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.

The assault had to negotiate both the British and German artillery fire, which killed or wounded several men, including some senior officers.

[6] The two remaining brigades dug in along a ridge of high ground that, if lost, offered the Germans a position to look down on the British landing zone.

Located on the ridge line it gave the Germans a view into Ranville, at the heart of the British position, the two captured bridges and in the distance Sword.

[8] The Germans reoccupied the village and formed their own defensive positions, facing the ridge line defended by 6th Airborne Division.

They found it abandoned, but the presence of clothing, equipment, a half-eaten meal and a payroll containing 50,000 French francs betrayed the recent German occupancy.

[11] After suffering many casualties, the Germans retreated into the woods surrounding the Château, where they reformed and made another abortive attack an hour later.

Soon afterward, Royal Air Force Short Stirling bombers arrived to carry out a parachute supply drop for the division.

[15] A reconnaissance patrol from the 13th Parachute Battalion reported a large gathering of Germans in Bréville and suspected an attack was imminent.

At 08:00 a massive artillery and mortar bombardment fell along the 1st Special Service Brigade lines, while the 857th Grenadier Regiment, which had gathered in the village, attacked No.

Shortly afterwards the battalion killed around fifty Germans, who had started digging defences in full view of the British position.

That afternoon a strong force of Germans occupied the Château and used it as a base to start an infantry and self propelled gun assault on the British battalion.

This assault was more determined, even naval gunfire support from the 6-inch (150 mm) guns of HMS Arethusa did not stop the attack.

[18] The rest of the German assault came up against the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, and was stopped by an artillery bombardment; two later attacks on them suffered the same fate.

[19] In the fighting the only British casualties were ten wounded in the parachute battalion, but eight men from the Hussars were killed and four Sherman medium and two Stuart light tanks were destroyed.

The Black Watch were informed to prepare for an assault to capture Bréville and formed up to the rear of the 9th Parachute Battalion, ready to begin their attack the next day.

To reach Bréville the battalion had to cross 250 yards (230 m) of open ground, and when they neared the village the British artillery ceased fire.

[4] The survivors retreated to the Château,[22][nb 2] but were immediately counter-attacked by the 3rd Battalion, 858th Infantry Regiment, who themselves suffered heavy casualties.

[26] At midday on 12 June the entire 3rd Parachute Brigade position came under artillery and mortar fire prior to a major attack scheduled to start at 15:00.

Unable to resist they were forced to pull back to the Bois de Mont, joining the 9th Parachute Battalion, which was being attacked by the German armoured vehicles.

[28] The German infantry were in danger of over-running the battalion, when Otway contacted brigade headquarters, informing them they were not able to hold out much longer.

Brigadier James Hill personally led a counter-attack of forty men from the Canadian battalion which drove off the Germans.

To support the assault and destroy a German position 200 yards (180 m) from the start line, two troop of Sherman tanks A Squadron 13/18 Hussars would accompany them.

Repeatedly hit by the artillery and tanks, Bréville was in flames by the time the company's fifteen survivors reached the village.

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 officers.

But there were too few to defend against a German counter-attack, so the 1st Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles, part of the 6th Airlanding Brigade, was moved into the village to take over from the survivors of the attack.

[4][36] The German defenders from the 3rd Battalion 858th Grenadier Regiment, had numbered 564 men before the British assault, by the time the village had been captured there were only 146 of them left.

The next two months was a period of static warfare, until 17 August when the division crossed the River Dives and advanced north along the French coast.

By 26 August they had reached Honfleur at the mouth of the River Seine, capturing over 1,000 prisoners and liberating 1,000 square kilometres (390 sq mi) of France.