Operation Goodwood, Morning...

(Original)

Lindner and his platoon had reached the crossroads with their battalion commander riding along. They were in the small village of Cagny and they were met by an Oberstleutnant¹ from the 21st Panzer Division.

"Major, are you hurt badly?"

Major Fromme climbed carefully down from Tiger 224, saluted the Oberstleutnant and said, "It can wait, I've sent the last two companies of my battalion to Manneville, next village to the north I believe, and I'm here with my very last platoon. I lost my car and driver to a strafing attack. I was told to leave one platoon here, and I'd like to join the rest of my battalion as soon as I can get this scratch patched up."

"Natürlich, my dear major. We can certainly use these Tigers as we have word of, ahem, 'hundreds' of British panzers allegedly preparing to sweep down upon us from north of Caen."

"Hundreds?" Major Fromme couldn't help but question that. He knew the Allies had many men and lots of vehicles ashore, he'd seen them, but 'hundreds' of tanks? That he found hard to believe.

"The Milice in Bénouville got a message to headquarters last night, they indicate that there are at least three British panzer divisions waiting to cross the Caen canal and the Orne River. These men have proven reliable in the past."

"You trust the French? With the Allies coming ashore in their thousands? They're just waiting to turn their coats again." Major Fromme had a low opinion of the French, even the ones allegedly on his side.

"We believe the report to be credible. Now, I'd like to use this platoon at the northern end of the village, they will have a good field of fire for some distance. With four Tigers, we should be able to whittle the Tommy numbers down significantly. I also have two 8.8 cm guns positioned forward in Le Mesnil Frémental to the north and west of here."

"Gerhard, deploy as the Oberstleutnant desires, I'll be next door, so to speak, in Manneville."

"Jawohl Herr Major!" Lindner signaled to the other three Tigers to follow 224. He wanted to get settled in before the sun rose any higher.

The crossroads at Cagny, looking north.
(Source)

Sgt Fitzhugh stood in his commander's hatch and watched as wave after wave of British bombers passed overhead at what couldn't have been more than 3,000 feet. He had never seen so many RAF heavy bombers in the air in daylight, usually they flew at night. They were all headed south, hopefully to pound the Jerry positions he and his lads were supposed to take.

The men around him began to cheer as they felt the earth tremble beneath them as the bombers began to drop their loads. Some of the younger men felt that they would merely have to walk over the German positions as the bombs would have killed anyone who cared to fight. Sgt Fitzhugh knew better.

He lit another cigarette and consulted his map, his hope was that the bombers didn't produce too much rubble in the villages along the way, and dear Lord don't chew up the terrain too badly. He'd seen what the bombers had done to Caen, what the British had seized at any rate. It was a moonscape.

Thee Tigers had taken up their positions just as the first aircraft came overhead. Lindner was amazed, he could actually see the bombs separating from the aircraft. He ordered his men to button up, things were going to get very bad, very quickly.

The first stick of bombs landed approximately 150 meters to the east of Lindner. He watched through his vision blocks as the bombs marched through the fields and into the village. He was very glad not to be under those bombs.

The next stick landed about 100 meters behind them. By some miracle, not a single bomb landed anywhere near the platoon, the paint on their tanks wasn't even scratched. But as the last flight of bombers droned off, Lindner could hear the crackling of the flames and the screams of the wounded.

"I guess we're it for defending the village of Cagny." he muttered to himself.

(Upper map updated, I had Lindner's position wrong. Thanks to an alert reader!)

Major Fromme and the bulk of schwere Panzer Abteilung 503 had not been so fortunate. The RAF bombs had inundated their positions, not a single tank remained. Major Fromme had taken over a tank and that vehicle had been partially buried during the bombing. When he regained consciousness he thought perhaps that it was night, the inside of the vehicle was pitch black.

Reaching for his torch, he managed to turn it on, amazingly it still worked. He could see that his driver and bow gunner were dead, their heads were at unnatural angles and they were completely limp. His loader was moaning, so he was alive, but how badly hurt he didn't know. His gunner was also alive, he could see the man breathing.

He then noticed that there was a bit of light coming from his vision blocks. Struggling to get up into his hatch, he could see that there was a lot of debris obscuring his view. He tried the hatch, no luck. Something was holding it closed. He tried one more time. No, he was not going to budge it.

As he tried to get to the loader's hatch, he heard his gunner moan, "Herr Major, are we still alive?"

"Some of us are Gustav, are you badly hurt?"

"Nein, but I have a massive headache."

"Probably a concussion injury."

Fromme had reached the loader's position, he checked the man's pulse, he was alive, he appeared unwounded. Probably knocked out by the bombs Fromme thought. It was then that he noticed his shoulder wound was bleeding again. A Sanitäter from the 21st had patched him up before the Oberstleutnant in Cagny had had him driven over to Manneville. He'd worry about the wound later.

He tried the loader's hatch, there, it moved.

"Gustav, help me move Karl, I need to get onto his seat."

Gently they moved the unconscious loader over to the commander's seat. He didn't move, he must be badly concussed, Fromme thought. But now, up on the loader's seat, Fromme could put his good shoulder against the hatch and push. Gott sei Dank², it's opening!

Tiger I of the sPzAbt 503 overturned at Manneville by the bombing during Operation Goodwood.

Pushing the hatch open and managing to wriggle himself out, Major Rolf Fromme looked around at a scene of utter devastation. Tiger 313, about 50 meters away, had been flipped onto its back, he couldn't see anyone around it. He saw a pillar of fire where he knew Kurt Schoerner's tank had been, as to the village of Manneville, there was nothing left but rubble.

Major Fromme doubted that he had a battalion left to command.

British Shermans and infantry, beginning of Operation Goodwood

Sgt Fitzhugh's troop joined the column passing over the Bailey bridges laid down by the engineers during the night. Overhead the shells from hundreds of artillery pieces passed on their way to hit the Germans. While it seemed impossible for anything to survive first the bombers and then artillery, Fitzhugh knew that humans always found a way.

He fully expected to meet fierce resistance the further they advanced. He just couldn't figure out why the Germans hadn't started shooting yet. He had a bad feeling about that.

"We're in for a long day lads," he announced over the intercom, "stay sharp and keep your eyes open!"

Cromwell tanks moving across York Bridge, a Bailey bridge built over the Caen Canal and the Orne River.

¹ Lieutenant colonel
² Thank God