Operation Jupiter (1944)

Operation Jupiter was an offensive by VIII Corps of the British Second Army from 10 to 11 July 1944. The operation took place during the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War. The objective of the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division (Major-General Ivor Thomas) was to capture the villages of Baron-sur-Odon, Fontaine-Étoupefour, Château de Fontaine-Étoupefour and to recapture Hill 112. An attached brigade of the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division would take Éterville, Maltot and the ground up to the River Orne and then the tanks of the 4th Armoured Brigade, supported by infantry, would advance through the captured ground and secure several villages to the west of the River Orne. It was hoped that the initial objectives could be captured by 9:00 a.m., after which the 4th Armoured Brigade would exploit the success.

The British advance went well at first but fighting for Hill 112 took all day and Maltot changed hands several times. On 11 July, counter-attacks by the 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen, 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg and the schwere-SS Panzer Bataillon 102 (102nd SS Heavy Panzer Battalion) in the afternoon, forced the British off the top of Hill 112 to positions on the north-facing slope. The operation was a tactical failure for VIII Corps but a strategic success for the Allies, attrition having reduced the II SS Panzer Corps to a condition from which it never recovered. British operations of the Second Battle of the Odon conducted in the Odon valley continued in July and the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division occupied Hill 112 almost unopposed on 4 August, after the Germans withdrew during Operation Cobra and Operation Bluecoat further west. A stone memorial to the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division was built on the hill in the late 1940s.

The first battle for Hill 112 was fought at the end of Operation Epsom, when the tanks of 11th Armoured Division broke out from a bridgehead established by the 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, part of 227th (Highland) Infantry Brigade 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division, at Tourmauville. Hill 112 was an intermediate objective on the way to the River Orne crossings but such was the German reaction, that the 23rd Hussars were only able to capture and hold the hill with difficulty. Hill 112, at the end of a narrow salient, was held by the infantry of the 8th Battalion, Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own). Here they remained under shell and mortar fire until Ultra decryption of German radio traffic, showed that the II SS Panzer Corps was arriving. Before the German reinforcements could attack, General Bernard Montgomery ordered a withdrawal from the hilltop. Montgomery intended to hold the Panzer divisions (approximately seven), on the British-Canadian front, while the First US Army continued the Battle of Cherbourg and broke out from the beachhead. The American objective was feasible, because they had only the equivalent of 1+1⁄2 panzer divisions facing them, despite German attempts to disengage panzer units from the east end of the bridgehead.

Operation Charnwood took place from 8 to 9 July, to capture Caen and prevent the transfer of German armoured units from the Anglo-Canadian front in the east to the American sector. Three infantry divisions supported by three armoured brigades, attacked behind a creeping barrage and made gradual progress against the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend and the 16th Luftwaffe Field Division. By the end of the day the 3rd Canadian Division, the British 3rd Infantry Division and the 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division had reached Caen. At dawn, the attackers met the rearguards of German units which were retreating across the Orne; Carpiquet airfield had fallen to the Canadians during the morning and by 6:00 p.m., the British and Canadians had secured the north bank of the Orne. With the remaining bridges fortified or impassable and with German reserves close by, the British I Corps ended the operation. Charnwood was mutually costly but a tactical success for the Allies. The Germans were expelled from north of the Orne but established a defensive line south of the city and continued to transfer formations to the American front.

The intent of the operation was to capture the bridges over the Orne near Feuguerolles to provide a bridgehead for the Second Army to attack over the open ground to Bretteville-sur-Laize and Falaise. The 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division (Major-General Ivor Thomas) which had arrived in Normandy in time to play a supporting role in Operation Epsom, would capture the spur running eastwards from Hill 112 to the confluence of the Odon and Orne rivers. The 129th Infantry Brigade would capture the top of the hill and establish observation posts as the 130th Infantry Brigade took the lower ground to the south-east of Hill 112. The infantry brigades were to be supported by Churchill tanks of the 31st Tank Brigade and flame-throwing Churchill Crocodiles of the 141st Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (141st RAC) from the 79th Armoured Division. The 4th Armoured Brigade with the 214th Infantry Brigade would exploit success by forming a bridgehead on the east side of the Orne but the use of troop-carriers was cancelled. The 46th (Highland) Infantry Brigade of the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division was placed under the command of the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division to capture Verson and Éterville and the land between the confluence of the Odon and Orne. The Highland Brigade would then advance either side of the Odon to the Orne as a flank guard s the 129th Infantry Brigade guarded the right flank on Hill 112.

The attacking brigades were to be supported by the divisional artilleries of the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division, 11th Armoured Division, 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division and the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division. The medium and heavy guns of the 3rd Army Group Royal Artillery (AGRA), 8th AGRA and part of the 5th AGRA, the corps artillery of XXX Corps, to the west. Thirteen field regiments, ten medium regiments and 2 ½ heavy regiments were to participate with three hundred and twelve 25-pounder field guns, a hundred and sixty 4.5-inch and 5.5-inch medium guns, twenty-four 155 mm and sixteen 7.2-inch heavy guns. HMS Rodney with nine 16-inch guns, Roberts with two 15-inch guns and HMS Belfast with twelve 6-inch guns in the Bay of the Seine were to contribute their firepower. The army artillery amounted to 512 pieces and the Naval contribution was 23 medium and super-heavy guns. The heavy 4.2-inch mortars of the 8th Middlesex and the 3-inch mortars of the infantry were to participate and Hawker Typhoon fighter-bombers were to operate over the German-occupied roads leading to the area.

Hill 112 was held by the 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg with SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 21 on the hill, SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 22 between the hill and the Orne and SS-Panzer-Regiment 10 in reserve with the Tiger tanks of schwere SS-Panzerabteilung 102 (SS Heavy Panzer Battalion). The German defences comprised a line of outposts down the north slope of Hill 112 with a main line of resistance along the Caen–Évrecy road. A second line ran from Feuguerolles westwards from the Orne to Bully, Avenay and Évrecy and another outpost line ran through St Martin; another main line of resistance from Bully to Amayé sur Orne to Évrecy. The Orne crossings were held by the pioneer and reconnaissance battalions and artillery support was provided by the 10th SS Artillery Regiment and the 8th Werfer Brigade. When the 3rd Canadian Division took Carpiquet on 9 July, the Germans lost observation westwards over the south-eastern slope of Hill 112 but could still observe from positions further east across the Orne.

Operation Jupiter began from the Odon bridgehead, which ran from Verson to Baron, after the 214th Brigade crossed the river during the night of 8/9 July. After a preliminary bombardment the first battalions of the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division reached Éterville and the north slope of Hill 112 by 8:00 a.m. and the advance to Maltot began. The village was entered but determined German defenders, mortar-fire and armoured counter-attacks made the British position in the village untenable, without control of Hill 112. The German defenders on the hill were dug into cornfields and tanks were hidden in copses. The Germans stopped the British advance at the Caen–Évrecy road and below the crest on the flanks. In the evening the 5th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (5th DCLI) of 214th Brigade and the 7th Royal Tank Regiment (7th RTR) attacked the hill and reached the hilltop and woods nearby, which brought the four 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division brigades onto the ridge. To the north of Éterville, troops of the 3rd Canadian Division had crossed the Odon and extended the salient to the east.