On 13 June 1944, one week after the Normandy landings, the British 7th Armoured Division advanced on Villers-Bocage. Its leading column was ambushed by Tiger tanks near Point 213, and the British withdrew from the town after roughly a day of fighting.
The ambush at Point 213
According to HistoryOfWar.org, the advance on the town was led by tanks of the 4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) from the 22nd Armoured Brigade, with lorried infantry from the 131st Brigade. Michael Wittmann first struck with four Tigers and one Panzer IV, and was later given fifteen Panzer IVs, supported by another Tiger company and the Panzer Lehr Division, to clear the town. The British lost around 20 Cromwells, four Sherman Fireflies, three Stuarts and other armored vehicles, with 62 dead and 100 prisoners; the Germans lost several Tigers, their first in Normandy.1
The details are controversial, partly because both sides' propaganda soon got to work, with the Germans trying to give Wittmann as much credit as possible.2
A missed opportunity
The advance was part of Operation Perch, the first major attempt to take Caen after D-Day. According to John Rickard, the British attack came very close to success, but Wittmann's early successes robbed it of all momentum, and on 14 June the British tanks had to pull back another five miles.3
Also on this day
- 1665: Battle of Lowestoft. In the Second Anglo-Dutch War, a great Dutch fleet under Lord Obdam engaged an English fleet of similar size led by James, Duke of York, off Lowestoft.
