It is all about the terrain – Paul Woodadge Battlefield Tour.

Today is the 3rd April 2023 and it is the third day of Paul’s Battlefield Tour in Normandy. This is terrain day. We will look at the dramatic differences in terrain in Normandy and how this needed to be overcome by the allies.

We started in the rolling open fields near Le Mesnil-Patry. On the 11^th June Canadian Queen’s Own Rifles and the 1^st Canadian Armoured Brigade (1^st Hussars) were given the task of seizing the village of Le Mesnil-Patry. The topography is incredibly open and gentle sloping. The Canadian tanks began their advance at 14:30 hours in open country with little protection. The fields were full of three-foot-high wheat. The Hitlerjugend Panzer Division had expected an attack in this area and had already taken up hidden positions. The Canadian felt the village was lightly defended. The Germans opened fire with devastating effect. The Canadian had to withdraw. The 1^st Hussars lost 51 tanks. The Queen’s Own Rifles recorded 55 killed, 33 wounded and 11 prisoners. 4 of these were interrogated by the SS and then executed. This battle illustrated the difficulty of moving armour in open fields when the Germans had taken up well designed hidden positions.

We then moved onto Point 103 which was high ground overlooking Saint Pierre and Tilly-Sur-Seulles. Jonathan, one of our fellow Battlefield Group gave some background to this battle as his father had fought here. We moved down into St Pierre and stopped at a memorial to the officers if the Regimental HQ of the Sherwood rangers, whose command structure was taken out with one shell. Across the street from this memorial was a fantastic locally created memorial by a local farmer, who had carved in slate the regimental crests of commonwealth regiments. I was able to see the Dorset’s had been remembered here. We then moved onto the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Tilly-Sur-Seulles and paid respect to those who had fallen. There were many Dorset Graves.

We then moved from the British/Canadian interior to the American interior and the Battle for Saint Lo. The terrain changes dramatically from open rolling large fields to small patchwork fields surrounded by high thick hedgerows called the Bocage. Ancient sunken lanes within the bocage causing serious issues for armour to cross while also allowing troops to move undetected. Sergeant Curtis Cullen is recognised as the person who thought of using scrap metals from the Belgian Gates and Czech Hedgehogs (Beach obstacles) and placing on the front of the Shermans. This allowed then to rip through the bocage without the tank rising upwards revealing it soft underside to enemy attack.

We walked a mile or so of bocage lanes and you could understand why this proved a terrain which was difficult to penetrate or move across quickly. It was so different to the terrain near Caen. We also stopped to discuss the battle at Hill 192 before moving onto Saint Lo.

As the British and Canadian’s were struggling to get into Caen, so too were the Americans to get through Saint Lo. The Americans had already secured the Cherbourg Peninsula but found moving south through Saint Lo difficult. Although the British were holding back the majority of German armour from moving towards the Americans, (7 German tanks in the British sector to 1 German tank in the US sector) the terrain was difficult. The battle for Saint Lo took from the 7^th July to the 19^th July 1944.

Saint Lo was crucial due to it position and the Allies need to move southwards and the start of Operation Cobra. The cost had been high and fighting for each yard had been costly. The city was bombed heavily to disrupt the German resistance, due to the heavy death toll of allied soldiers taking hills 192 and 122 there was a desperation to get the job done.

We visited a wonderful small local museum dedicated to the US 35^th and 29^th Divisions. There was also a 9/11 memorial as the people of Saint Lo who stood with the people of New York due to their experience in WWII.

We moved on into the town and Mags gave a great talk on the civilian experience and cost to the town’s people. Mag, was born in Saint Lo.

There is a lot of battle damage still in the town and even a shell sticking out of the Cathedral’s wall.

I know this week’s tour is all about war and battles, but Saint Lo was most thought provoking and how war not just effects those fighting, but those caught in the middle. There are many memorials to those brave soldiers who came from far and wide to remove evil from French soil and so there should be, but we need to think of those local people who stood in harms way, assisted when they could and became casualties just for being there.