The Valour and the Horror

July-7: In late June 1944, it was still not clear who was going to win the battle of Normandy. On one flank, a single German armoured division held back a huge American army. In front of the Canadians and British at Caen, were no less than six German armoured divisions.

The battle for Caen, by this point a symbol as much as an operational hinge, degenerated into a brutal and primitive individual test of arms. Adolph Hitler had decreed that the city be defended unto death. Montgomery, hounded by detractors, was no less determined to carry it. John A. English, Failure in High Command, p.219

Operation Charnwood's objective was to capture Caen and it's surroundings. Despite the fact the German defence was centred outside the old Norman city, the allies decided to boost Allied moral by levelling the place. At 9:50 p.m. on seventh of July, 1944, 467 Allied aircraft came to destroy the city. -"Valour and Horror" script Radio announcer at the site: "It all spells death and destruction, but it's a superb and thrilling thing to see. But even after that, after the heaviest bombing of the war, some of the enemy still came up fighting. Many of them were killed or wounded." A thousand years in the making, the mediaeval city was destroyed in 40 minutes. The truth is that a search of the rubble failed to turn up a single German casualty. - "Valour and Horror"script

Canadian soldiers enter Caen after the bombing

This was the first time that the strategic heavy bombers of Bomber Command were employed in a tactical close support role on the battlefield.

The only real effect the bombing had was to kill hundreds of French civilians and alert the Germans to the coming ground attack that didn't begin until the following morning at 0430 hours. Negating most of the effects of the bombing on the enemy.