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From D-Day to V-Day

July 1944

July 9, 1944 - D-Day + 33

The day Caen fell

The US VIII Corps attempted to advance beyond La Haye-du-Puits, but they were able to gain just a small piece of land due to two major obstacles – the unyielding enemy and the infamous hedgerows. With its 4th and 83rd Infantry Divisions, the US VII Corps won a few hundred meters of French territory in the direction towards Périers. The 83rd Infantry successfully occupied St Eny. That same day, the 9th Infantry Division arrived from Cherbourg and occupied the area east of Taute, earlier held by part of the 30th Infantry Division.

In the course of July 9, the borders of the operational territory between the US VII and XIX Corps were marked. The 113th Cavalry Group (Mechanized) and Combat Command A from the XIX Corps’ 3rd Armored Division held the right flank, while the 30th Infantry Division and Combat Command B, assigned to the 30th Infantry from the 3rd Armored Division, continued in its offensive towards to main target – Hauts-Vents. Artillery shelling deflected the strong enemy counterattack in the western section of the main highway to St Lô. The 3rd Armored Division’s Combat Command B, on the offensive between regiments of the 30th Infantry Division, made rapid advancements towards Hauts-Vents along the main highway, but was ordered by the division to halt before reaching the target. At the end of the day, Combat Command A from the 3rd Armored Division was assigned to the VII Corps’ 9th Infantry Division. On the same day, the Major General Lunsford E Olivier’s 5th Armored Division started to land at Normandy. The unit was comprised of three tank battalions (the 10th, 34th and 81st), four armored infantry battalions (15th, 46th, 47th and 22nd), three armored artillery battalions (47th, 71st and 95th) and additional combat and support groups.

In the zone of the British Second Army’s I Corps, there was a major turning point in the battle for Caen. The British 3rd Infantry Division started to occupy the war-torn city from the south and in the course of the same day was able to meet up with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, which had entered the city from the west. Formations from the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division occupied Bretteville-sur-Odon and the final section of the airfield in Carpiquet, which had been staunchly defended by the enemy over the past days. The SS troops who stood in the Canadians’ way did not intend to give up easily.

In the course of the day, fighter aircraft from all three Czechoslovak squadrons of the RAF took par in Ramrod mission 1071, in which they accompanied 197 Halifaxes and 120 Lancasters from the No. 3, 4, 6, and 8 Groups over V1 flying bomb bases in Pas-de-Calais. In the course of July 9, the Czechoslovaks were once again successful in destroying a “doodlebug” in mid-air: the lucky pilot was F/O Josef Pípa, who had an unsuccessful encounter with a V1 just the day before. During the day, the Czechoslovaks from the No. 311 Squadron once again combed the endless surface of the Atlantic in the effort to find and destroy Nazi U-boats and surface vessels.