandy. The operation was intended to encircle and seize the German occupied city of Caen, which was a D-Day objective for the British 3rd Infantry Division in the early phases of Operation Overlord. Operation Perch was to begin immediately after the British beach landings with an advance to the south-east of Caen by XXX Corps. Three days after the invasion the city was still in German hands and the operation was amended. The operation was expanded to include I Corps for a pincer attack on Caen.
  On the next day, XXX Corps in the west pushed south to Tilly-sur-Seulles, which was occupied by the Panzer-Lehr Division and the village was captured and re-captured several times. I Corps began the eastern thrust two days later from the Orne bridgehead, which had been secured in Operation Tonga on D-Day. I Corps was also delayed by constant counter-attacks of the 21st Panzer Division. With mounting casualties and no sign of a German collapse, the offensive east of Caen was suspended on 13 June.
context_section_description: The Norman town of Caen was a D-Day objective for the 3rd Infantry Division, which landed on Sword Beach on 6 June 1944. The capture of Caen was the most ambitious objective of I Corps (Lieutenant-General John Crocker). The Overlord plan called for the Second Army (Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey) to secure the city and then form a front line from Caumont-l'Éventé to the south-east of Caen, acquiring airfields and protecting the left flank of the US First Army while it moved on Cherbourg. Possession of Caen and its surroundings would give the Second Army a suitable staging area for a push south to capture Falaise, which could be used as the pivot for a swing left of the Allied front to advance on Argentan and then towards the Touques River. The terrain between Caen and Vimont was especially promising, being open, dry and conducive to swift offensive operations. The Allies greatly outnumbered the Germans in tanks and mobile units and a battle of manoeuvre would be to their advantage.
caption: Infantry of the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division run ashore near La Riviere on 6 June.
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