Operation Goodwood: info on the fight at Démouville?

[Texas Jäger]

A big part of the historiography surrounding ‘Goodwood’ is the fighting around Demouville-Cuverville. Pip Roberts disagreed with VIII corps commander O’Connor about using 11th Armoured Divisions Infantry Brigade to seize the two towns instead of the 51st Highland Division, and basically insinuated that was the main reason for the failure to seize Bourgebus Ridge or clear Cagny in a timely manner.

However, I can’t find much info on what actually happened during the battle for Demouville itself. The war diaries available online on Traces of War aren’t doing me much good, for example the 159th Brigade diary doesn’t describe the fighting at Demouville at all. https://www.tracesofwar.com/docs/wardi ... 316&menu=1
For the 3rd Monmouthshire Battalion, the diary on Traces of War skips over the period after Cuverville and before Bourgebus. The diary on the same site for the 2nd Northamptonshire Yeomanry which was supporting the attack on Demouville doesn’t help either since it’s incomplete. All I’ve gotten from other, secondary sources is contradictory reports about “heavy resistance” or “light resistance”. The 4th Battalion KSLI and 1st Battalion Herefords of the 159th Brigade don't seem to have been involved for the fight for Demouville itself but for the woods nearby.

The one place I’ve found any photographs of the battle are here https://cdre.jimdofree.com/le-cdre-à-d ... émouville/, taken from an information plaque in the town. The photos are definitely of Demouville, easily identified by the church, but the Imperial War Museum caption seems to mistake the troops featured in them for those of 7th Armoured Division. Kortenhaus’ history of the 21st Panzer Division is a bit more helpful: he says that a batterie in the town was destroyed the aerial bombing and that at least one company of the I. Battalion, 125th Panzergrenadier regiment was stationed in the town. (Whether it was the Schwere Kompanie, with its own organic Hotchkiss Self-propelled 7.5cm PAK, is unclear) He also states that the attack of the Monmouths on the town was launched through tall grain.

Basically I just know that the attack was initially delayed by the late relief of the 159th Brigade at Cuverville, and the amount of time it took to clear the village. Does anyone know any other details about the battle, or have the complete diaries from the imperial war museum or some other place that are partially available on Traces of War? Or the number of British casualties suffered were?

[Michael Kenny]

The one place I’ve found any photographs of the battle are here https://cdre.jimdofree.com/le-cdre-à-d ... émouville/, taken from an information plaque in the town. The photos are definitely of Demouville, easily identified by the church, but the Imperial War Museum caption seems to mistake the troops featured in them for those of 7th Armoured Division.

Laing took a series of photos on July 19th B7739-B7762 and he covered Colombelles, Vaucelles, Demouville, Mondeville and Cagny. It was also filmed by Harris( A70 89-2) but that film is not yet online. There is a short clip of the 2 men included here at 10:21 https://youtu.be/yIs5r3Zy60g?t=620

[Texas Jäger]

The one place I’ve found any photographs of the battle are here https://cdre.jimdofree.com/le-cdre-à-d ... émouville/, taken from an information plaque in the town. The photos are definitely of Demouville, easily identified by the church, but the Imperial War Museum caption seems to mistake the troops featured in them for those of 7th Armoured Division.

Laing took a series of photos on July 19th B7739-B7762 and he covered Colombelles, Vaucelles, Demouville, Mondeville and Cagny. It was also filmed by Harris( A70 89-2) but that film is not yet online. There is a short clip of the 2 men included here at 10:21 https://youtu.be/yIs5r3Zy60g?t=620

Thanks. Is any of the other footage from Demouville?

[Michael Kenny]

As the original query about a pak 88 'near Cagny' is buried deep in a click-bait Ukraine war thread I will post here the position of the 4 '88 guns found in the vicinity of Cagny. Only one (the gun 2nd from left) is a flak '88'

[Michael Kenny]

From: Operation GOODWOOD, 8th Corps East Of Caen 18-21 July 1944. BAOR Battlefield Tour 1947.

The 'woods' SE of Cuverville appear to be tree-lined fields. Photo taken June 12th 1944