Canisy (Manche)
The cities of Normandy during the 1944 fighting
Liberation : July 26, 1944
Involved units:
66th Armored Regiment, Combat Command A, 2nd Armored Division
22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division
Panzer-Lehr-Division
History:
After the powerful aerial bombardments preparing the ground offensives of Operation Cobra, the Command Command A (CCA) of the 2nd Armored Division resumes its progress from 9:45 am from its starting line in Hébécrevon in the direction of Saint-Denis-le-Gast.
After liberating Saint-Gilles, the 66th Armored Regiment (AR) approached the village of Canisy in the late afternoon. On the tanks the infantry of the 22nd Infantry Regiment are piled up: sitting behind the turret in groups of five to six fighters, they are able to land and fight at very short range in the Norman bocage, providing close protection for tanks whose visibility of the immediate vicinity is very limited in combat. Other soldiers board GMC trucks that follow the progress of the tanks.
Shortly after 6 pm, the 66th AR was about to cross the wet cut of the Joigne when a German tank probably belonging to the Panzer Lehr Regiment 130 appeared near the American columns, rapidly progressing north along the departmental road linking Canisy to Saint-Gilles. The infantrymen of the 22nd Infantry Regiment landed immediately while the Sherman tanks tried to reach the enemy tank, without success. Continuing its advance, the German tank stops near a truck whose soldiers have not yet landed: the Germans throw a grenade before exfiltrating to the east, disappearing as quickly as they had appeared. Two Americans were killed and seventeen were wounded.
About an hour later, the 66th AR reached Canisy which was defended only by scattered units belonging to the 352. Infantry-Division and 3. Fallschirmjäger-Division. Without difficulty, the village was liberated by the Americans who continued towards Quibou.
Canisy map:
