The intention was to increase battlefield mobility, enabling the motor divisions to follow armoured forces through breaches in the enemy frontline to rapidly consolidate captured territory.

The fighting played an important role in distracting German forces from the major British offensive, Operation Goodwood, which was launched soon after.

As the division was the most recently established formation serving within the Second Army in France, and not as a result of its performance, it was chosen to be disbanded and its men transferred to other units to bring them up to strength.

To avoid war, the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler in September and brokered the Munich Agreement.

This resulted in 34,500 twenty-year-old militiamen being conscripted into the regular army, initially to be trained for six months before deployment to the forming second-line units.

[56][59] On 15 February 1941, Witts was replaced by newly promoted Major-General James Steele (who had commanded the 132nd Brigade during the Battle of France).

[60][61] On 20 June, Brooke, now Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, inspected the division and left highly satisfied, believing the men possessed an "eagerness in the eyes".

[16][66] On 8 April, Steele was promoted and left the division;[16][67] he was replaced by Major-General William Bradshaw (who had held a series of brigade appointments within the United Kingdom).

[83] On 6 June 1944, the Allies launched Operation Overlord, the invasion of German-occupied Western Europe, with landings at several points along the Normandy coastline in France.

[86] The initial assault, carried out by the 3rd Infantry Division, was unable to capture the city resulting in the prolonged Battle of Caen.

These factors, along with Épron's location on a reverse slope from the direction of the British advance, provided excellent terrain advantage to the German defenders.

The German reoccupation of La Bijude further impeded attempts to capture Épron, as both positions were able to engage the attacking British troops.

[112] The historian John Buckley wrote "for the inexperienced troops of 59th Division for whom Charnwood was their baptism of fire, the grim and appalling realities of combat were a chastening experience.

[115] As part of this effort, the Second Army intended to launch several diversionary attacks by XII and XXX Corps to divert German attention from the location of the main Goodwood thrust.

[116] On 13 July, the division was allocated to XXX Corps, and the next day moved into the area incorporating Loucelles, Cristot, and Fontenay-le-Pesnel in preparation for the upcoming fight.

Subsequent German counter-attacks, supported by tanks, overran some of the East Lancashire troops and pushed them back to their start line.

[124] Peter Knight, author of the 59th Divisional history, wrote "The aim of Pomegranate had been to attract enemy attention ... away from the Caen Sector.

[119][124] The following ten days involved manning the frontline, conducting patrols into German-held territory, engaging in small-scale skirmishing with the Germans, and mutual mortar bombardments.

[16] The following day, the American First Army launched a major offensive, codenamed Operation Cobra, on the western flank of the Normandy beachhead.

The task assigned to the 59th Division was to clear the area around Villers-Bocage, and then exploit towards Thury-Harcourt on the Orne and attempt to establish a bridgehead.

On 3 August, following German withdrawals along XII Corps' front, the division advanced, supported by elements of the 34th Tank Brigade.

Resistance to the crossing soon intensified, and the German 271st Infantry Division launched several counter-attacks that failed to dislodge the 59th, although it did result in some British positions being overrun.

[135] The 36-hour battle the division fought once across the Orne resulted in the Victoria Cross (VC) being awarded to Captain David Jamieson of the 7th Royal Norfolk Regiment.

Despite having been severely wounded and evacuated from the battlefield, Jamieson returned to the frontline to direct and inspire his men, reporting targets and ordering artillery strikes.

[136][137] His VC citation stated: "He personally was largely responsible for the holding of this important bridgehead over the River Orne and for the repulse of seven German counter-attacks with great loss to the enemy.

[139] Lyne praised the brigade "... for the magnificent fight which they successfully waged in the Orne bridgehead", and commented that the front "is literally strewn with bodies of men of the 12th S.S. Division, killed during their repeated counter-attacks, which you so ably repulsed.

The brigade was able to push through the German positions and secure the area around La Moissonière and Le Mesnil, a few miles north of Thury-Harcourt.

At one stage German forces armed with a preponderance of automatic weapons overran a platoon of 2nd Essex, and the situation could only be restored by the use of heavy artillery."

[154] The historian Terry Copp argued that the fighting the division took part in, a "five-day period of intense combat", has not been given "the attention it deserves".

Two days later, the 177th Brigade took Les Isles-Bardel following a brief engagement that ended as the Germans withdrew as part of their general retreat, before they could inflict a serious delay.