Operation Goodwood, Afternoon...

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Sgt Fitzhugh tossed his cigarette into the dirt and ground it out, straightening his tanker's helmet he told his crew, "Look alive lads, it's the C.O. and the Sarn't Major. Probably come to tell us where we might die today."

Fitzhugh's battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Bryce-Heath, and his regimental sergeant major, Oswald Brookes, climbed out of their jeep and stretched. Riding a jeep, at speed, over some of these farm tracks was uncomfortable and jarring to one's bones, to say the least.

"Wait here Sarn't Major," Lt Col Bryce-Heath pulled his map out, then called out to Fitzhugh, "gather your tank commanders Sarn't, I shall only be briefing this once per troop."

The other tank commanders were waiting for Fitzhugh's signal, they had all wondered what the battalion C.O. wanted. Quickly they gathered by the troop commander's tank, a Sherman VC.

"Right lads, bit of a change in plan. Brigade is attaching us directly to 7th Armoured. We're to provide support for them as they push on to Bourguébus Ridge. As you can see, we're just south of Hérouvillette, just west of here, Escoville, I think..."

"I've got that on my map Sir, just here. We're right about, there."

"Yes, thank you sergeant. Now your task is to spearhead the battalion as we push towards Cagny. The RAF claim to have obliterated that village as well as Manneville, which you should pass to your left flank. Push on, mop up any German resistance, we expect a few remnants of the 272nd Infantry in the area. Guards Armoured will be to your left and will deal with any survivors from the 1st SS. Shouldn't be many after the bombings and the artillery preparation. Now get ready to move, and good hunting!"

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Fitzhugh always hated to hear "good hunting" from some officers, as if this were a bloody fox hunt. He doubted the bombs and artillery had killed all of the Germans' big cats. He was quite sure there were still Panthers and Tigers to spare!

Looking south from Escoville, route of advance for Fitzhugh's troop.
Google Street View

Sgt Fitzhugh ordered his troop to move out, he had them in reverse wedge formation with his own tank at the rear angle of the wedge. That way he could respond to either flank and to the front should the surviving Germans engage them.

He stayed low in his hatch, all tank commanders were very leery of riding exposed as too many had become casualties to sniper fire. Even in this open country the Jerry snipers could hole up and use the ground to stay concealed. Without any supporting infantry, which rather irked him, they would just have to button up and stumble on if they were engaged by enemy infantry here in the open. Fortunately the bastards wouldn't be able to get close enough to use a Panzerfaust. He hoped.

Intended line of advance, Fitzhugh's troop
Google Maps

Fitzhugh had his map in hand, "There, that must be Sannerville to the southeast." Over the wireless he told his tank commanders, "Heads up lads, we should be seeing resistance at any moment."

Another 1,000 feet traveled, still nothing. Fitzhugh could see the signs of burning villages ahead. Maybe the RAF and the arty did kill all the Jerries, they seem to be non-existent today!

Northwest of Sannerville

According to his map, that burning place to his left front was, used to be, the village of Manneville. Fitzhugh had no way of knowing that the place was full of dead and wounded Panzertruppen¹ and destroyed Tiger tanks, a force which would have stopped the advance of his troop cold.

From the ruins of Manneville, Major Rolf Fromme watched in frustration as the Tommies advanced unopposed. Was there no one left to oppose them?

Just north of Manneville (to the left of the picture), which would be in flames due to the bombing and artillery earlier in the day.
Cagny lies beyond in the center of the photo. 
Google Street View

"Troop halt!" Fitzhugh commanded over the wireless.

LCpl Thomas Ginns, Fitzhugh's driver, had to ask, "What's up Sarn't? Why are we stopping?"

"Well laddie boy, it's like this. We've advanced better'n five miles so far and not a peep from Jerry. This is either the first time the RAF boys and the arty actually completely suppressed the opposition, or we're walking into a bloody trap. Truth be told lads, I've got the wind up, don't like this at all."

"Right then, I guess we need to get stuck in, orders ya know..."

"Half a league, half a league..." gunner Cpl Cecil Chapman started reciting.

"Stow it laddie, that's not funny at all."

8.8 cm Pak 43/41 Anti-tank Gun
Bundesarchiv

Leutnant Gregor Hoffman watched through his field glasses as the four Shermans halted. Did they smell a trap? Hoffman had had a trap until the Tommy artillery had walked over his positions, now his second gun was a smoking wreck manned by dead crewmen. All he had left was one gun, and perhaps twenty rounds of anti-tank ammunition left. His resupply had never come in, and all of his spare ammo had gone up in the barrage.

He daubed his left ear with his scarf, it was still oozing blood and he could hear nothing from that ear. He suspected that he had a mild concussion. He wanted to be clear of this place, but both of his prime movers had been destroyed along with his other gun and his spare ammo. It was a miracle that he had this gun!

"Load Panzergrenate!²"

Cagny within range, yellow circle marks rough position of Lindner's Tiger platoon of sPzAbt 503.
To the right is Le Mesnil Frémental, the orange diamond marks the position of a German 8.8 cm anti-tank gun.
Google Street View

Fitzhugh scanned the remnants of Cagny to his front and Le Mesnil Frémental to his right. Both villages were burning, but Fitzhugh noticed a line of trees on the edge of Cagny and a couple of outbuildings which seemed untouched.

"Willis, load armor piercing." Cpl Willis Seckington removed the high explosive round from the breech, stowed it, then loaded an armor piercing round. They had been expecting infantry, Seckington wondered what his sergeant had seen to want an AP round up the spout.

"Cecil, do you see that line of trees, dead ahead. Doesn't one of them have a rather blocky, something, underneath it?"

"Got it, Jesus wept, it's a bloody Tiger!" screamed Cpl Chapman. He was still picked on for identifying a Pzkw IV in an earlier battle as a Tiger. This time he could see it clearly in his gunsight.

"Ready!"

Just as he yelled that out, the unseen 88 in Le Mesnil Frémental fired. Its shot went into the engine compartment of the right flank tank of Fitzhugh's troop. Sgt Fitzhugh saw the vehicle in his peripheral vision as its bow slewed to the right. It began to smoke.

Fitzhugh wanted to look but there was another threat to his front. He had to deal with that one first while Cecil had it dialed in.

"Fire!"

"Reload!"

Willis set a personal best time for reloading a second AP round, Fitzhugh was ready to fire again within seconds.

"Again, fire!"

(Source)

The round from the Sherman VC hit Tiger 113 squarely on the right drive sprocket, knocking the track off and destroying the vehicle's mobility. The second round came in and entered the lower part of the hull, destroying the transmission and killing both the driver and the loader.

Lindner saw his men bail out of the damaged tank, "Willi, shoot that big bastard towards the rear, it's one of those 17-pounder Shermans!"

"Jawohl! Got him, firing" Feldwebel Willi Hoffmeister shouted at the same time as he stomped on the firing pedal. He was dismayed to see that he had missed completely as he saw his round hit the dirt to the right of the enemy tank.

"Fritz, for the love of all that's Holy reload! Gerhard, do you see that Sherman heading to our right? What is the other bastard shooting at?"

Fitzhugh had sent one tank to flank to the east of Cagny. His other surviving tank was engaging the Jerries to his right. They had fired a single shot but nothing since, perhaps Sullivan had managed to kill whatever killed Oswald's tank.

Leutnant Hoffman stared in horror as one of the loaders dropped the next round after they had fired a single shot, and had scored as well. Their survival depended on speed, and they were not winning that race.

He put his field glasses to his face and saw that one of the Shermans was turning his way.

"Load damn it, get that damned round up!"

The young private from Garmisch was sweating bullets as he handed another round up, he didn't drop this one. But it didn't matter.

A high explosive round from Fitzhugh's second right flank vehicle hit the gun shield near the top.  The round detonated from the impact, spraying fragments of the shell, and the gun shield, over the gun crew and the ready ammunition.

Leutnant Hoffman had been hit again, this time in the lower abdomen, but he didn't have long to suffer as two high explosive rounds in the ready pile detonated. No one survived that.

Le Mesnil Frémental was clear of Germans, only Cagny and Lindner's three Tigers stood in the way of the British advance.

Fitzhugh couldn't believe what he was hearing over the wireless, they'd been ordered to fall back towards Sannerville. Apparently the weakened, probably no tanks left, 1st SS were counterattacking and Guards Armoured was in trouble.

"All tanks, fire smoke! Withdraw to the north, smartly now."

Chapman fired one last AP round at another Tiger in Cagny. He swore it was a solid hit, but now it was behind a growing smoke screen.

Probably just as well, he thought.

Chapman's parting shot hit the top of 224's turret. It didn't penetrate nor cause any spalling, but it deafened the entire turret crew. Lindner covered his ears and felt wetness, damn it, not burst ear drums, not again!

The sun began to set on the first day of Operation Goodwood, the British and Canadians were nowhere near their assigned objectives and dozens of friendly tanks had been destroyed. The day had been a disaster.

(Source)

¹ Tank troops
² Armor-piercing round (AP)