Parfouru-sur-Odon (Calvados)

The cities of Normandy during the 1944 battles

Liberation: August 4, 1944

Deployed units:

Drapeau anglais 231st Infantry Brigade, 50th Infantry Division

Drapeau nazi Panzer-Lehr-Regiment 130, Panzer-Lehr-Division

History:

On 11 June 1944, Major Wilhelm von Schönburg-Waldenburg, commander of the 2nd Panzer-Lehr-Regiment 130 (Panzer-Lehr-Division) battalion, was killed in his Panzer IV tank with his crew on the road between Tilly-Sur-Seulles and Cristot. The Germans decided to bury him in the communal cemetery of Parfouru-sur-Odon.

When the front line reached this locality nearly two months later, on 4 August 1944 at 1 am, the Germans requisitioned all means of transport to the inhabitants (bicycles, carts…). They then abandon the village of Parfouru-sur-Odon in a hurry at daybreak. The British of the 231st Infantry Brigade (50th Infantry Division) released the commune later in the day.

 

Parfouru-sur-Odon maps:

Image : carte du secteur de Parfouru-sur-Odon - Bataille de Normandie en 1944

 

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