Word: caen
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...Juno beaches fought their way ashore, according to plan, and were soon followed by tanks, the mere sight of which swept most of the German resistance away. The fighting was harder at Sword Beach, where German defenders stiffened against the specter of the Allies' capturing the nearby city of Caen. The hardest fighting of all raged throughout the day on the fifth beach, Omaha. It was a relatively narrow strand of shoreline overshadowed by 100-ft. cliffs. Troops trying to land there found themselves in a horrifying position, vulnerable to machine-gun and mortar fire from above. The only route...
...used as a brigade HQ. My next job was to go to the radar station--a concrete blockhouse, a huge hexagon with apertures all round. The Germans were inside, but the Royal Marine Commandos were outside. We went on to Hermanville, which was on the main road to Caen. When we arrived it was 5 p.m. We had been up since 3 a.m. We dug a trench at the corner of a field and slept...
...left at around 5 a.m. for Caen. The whole way up, we were never fired at. But when we got to Caen, the Allies were bombing the bridge over the River Orne. I noticed the cadence of the bombs, and I sent my tanks over one by one between the bombs and didn't lose any of them. We were the first of the tanks over that bridge, and we continued north. The town seemed completely untouched by war at that time...
...little went according to plan. Paratroopers were scattered for miles across the countryside, some coming down directly into towns. Many wood-and-canvas gliders were raked by German fire or crashed into unexpectedly large hedgerows. But by the end of D-day, British commandos had captured key bridges near Caen, and Americans held large pockets inland from Utah Beach...
Stalemate at Caen The Allies hoped to take this key city on D-day, but German resistance stiffened. The town didn't fall for six more weeks...