Gruchy (Calvados)
The cities of Normandy during the 1944 battles
- Liberation: July 9, 1944
- Deployed units:
The Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry Highlanders, 9th Canadian Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division
S.S.-Panzergrenadierregiment 25, 12. S.S. Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend
- History:
According to the initial Allied plans, the hamlet of Gruchy was to be under control by 6 June 1944. But the Canadian soldiers of the 9th Infantry Brigade failed to achieve their objectives and halted their advance at Villons-les-Buissons.
Raymond Pouchin, a resident of the hamlet, recalls in his memoirs the famous day of Tuesday 6 June: ‘At midday, after looking after the animals, we were having dinner when a German came towards the farm. This soldier, about 50 years old, was discouraged. He’s looking for his comrades. He puts down his rifle and helmet and asks me for a drink. I fetch him some water and hand him a glass. Pointing to the planes in the sky, he tells me that the war is lost because there is not a single German plane. He offers me his rifle in exchange for a bicycle or a horse. I refused, making him understand that I was not a soldier. I could see the fear and despair in his face. He then left, thanking me for the water. Later, at the end of the day, an armoured car with four Germans stopped to ask me if I had seen their comrade… ‘*.
Late on the morning of 7 June, the first Canadians of the Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry Highlanders appeared. They went to meet the civilians and told them to take cover: they were expecting a German counter-attack. In fact, in the early afternoon, the SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25 commanded by SS-Standartenführer Kurt Meyer (12. SS Panzer-Division ‘Hitlerjugend’) counter-attacked towards Buron and rained down the first shells on the hamlet of Gruchy. The fighting lasted almost three hours and injured many of the inhabitants, who sought summary shelter by piling up in their cellars or in trenches dug in their gardens. From 8 June, the Germans strengthened their position at Gruchy and positioned a number of armoured vehicles there, monitoring the front line and looting houses in search of food and alcohol.
From 15 to 17 June, the Canadian artillery resumed shelling Gruchy, killing several Germans and neutralising armoured vehicles in the hamlet. The shells also killed one of the inhabitants, Madame Morin, as well as some livestock. Raymond Pouchin remembers the long days of waiting, spent in the shelters that were sometimes visited by the Germans, looking for food and sometimes women. On Sunday 25 June, when part of the population had been evacuated by the Red Cross, he came face to face with a young SS officer with whom he exchanged a few words: ‘He told me that the Germans had taken back the seaside, that the Allies were surrounded and that they were going to destroy every last one of them. According to him, it’ll only be a few more days. The young SS man seemed confident and told me that on the day of the landings, at Courseulles-sur-Mer, he had killed a Canadian who had himself shot a wounded German soldier who had surrendered! The young soldier became increasingly talkative, and taking out a small tin box from his pocket, he showed me the new medicines that had kept him awake for three nights already. On 4 July, most of the inhabitants finally left the village and took refuge in the Caen region.
On 8 July, during the ‘Charnwood’ land offensive, a new Allied assault broke through the German defences of the 12. SS Panzer-Division ‘Hitlerjugend’, despite the terrifying bombardment of the previous day. Despite the perseverance of the soldiers of the Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry Highlanders, who did everything they could to seize Gruchy, the Canadians were unable to gain a firm foothold in the town.
The furious battle resumed with unchanged intensity at dawn on 9 July 1944, with the SS refusing to back down under any pretext and not hesitating to fight hand-to-hand. By mid-morning, the Germans had succumbed to the courageous efforts of the Canadians, who finally took Gruchy, despite very heavy losses.
*Raymond Pouchin’s memoirs, published in 2014 on the Rosel commune website (www.rosel.fr).
Photo of Gruchy in 1944
July 9, 1944: Soldiers from the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders in the Gruchy area. Photo: IWM.
Gruchy maps:
