Battle for Caen

A series of Allied and German battles for control of Caen, France, from June to August 1944. The fighting formed a major part of the Normandy campaign.

Operation Charnwood: A British offensive in July 1944 that captured most of Caen’s northern districts. Its assault finally brought the city’s northern half under Allied control.
Operation Overlord: The Allied operation to invade German-occupied Western Europe, beginning in Normandy on 6 June 1944. The battle was part of Overlord’s campaign to establish and expand the Normandy lodgment.
Bernard Montgomery: British field marshal who commanded Allied ground forces during the early Normandy campaign. His strategy assigned British and Canadian forces the task of engaging German armor around Caen.
Capture of Caen: The Allied capture of Caen in stages during July 1944, after weeks of fighting around the city. The city’s northern districts fell first; the southern districts followed later in July.
Falaise Pocket: The pocket in August 1944 where Allied forces encircled much of the German Seventh Army and Fifth Panzer Army in Normandy. The Allied advance south from Caen contributed to the encirclement that trapped German forces.
Operation Goodwood: A British armored offensive east of Caen from 18 to 20 July 1944. Its advance sought to break German defenses east of the city and draw in reserves.
D-Day: The Allied landing in Normandy on 6 June 1944, opening the Western European front in World War II. The struggle for Caen began with the landings and their immediate aftermath.
Miles Dempsey: British general who commanded the Second Army during the Normandy campaign. His army conducted the principal British operations for Caen.
Battle of Villers-Bocage: A June 1944 clash near Villers-Bocage between British forces and German armored units. The German counterattack checked a British attempt to outflank Caen from the west.
Operation Cobra: The American breakout offensive launched west of Saint-Lô on 25 July 1944. The British and Canadian fighting around Caen helped hold German reserves while Cobra broke through farther west.

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Battle of AachenCompared with: Caen shows how urban fighting had already shaped the Allied campaign before it reached Germany.