Hill 112_The Battle of the Odon

by Tim Saunders

  Park by the village sign, at the ninety-degree bend to the left, where a track joins from the right. This is where those that walk the 800 metres from Chateau de Fontaine will emerge. The Germans had sited 75mm anti-tank guns in the hedgerow by this junction. Their field of fire to the front was short and would have meant engaging the thick frontal armour of attacking tanks. Consequently, the guns’ main arcs of fire were to the left and right, where they could engage armoured vehicles approaching the village from the flanks, with a far greater probability of a kill. However, these guns, dug in without overhead cover, were destroyed by the bombardment. It is also in this area that Private Alfie Brown saw Germans running from the hedgerows as the Crocodile flame thrower tanks of 79th Armoured Division set the cover at the edge of the village on fire. By walking a short way along the track to the right, one can see the restored Eterville Chateau. Earlier in the campaign, this building had been a German hospital and in July 1944 still bore the red cross on its roof. At the time of the battle, it was in the frontline and with its associated farm buildings, made a formidable objective for the right hand companies of 4/Dorsets.

  Return to your car and continue along the forward edge of the village towards the new buildings. The estate of modern houses has been built on what were, until the mid-nineties, orchards and paddocks. Follow the tarmac road around to the right and park by the short drive to the church. This was the location of 4/Dorsets’ battalion headquarters. The avenue of trees is original but the flanking garden walls are much higher than they were in 1944. Sergeant Geoff Cleal dug his trench at the base of a tree halfway along on the left and the Commanding Officer’s Bren gun carrier was parked immediately to the left of the double gates as one enters the churchyard. This is the scene of Corporal Chris Portway’s game of cat and mouse, which ended with him throwing grenades into the church. Soon afterwards, it was to become the Regimental Aid Post (RAP) of 4/Dorsets. The church overflowed with British and German wounded and, consequently, those awaiting treatment or evacuation had to lie outside risking death or further wounds from shells and falling masonry. The extent of the church’s rebuilding is readily apparent.

  Return to your car but before getting in, take a moment to walk a short way down the track opposite, between the tall hedges. Here, one gets a good impression of what Eterville was like in 1944, when orchards, trees and hedges were more numerous, fields of fire shorter and most roads were, by modern standards, little more than tracks. Return to your car. The road was the centre line for the attack and boundary between 4/Dorsets’ advancing companies. Battalion Headquarters was normally deployed somewhere near to the centre line just behind the advancing troops. In this case, Lieutenant Colonel Cowie found himself with his signallers in the frontline as the companies had diverged from the centre line towards the large farms in their sector.

  Follow the ‘Centre Line’ through the village. The Cameronians, who held the village against counter-attacks from I and II SS Panzer Corps, established their Battalion Headquarters at the slightly offset crossroads in the centre of the village. Continuing in a southerly direction, there is, on the left, a small road dedicated to the Dorsets. The road ahead was 4/Dorsets’ objective. On reaching the junction, turn right on to the D8 Caen to Evrecy road. At the time of writing, a bypass is being built and foundations of new buildings are being laid. This will sadly destroy all traces of the ditch occupied by the Dorsets and Cameronians, as well as their field of fire.

  After three hundred metres, turn left and take the D147a towards Maltot. You are now following the route taken by 7/Hampshires in their advance on the morning of 10 July 1944. They had advanced between Eterville and the water tower near the junction. The advance received little enemy attention until they had crossed the ridgeline and were moving down towards Maltot.

  The crossroads at the centre of Maltot then and now.

  As one approaches Maltot, on the right of the road is la Ferme Neuve. This is far more extensive than it was, and the houses on the left extend further up the hill than they did in 1944. Park on the verge on the right, near the track up to the farm. From here, the visitor can see the western portion of Maltot and the ridges that dominate it. The ridge to the south-west made excellent fire positions for German tanks, who were ‘jockeying’from position to position, thus avoiding destruction and giving the British the impression that they were heavily outnumbered. So great was the destruction in Maltot, little of the original village remains.

  Drive on down to the roundabout. Here the villagers have erected a small black monument to their liberators. The stone commemorates the Dorsets but makes no mention of the Hampshires or indeed the Wiltshire battalions who finally captured and held the village on 23 July 1944! Turn left onto the D 212 towards Caen. During Operation Express, 5/Wilts advanced on either side of that road. They fought through the ruins of the village 22 July, evening, 1944, driving the defenders from 272nd Infantry Division before them. The village was in the front line for almost a month and was almost totally destroyed. Most of the houses were rebuilt in the 1950s on original foundations but there has been some subsequent infilling.

  At the end of the village, drive on through the open country for several hundred metres and take the first turning to the right. 4/Wilts fought in the broken country to your front and only made progress with difficulty. On the right is Chateau de Maltot. The massive stone walls survived the battle but it lay derelict for many years until the interior was replaced and the building taken into use as an agricultural college. The grand hall and staircase, where 4/Wilts and Wehrmacht Grenadiers exchanged bullets and grenades, are sadly no more. Turn around and retrace your steps back through Maltot towards Fontaine Etoupefour.

  At the D 8 – D147a crossroads go straight across, passing Chateau Fontaine on the right and les Duanes on the left. At the FUP roundabout in Fontaine Etouperfour turn left on to the D 214, following the signpost towards Baron. The road west from the roundabout was the front line before the attack of 10 July 1944. To the left, the enemy were on Hill 112 and to the right in the bottom of the Odon Valley were the Wyverns’ mortar platoons, positioned as far forward as possible to make the most of their 3,000 metre range. Just before the Baron commune signpost, turn left at the statue of the Virgin and Child, passing a few houses, orchard and paddocks. Stop as you emerge into open country. 4/Somerset LI advanced up Hill 112 astride this road. Note the concave slope that allowed the SS soldiers to observe every move on the low ground, which made 4/Somerset Li’s capture of the line of the Caen to Evrecy road a considerable achievement. Continue up the road towards the Hill.

  HILL 112

  Where the modern Caen to Evrecy road crosses the ancient Roman Road, there is an obvious collection of memorials and flagpoles and a solar power generator. This is the plateau of Hill 112, although the spot height is actually by the pylon between the two woods four hundred metres to the south. The memorials, in various forms, have been placed at this point since 1945 to join older features that stood here during the battle. Park your car off the road alongside the new memorial. Beware of the cars that speed along the main road.

  Other than the proliferation of monuments, the area is much the same as it was in July 1944, except that the poplars that lined the main road were not replanted after the war. The line of the road was 4/Somerset Li’s first objective and it eventually became the British front line. Outposts were positioned along the low banks that edged the road, while the Battalion’s main defences were dug in the fields to the north of the road, about thirty to forty metres down the hill.

  THE ROMAN ROAD

  The Romans first made the long straight and ancient way that bisects Hill 112 from north to south. Duke William used the part of the road that descends to the north during his ‘shoes back to front’ adventure and this portion is called Chemin du Due Guillaume. This name is engraved on a small stone block by the road junction. This road was also the ‘centre line’ or axis of advance for 4/Som LI on the morning of 10 June 1944. The battalion was depl
oyed in a box formation, with two companies on either side of the road. The unmade up but well defined extension to the south of the memorials was used at night by the infantry of both sides, as direction finding across shell marked country in the pitch black became increasingly difficult.

  The stone cross standing just to the south of the road pre-dates the battle by hundreds of years. It was erected to commemorate an improbable sounding incident when Duke William of Normandy, later our own King, William the Conqueror, was fighting his barons. The tale goes that as the Duke approached Hill 112 he took off his horse’s shoes and replaced them backwards, in order deceive his pursuers into following the hoof prints in the wrong direction. The cross was originally known as La Croix des fers en derriere or literally translated as The shoes back to front’. The cross survived the battle with only a few minor strike marks from bullets and shrapnel on the German side. Veterans always marvel at the cross’s durability, standing as it did on the front line, during a hell of steel and lead.

  THE 43RD WESSEX DIVISION MEMORIAL

  The first memorial to those who fell at Hill 112 was a simple sign erected by 5/DCLI in August 1944, once the breakout had taken the fighting south to Falaise. This sign bore the simple words ‘Cornwall Wood’. Next came a large wooden monument erected by the French people from the surrounding area. Returning from the Army of Occupation in Germany during July 1945, the first visitors from the 43rd Wessex Division were greatly touched by the memorial raised by the local people in memory of those killed liberating them. The stone memorial raised by the 43rd Wessex replaced the wooden structure in the late 1940s. It is an irony that the memorial was carved by German masons in the town of Urelzen (near Belsen) on the North German Plain. The work was supervised by Bob Tingey of 260 Field Company Royal Engineers, who reported that ‘the German masons were very reluctant and nervous about visiting France so soon after the end of the war’.

  Memorials of a similar design stand at Wynyard’s Gap in North Dorset and on Castle Hill at Mere in Wiltshire (only two minutes drive from the A303). Athird memorial in England is set into the rock of Rough Tor in Cornwall. A Divisional Memorial Roll of Honour is on display at the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment Chapel in Exeter Cathedral.

  THE HILL 112 FRENCH MONUMENT

  Brainchild of the late mayor of Esquay, Antoine Lepeltier, the mound on which the memorial site was built in 1996. In its original form, it rose five metres above the surrounding area. However, without the opportunity to settle, the weight of the stone and concrete on top of the mound caused it to collapse. Rebuilt, the base of the memorial is now a wider but lower mound. The monument’s central feature is the slate table d’orientation, bearing the shields of some of the regiments that fought at Hill 112. The three blanked out shields were SS badges that had to be removed, following protests, as the display of German emblems is illegal within Normandy. Surrounding the tableau and forming the boundary to the memorial are nineteen pillars, each engraved with the name of one of the surrounding villages and communes who contributed to the cost of the memorial project. Most of the pillars bear a cross and a number. This represents the number of civilians killed during the war, mostly in June and July 1944. The Caen pillar, for instance, records the figure 1970 of its citizens killed in its liberation. Nearer to Hill 112 the small village of Evrecy lost 132 of its people killed on 15 June 1944, in a bombing raid. Apparently the first wing of Allied aircraft came in, dropped its bombs and many people were buried in the ruins of their houses. Villagers from the surrounding area came in to dig them out but were caught in the second wave of bombing an hour or so later. Despite tragedies like this, the friendship and generosity of the local people to veterans who continue to visit Normandy has been remarkable.

  MARK VII CHURCHILL TANK

  Sergeant Albert Figg returned to Normandy with a party from the 43rd Wessex Association for the first time in 1998. He had been a Number One gunner on a 25-pounder of 477 Battery, 112/Field Regiment RA.

  … we got used to certain grid references during Jupiter and the days afterwards and one occasion I remember saying, “Bloody hell! Firing on that hill again. Let’s go up there and we will shift the bastards.” Standing on that hill fifty years later with the infantry boys who were fighting there, I realized what it was like for them and the tankies and I was ashamed of my words all those years ago.

  Albert decided there and then that something more was needed by which to remember them. With remarkable zeal and energy a suitable tank was located in a bog on Thetford Army Training Area, recovered to a workshop and refurbished. The Vehicle Troop of the British Army’s Royal Logistic Corps (with the help of a farm tractor!) moved the tank into position.

  NORMANDIE TERRE-LIBÉRÉE (NTL) TOTEM

  Eight routes around the Normandy battlefield have been established since 1994. They are well signposted and a blue totem marks each significant stop. The brief descriptions of the action printed on the totems are very basic but even so, not always 100 per cent correct. Leaflets showing the routes are readily available from all tourist offices. Hill 112 is on Route 4 – L’Affrontement (The Confrontation), which takes visitors around the British battles of late June and of July 1944.

  The track (the Roman Road) that leads towards the Orchard can be used to get a closer view of the much fought over area around the Hill 112 spot height. 5/DCLI attacked through 4/Som Li’s positions on the slopes just below the road using this track as their axis of advance. The Small Orchard has now been removed. However, the Orchard remains much as it was when 5/DCLI and the SS Panzer Grenadiers fought for it, except that there are far fewer fruit trees within the hedge of tall trees. In fact, the Orchard is now used as a paddock which is normally home to Antoine Lepeltier’s rather grumpy bull! Enter at your peril! Virtually all that there is to see is visible from the gate. Note the ditch that bisects the Orchard. This was the front line for most of 5/DCLI’s stay on the feature. To the west of the track, under the pylon, there is a small memorial that reminds visitors in French, German and English to honour and respect those who fought on the Hill. Behind, there is a modern plantation that now fills the Paddock, which abuts the Small Wood, in which C Company 5/DCLI were lost virtually to a man. The trees was planted in commemoration of those who fell on Hill 112. Walk on, following the Roman Road to the south and stop at the end of the hedge on the right of the track. From here, one can appreciate what the battle was all about. Possession of the spectacular views across the countryside to the south would have given the British Artillery observers a significant advantage and is what the II SS Panzer Corps fought so hard to deny to the British. Return to your car.

  In order to visit 5/Dorsets’ memorial, head towards Caen for half a mile. The memorial, on your right, stands in the apex of the first road junction. Park on the verge, off the road. The Battalion chose to set up its memorial at this spot (in the area of 4/Wiltshires’ JUPITER objective), as it overlooks both Chateau de Fontaine and Maltot and is near to the site of the Triangular Wood. This wood, in fact a hedged orchard, was just to the south of the junction but sadly, it has been removed. Return to your car. Drive past the 43rd Wessex Division monument on the left and head in a westerly direction towards le Bon Repos crossroads.

  Park by the Elf garage. This is possibly one of the most inaptly named spots on the entire battlefield, literally meaning The Good Rest’. In the frontline for almost a month, those soldiers of both sides who fought at le Bon Repos got precious little sleep. During Operation JUPITER, 5/Wilts attacking over the ridge to the north of the road and on an exposed slope immediately got into trouble. On 23 July 1944, the road from Hill 112 to le Bon Repos was used as the axis of advance for the raid by 4/Welch, 107/Regt RAC and the Crocodiles of 141 /Regiment RAC. The expanding village of Esquay has crept up the hill towards le Bon Repos since the war. In 1944 the crossroads hamlet was a separate community. Turn right at the crossroads. 2/Glasgow Highlanders attacked down this slope to capture the hamlet on the night of 15/16 July 1944. Imagine the terrible sigh
t of the Crocodiles’ lances of flame burning out the defenders in the buildings. Follow the road on, over the crest, following signs to Tourville.

  After following the bends down into the Odon Valley, the visitor reaches the Tourmauville bridge seized by 2/Argyles on 27 June, completing the first phase of Operation Epsom. Park in the small lay-by on the left just before the bridge. Beware of the traffic. The NTL totem describes the action.

  Follow the road out of the valley. On the left is the memorial to the 15th Scottish Division. It stands on the hillside overlooking the high watermark of the Division’s first battle of the campaign. It is an unusual memorial, in that it records the divisional order of battle, including the often neglected divisional troops. This is the last stop on the tour.

  Drive on to the T-junction in Tourville. Depending on your eventual destination, turn left for Villers Bocage and Bayeux or right to Caen.

  THE CEMETERIES

  Many visitors to the Normandy battlefields do not feel that their tour is complete without having paid their respects to the dead at a military cemetery. However, there are no cemeteries in the area covered by this book but details of three British and one German cemeteries linked to the battles are given below.

  Initially, most of those killed in action in the Hill 112 area were buried on the battlefield near the spot where they fell. Others, who died of wounds while they were being evacuated, were interred at cemeteries that formed alongside medical units. There were also several hundred soldiers of the Wessex Division listed as ‘Missing’ after the battle and a high proportion of these have no known grave. Following the experience of the First World War, it was decided that graves in battlefield cemeteries would be concentrated into a few larger post-war cemeteries. Most of the dead from Hill 112 are to be found in three of the eighteen Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Cemeteries in Normandy.