page_title: Battle of Bréville
section_title: Night Attack
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Bréville / Battle / Night Attack
caption_attribution_description: English: A Sherman tank of 13th/18th Royal Hussars in action against German troops using crashed Horsa gliders as cover near Ranville, 10 June 1944.Magyar: A 13./18. brit királyi Huszárezred egy Shermanja német csapatok ellen bevetésen Ranville-nél, lezuhant Horsa csapatszállító vitorlázógépeket használva fedezékül. 1944. június 10.Deutsch: Ein britischer Sherman-Panzer der 13ten/18ten königlichen Husaren im Einsatz gegen deutsche Infanterie. Normandie, 10. Juni 1944Italiano: Un carro armato britannico M4 Sherman e un aliante da trasporto Airspeed Horsa in Ranville, Normandia, 10 giugno 1944
context_page_description: The Battle of Bréville was fought by the British 6th Airborne Division and the German 346th Infantry Division, between 8 and 13 June 1944, during the early phases of the invasion of Normandy in the Second World War.
  In June 1944, units of the 346th Infantry Division occupied Bréville-les-Monts, a village on a watershed between the rivers Orne and Dives. From this vantage point, they could observe the positions of the 6th Airborne Division, defending the River Orne and Caen Canal bridges and beyond them the British Sword at Ouistreham. Following several German attacks on British positions from Bréville-les-Monts, the capture of the village became essential to secure the 6th Airborne Division positions and protect the Allied beachhead.
  The British attack occurred over the night of 12/13 June 1944, when Major-General Richard Nelson Gale committed his only reserves, the 12th Parachute Battalion, a company from the 12th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment and the 22nd Independent Parachute Company. To support the attack, a tank squadron from the 13th/18th Royal Hussars and five regiments of artillery were assigned to the division.
context_section_description: Gale concluded that to relieve the pressure on the division, he had to take Bréville. The only units available for the attack were the division reserve, which consisted of the 12th Parachute Battalion (350 men), and 'D' Company 12th Battalion Devonshire Regiment (eighty-six men). Another unit, the 22nd Independent Parachute Company, the division's pathfinders, were to stand by and respond to any German counter-attack. To provide fire support, Gale was given a squadron of tanks from the 13th/18th Royal Hussars, three field artillery regiments armed with 25 pounder guns, a medium artillery regiment of 5.5-inch guns and the division's own artillery the 53rd (Worcester Yeomanry) Airlanding Light Regiment. The attack on Bréville would start at 22:00, timed to catch the Germans tired and off-guard following the days fighting. The start line was on the outskirts of Amfreville, which had already been secured by No.6 Commando.
  Lieutenant Colonel Johnny Johnson of the 12th Parachute Battalion was in command of the assault. He decided his own 'C' Company would secure the first crossroads, the Devonshire company would then clear the north of the village. At the same time 'A' Company would advance through 'C' Company and secure the south-east. At the rear would be 'B' Company the battalion reserve. The attack had to cross 400 yards (370 m) of open ground to reach the village, to support the assault and destroy a German position 200 yards (180 m) from the start line, a troop of Sherman tanks would accompany them.
  At 21:50 the British artillery opened fire, and the Germans responded with their own artillery and mortars which forced most of the British to take cover, for the next fifteen minutes, until a lull in the German fire allowed them to continue. In the lead 'C' Company had crossed the start line at 22:00, however all its officers and the company sergeant major (CSM) became casualties and a senior Edmund (Eddie) Warren non-commissioned officer took command of the company. They continued to advance through the artillery and mortar bombardment, guided towards their objective by tracer rounds from the Hussars tanks. Repeatedly hit by the artillery and tanks, Bréville was in flames by the time the company's fifteen survivors reached the village.
  The battalion's 'A' Company suffered a similar fate, the officer commanding was wounded crossing the start line, and at the same time every member of the 2nd Platoon was killed or wounded. The CSM assumed command of the company but was killed when they reached Bréville. The company second in command who had been bringing up the rear, reached the village and found the 3rd Platoon only had nine men left but they had managed to clear the village Château and the 1st Platoon had cleared its grounds.
  The Devonshire company, was moving towards Amfreville when an artillery round landed amongst them wounding several men. As they crossed the start line another shell landed nearby killing Johnson, their company commander Major Bampfylde and wounding brigadiers Lord Lovat of the commando brigade and Hugh Kindersley of the airlanding brigade, who were observing the attack. Colonel Reginald Parker, deputy commander of the airlanding brigade and a former commanding officer of the 12th Parachute Battalion, had been wounded by the same shell but went forward to take over command of the attack.
  By 22:45 the crossroads had been secured by what remained of 'C' Company, the eighteen survivors of 'A' Company were in among the south-eastern buildings of Bréville. In the north-east of the village the twenty survivors of the Devonshire company had captured their objective. The shelling had stopped when 'B' Company reached the village unopposed and occupied abandoned German trenches beside the church. Fearing a German counter-attack on his weakened battalion, Parker ordered a defensive artillery bombardment. However, there was a misunderstanding when the order reached the artillery and a heavy bombardment landed on the British positions in the village, causing several casualties including three of the surviving office
caption: Sherman tank of the 13th/18th Royal Hussars supporting the division, with a Horsa glider in the background
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