Hill 112_The Battle of the Odon

by Tim Saunders

  ‘Winkling out the loathsome SS with rifle butt, bullet and bayonet had been a costly affair. The evidence of D Company’s fight lay all around me when I arrived with Advanced Battalion Headquarters some minutes later. Amongst the casualties was the company commander, Major Roe, and it would appear that Lieutenant Hayes had led his platoon too far towards the Chateau and was "lost". We subsequently discovered that they had all been killed or captured before C Company arrived in the area.’

  Back on 5/Dorset’s right flank, having taken les Duanes, C Company’s main objective was the ancient and now shell-scarred ruins of Chateau de Fontaine. The barn between the Chateau and the farm complex near the road was SS-Sturmbannführer Loffler’s headquarters of 2/22 SS Panzer Grenadiers. The defended chateau and farm was a tough nut for two companies to crack, as they were held by 2/22 SS’s 6 Company, along with the heavy weapons of 8 Company. The Dorset’s number 18 radio set had been badly damaged by a shell splinter, just as C Company resumed the advance towards the Chateau and consequently, no word of their progress reached Battalion Headquarters. The first news of the Company’s progress eventually reached the Commanding Officer via A Company, who reported that ‘C is in difficulty on the northern edge of their objective’. Breaking into the SS defences was difficult and time consuming despite artillery firing in support. But the Dorsets were not the only ones in difficulty. SS-Sturmbannführer Hans Loffler recalls that:

  A view back towards “Death Valley” (River Odon) from Horseshoe wood looking north across the ground D Company crossed.

  ‘The telephone lines were cut and it was impossible to repair them in the enemy fire. The curtain of fire hit the CP and prevented all forms of communication. I knew that the position must be held. I decided to join the combat with a few men from the headquarters against the enemy who had penetrated through the advanced positions. I filled my camouflage jacket with grenades and took my rifle. I sprung out with my men but I had only been out a short time when a shell landed near me and cut into my leg. I was down and carried to the aid post of 1/22 SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment. The men carrying me had to fight their way through an enemy attack with pistol and grenade. I was wounded again by an exploding grenade…’

  Once the Dorsets were in the heart of the enemy defences, clearing the Chateau’s buildings and barns seemed to consume men, but the companies continued to move slowly forward and eventually they occupied the whole area. As Lieutenant Colonel Coad could not get through on the radio, he moved from Horseshoe Wood to the Chateau to find out what was happening and influence the action at the nub of the battle. Here he met Major Newton at 05.52 hours, who confirmed that his company had just overrun the enemy position. 130 Brigade’s signals log records a message received from Advanced Battalion Headquarters 5/Dorsets at ‘06.15 hrs. Chateau de Fontaine taken’. C Company was to find out that there was a world of difference between ‘taking’ a position and finally securing it, while under increasingly heavy artillery and mortar fire.

  SS-Sturmbannführer Hans Loffler Commander Officer 2/22 Panzer Grenadiers.

  A view of the Chateau de Fontaine, barn and farm complex from the south.

  7/Somerset LI

  As 5/Dorsets were to subsequently continue 130 Brigade’s advance in support of 7/Hampshires they were relieved by 7/Somerset LI. The Somersets were faced with dealing with determined SS soldiers who had hidden themselves away and were sniping at the ‘Wicked Wyverns’ as they dashed from cover to cover. Although not taking part in the actual attack, 7/Somerset LI had had a hard time at Chateau de Fontaine. Their history records:

  ‘Mortar and shellfire was devastating. Colonel Lance was killed by a shell from an 88, while sitting in his jeep, the Gunner Battery Commander, Major Mapp, was killed, the Adjutant, Capt. A. Scannell, was wounded and evacuated; a steady stream of wounded was arriving at the Regimental Aid Post. Major Young and Major Chalmers shared command of the battalion with that of their companies. Snipers were at their worst. Shortly after Colonel Lance was killed, Major Young’s company was clearing some farm buildings at Chateau Fontaine. A shot whistled unpleasantly close and the Major turned to Pte. Lance (battalion sniper) who was with him ‘That’s the fifth shot that basket has fired at me, we must get him’. They found him hidden in a junk heap in the middle of the duck pond. They found another, he could not have been more than seventeen years old, who had buried himself in the mud of a wet ditch - only his head, arms and rifle were free and even these he had covered with slime and weeds. Another was burned out from a hayrick set on fire by a German shell. Several days after occupation of Chateau Fontaine snipers were still being found… . Enemy trenches in the area were full of German dead passed over by the leading troops, the usual scene of mutilated farm animals was all around. The air was rancid with the smell of dead animals and flies.’

  A Waffen SS man killed during the fighting around Caen.

  As the final part of 130 Brigade’s first attack of the day, C and D Companies of 5/Dorset, both pushed one of their reserve platoons forward with tanks of B Squadron. The reserve infantry and the comfortingly bulky Churchills took up exposed positions on the main Caen to Evrecy road. From here, they would be able to support further attacks into the heart of the German defences.

  SS-Hauptsturmführer Richter

  Ejected from their defensive positions around the Chateau, German infantry from 2/22 SS Panzer Grenadiers withdrew towards the relative safety of their 1st Battalion in Eterville. SS-Hauptsturmführer Richter commanding the 1st Battalion, recalls the severely wounded SS-Sturmbannführer Loffler, carried by grenadiers from Chateau Fontaine, who deliriously cried ‘Richter - Richter - Save my Battalion - Save my Battalion’. Richter was, however, about to face his own problems in Eterville.

  While C Company 5/Dorset was still securing Chateau de Fontaine, at 06.20 hours 4/Dorsets started to advance on Eterville. The village was less than 700 metres from Horseshoe Wood, with a lane running north-south dividing it in two. To the west, the village’s main feature was the eighteenth century chateau and large farm complex. To the east of the road was another large farm and spread around the whole village were smaller dwellings, trees and cider orchards. 1/22 Panzer Grenadier Regiment held Eterville along with a company of SS engineers acting as infantry. The remains of 1 SS (Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler) Panzer Grenadiers were dug in on the ridge that extended from the village in a north-easterly direction towards Louvigny.

  Major Symonds wrote of the attack:

  ‘B Company [left], which I was commanding, was supported by a squadron of Churchill tanks [C Squadron 9/RTR] and A Company [on the right] by a troop of flame-throwers [Crocodiles of 141/RAC, 79th Armoured Division].

  ‘We formed up immediately behind the start line in a cornfield and were shelled a little while doing so, causing one or two minor casualties. [Lieutenant] Colonel Cowie gave the long awaited signal to go by having L/Cpl Butt sound the charge onhis bugle. The Battalion rose to its feet as one man, many cheered. It was a wonderful moment to be there.

  Tactical HQ 4/Dorsets moves up behind the assaulting companies towards Eterville.

  ‘As we breasted the top of the hill, we over-ran a German platoon [the outpost line] immediately in front of my company. They offered practically no resistance, surrendering immediately, and we continued the advance to the edge of the village, where we had to lie down and wait for the artillery and RAF [Typhoons] to stop shelling and bombing Eterville. We were very close to the barrage, and still in excellent formation, having suffered only a few casualties from enemy shelling during the advance up to this time.

  ‘The end of the supporting fire [which included fire from 5/Dorset and B Squadron 9/RTR in Horseshoe Wood] was marked by blue smoke shells, and I gave the signal to assault as soon as these fell. No sooner had we begun the assault than about four fighters came over, presumably a little late, and dropped two of their bombs in the middle of my company whilst we were still in the open field. We could see the bombs falling so had time to take cover, but we suffe
red a number of casualties including Sgt Fowler who was killed.’

  The Churchills of C Squadron 9/RTR were leading the infantry towards Eterville and Sergeant Trevor Greenwood, then a troop sergeant, wrote:

  ‘Every fibre of my being was concentrated on one thing – enemy gun flashes – miss them and there may not be a second chance. Most observation was done thro’ the periscopes: too much machine-gunning over the top. Closed down occasionally when mortars became too concentrated around us.

  ‘We reached the crest… And there were the enemy running for cover… towards Eterville and reached the trees ahead. Our Besa [coaxial mounted machine gun] opened up… every bush and shrub: every tree: every haystack: anything and everything that could hide a body… was raked with machine-gun fire.

  ‘Our infantry were now among and ahead of us… and soon, prisoners started to come in: odd couples of Jerrys popping up from the corn, hands raised… scared to death… Very soon, we opened up with HE on the village… there were as yet no signs of any 88s. The infantry kept steadily on… walking warily through the deep corn, but always going forward… forward. Our Besa fire passed over them, but it must have been uncomfortably close. Grand fellows those infantry lads: so brave and calm.’

  The pattern of the advance for the Crocodiles, flame-throwing variants of the Churchill, from 141/RAC Regiment was the same except, rather than engaging with HE and machine-gun fire, they aimed to burn the enemy out of his positions. Private Alfie Brown of A Company, on 4/Dorsets’ right, was sheltering somewhat hesitantly behind the bulk of the Crocodiles fuel trailer as they advanced within a hundred metres of the edge of the village,

  ‘…when there was a rushing sound like a train and a loud wumf as the hedge caught fire… black oily smoke was everywhere. I don’t know if any Jerrys were caught but I saw some further along, running back from bunkers to the mansion. As a result, we got into Eterville fairly easily but that’s when our problems really began….’

  Infantry positions were not the only ones taken on by the Crocodiles. SS Mann August Bauer, a member of the 8 Company 2/22 Panzer Grenadiers, who crewed a gun mounted on a half track, recalls an incident between Chateau de Fontaine and Eterville:

  ‘We shot at the advancing tanks with everything we had. Suddenly a great cloud of black smoke emanated from an armoured flame thrower and hit the cannon of SS-Rottenführer Theopil Hauth situated to our right. The cannon was put out of action and the commander and crew were killed or wounded. We knocked out several English tanks before we were forced back into the village.’ [Eterville]

  Having ‘got the infantry into the village’ the Crocodiles withdrew to refill their 400-gallon flame fuel tanks, while C Squadron turned its attention to the open, eastern or left flank. They avoided the close country of Eterville, where they would have been vulnerable to the enemy’s short range, hand held, anti-tank weapon, the Panzerfaust. Outside the village, the divisional artillery laid and maintained a smoke screen for four hours to cover the open left flank of the advance. This was just as well for 9/RTR, as the remnants of 1st (Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler) and 12th (Hitler Jugend) SS Panzer Divisions had concentrated in the area after their ejection from Caen in the preceding days. But for the smoke, a mixed bag of about seventy Mark IVs, Panther tanks and assault guns could have inflicted terrible damage on 130 Brigade. Some of these tanks patrolling the road from Louvigny to Maltot, were the Panzer IVs of the Hitler Jugend’s No 5 Company, 2/12 SS Panzer Regiment, commanded by SS-Obersturmführer Willi Kandler. Ignoring his divisional boundary and instructions, he probed forward through the billowing smoke towards Eterville and

  A knocked out MkIV on the outskirts of Eterville.

  ‘engaged and destroyed a small English open-topped tracked vehicle dashing along the road in front of me. Their infantry were already attacking the Chateau. I withdrew to report.’

  His report confirmed what both I and II SS Panzer Corps already knew, that 10th SS Panzer Division was under heavy attack.

  Once in the village the 4/Dorsets’ plan was for the leading companies (A and B) to fight through Eterville quickly and reach their objective, the main road at the southern edge of the village. Again, detailed clearance was the task of the reserve companies and these were to be followed at 08.00 hours by 9/Cameronians who were to relieve 4/Dorsets and take over defence of the village.

  Initially, the battle went according to plan for the Dorsets but for the Germans things were not going so well. Just before 07.00 hours SS-Rottenführer Schwingle burst into his Battalion’s headquarters towards the rear of the village shouting ‘Forward companies taken prisoner. Englünder 200 metres away with small tracked vehicles and infantry’. A few minutes later at 07.00 hours, 10th SS Panzer Division soberly reported to their Corps Headquarters that ‘forward companies of 1/22 SS Panzer Grenadiers overrun in Eterville’.

  Attacking on a two-company frontage, 4/Dorsets found that after breaking into the village A and B companies started to diverge left and right, as the two rifle companies were drawn towards enemy strong points. Advanced Battalion Headquarters, unusually, found itself in the front-line, acting as a link between the companies. In the centre, Corporal Chris Portway, a twenty-one year old section commander, found himself

  ‘on my own in the churchyard with two Germans. They dashed from gravestone to gravestone with me firing at them. Eventually they got into the church where I got them with a grenade.’

  Shortly afterwards, he met the Commanding Officer who had just arrived in the midst of the confused fighting in the village. Corporal Portway was not impressed to be asked in a somewhat helpless manner ‘What’s happening, Corporal?’ With the Commanding Officer and Advance Battalion Headquarters was Sergeant Geoff Cleal, the Battalion’s Chief Clerk:

  The Farm in the eastern part of Etervile in B Company, 4/Dorsets area.

  Entrance to Eterville Church where Tactical HQ 4/Dorsets was located.

  Chateau de Eterville today. During the battle the roof bore a white square with a red cross painted on it.

  Eterville today looking from the church towards the centre of the village.

  ‘As we arrived beside the church we were greeted by a barrage of shells. The thick walls surrounding the churchyard seemed to bounce outwards and then fall back into place. The church became the Regimental Aid Post. Dug in tanks continued to pump shells into it killing wounded as they lay on their stretchers. Outside I recall two of us digging in Battalion Headquarters in front of the churchyard wall but behind a tree, with the idea that each of us could lean on the tree to fire our rifles. The CO was about twenty yards away directing operations over the R/T from his carrier. On the left, two other Bren gun carriers were on fire and ammunition in them was exploding every few seconds. My mate and I must have had charmed lives because shells were going through the wall behind us and one actually hit the tree above us. Suddenly my mate shouted, ‘I’ve been hit’. ‘Where?’ I enquired. ‘In the ass’ came the reply! Turning him around and carrying out a hasty inspection, I recall saying ‘I can’t see any blood, forget it. We’ve got to finish digging this bloody hole’. Some twnty-four hectic hours later, still complaining, I got him to take down his trousers! To my astonishment, the whole of his bum and top of one leg was black and blue.’

  Eventually A and B Companies pushed on ahead of Battalion Headquarters. A Company, who had cleared the Eterville Chateau, found that they had captured 2/22 SS Panzer Grenadiers aid post with sixty wounded. SS-Hauptsturmführer Richter describes the action:

  ‘I told the doctor that he would have to stay with the wounded as the English would not be able to look after them during the fighting. Leaving the Chateau we took up positions at the rear edge of the village in a ditch by the edge of the road. Many had already retreated from the village to join the Battalion reserve. We held this position for about two hours. We only had three light machineguns and rifles. We let the English infantry advance to within thirty metres. As they came through the long grass, we opened fire. They were all downed w
ithout exception. After this we were not under fire for a short time and we were free to disengage to the rear. Two enemy machineguns advanced from the Chateau but we had a head start and successfully retreated 1,000 metres towards the bend in the Orne. On the way back we were joined by stragglers from the Leibstandarte [who had been holding the eastern edge of Eterville] and we soon numbered sixty five.’

  A section from one of 4/Dorsets reserve companies await the call to move forward.

  The SS Doctor, Moeferdt, had a hard time persuading his excited captors from A Company 4/Dorsets that he and his medics should be allowed to stay and treat the German wounded. After a terse discussion during which he quoted the Geneva convention he was allowed to stay. The wounded, who included SS Sturmbannführer Loffler, were hoping that they would be released by counter-attackers from the divisional reserve. No counter-attack reached the wounded SS soldiers, who were evacuated as prisoners of war in Bren gun carriers.

  By 07.45 hours, 4/Dorsets were reporting that they had reached their objective and that Eterville was occupied. In reality, however, the battle in and around the village was to go on all day and into the following night. Major Symonds continued his account: