Cahagnolles (Calvados)
The cities of Normandy during the 1944 fighting
Liberation: June 12, 1944
Involved units:
8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars, 7th Armoured Division
Panzer-Lehr-Division
History:
The village of Cahagnolles is located at the western end of the spindle dedicated to the 2nd British Army, bordering that of the 1st American Army. The crosses of such spindles by the armies are subject to the authorization of the higher hierarchical level: this is what the 30th British Corps asks for the 7th Armoured Division, which must seize Villers-Bocage by carrying out a maneuver of circumvention by the west in order to exceed the defensive lines installed by the Panzer-Lehr-Division.
On June 12, 1944, at 3 p.m., the 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars, the 7th Armoured Division’s armoured reconnaissance regiment, began its Cromwell tanks and began advancing in the First American Army Spindle. After crossing the crossroads of the locality La Butte in the town of Saint-Paul-du-Vernay, the tanks find the spindle of the 30th corps and head south, following in hand the departmental road leading to Sainte-Honorine-de-ducy. Without being delayed, they cross the village of Cahagnolles which they liberate, now the visual link with the American forces. Then they continue towards Sainte-Honorine-de-ducy before reaching the village of Livry at the end of the day.
Cahagnolles map:
