page_title: 231st Brigade (United Kingdom)
section_title: Gold Beach
hierarchical_section_title: 231st Brigade (United Kingdom) / Second World War / Gold Beach
caption_attribution_description: English: German bunkers of Longues-sur-Mer battery in Normandy, France Français&#160;: Casemate et canon de 150 mm de la batterie de Longues-sur-Mer en Normandie.
context_page_description: The 231st Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army that saw active service in both World War I and World War II. In each case it was formed by redesignation of existing formations. In the World War I it fought in Palestine and on the Western Front, while in World War II it served in the Allied invasion of Sicily, Italy and the Normandy landings of 6 June 1944.
context_section_description: Gold Beach was the codename for the centre invasion beach during the Allied invasion of Normandy, 6 June 1944 or D-Day. It lay between Omaha Beach and Juno Beach, was 8 km wide and divided into four sectors. From west to east they were How, Item, Jig, and King. This was the hardest and costliest of the 231st Brigade's three assault landings and the Battle of Normandy exacted a heavy toll on the brigade.
  The task of invading Gold Beach was given to the 50th Infantry Division and the 8th Armoured Brigade. The beach was assaulted in multiple brigades of the 50th Infantry Division; on the West was the 231st Infantry Brigade, followed by the 56th Brigade, attached to this was a regiment of DD tanks from Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, the infantry assault battalions that attacked in the west were; the 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, and the 1st Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment. On the east the 69th Brigade, followed by 151st Brigade, again a regiment of DD tanks was attached, they were from the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards.
  Their primary objective was to seize the town of Bayeux, the Caen-Bayeux road, and the port of Arromanches with the secondary objectives being to make contact with the Americans landing at Omaha Beach to the West and the Canadians landing at Juno Beach to the East. The 716th Static Infantry Division commanded by Generalleutnant Wilhelm Richter, and elements of the 352nd Infantry Division commanded by Generalleutnant Dietrich Kraiss, defended the Channel coast for the Germans. H-Hour for the Gold beach landing was set for 0725 hours.
  At 0725 hours, the 50th Infantry Division assault landed Gold beach with the objective of taking the beach, then moving to Bayeux and making a rendezvous with the American troops at Omaha Beach. The landing crafts were deployed seven miles off the beach, compared to the American ones that were deployed 12 miles off the beaches, this meant they had a shorter run in.
  The first battalion to come ashore suffered heavy casualties, among them their CO and the second-in-command, because their higgins boats grounded earlier than expected and they had to wade ashore.
  By midnight on the 6 June 1944, 24,970 men had landed on Gold Beach, and had penetrated six miles into occupied France. They fulfilled one of their secondary objectives by meeting up with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division who had landed at Juno Beach, but failed in their primary objective of reaching the Caen-Bayeux road and in their secondary objective of meeting the Americans from Omaha Beach. However they had established a foothold into Fortress Europa that would ultimately be a stepping stone to victory.
  The Longues-sur-Mer gun battery (as seen in the film The Longest Day where the German officer looks out at the invasion fleet), surrendered on 7 June to the 231st Brigade.
caption: Two of the bunkers of Longues-sur-Mer.
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