Watching: Assault on Normandy: Sword Beach

Overview

The 3rd Division was in the van of the D Day assault force. Their task was to break through Hitler's Atlantic Wall on a stretch of Normandy beach codenamed SWORD. Once ashore their problems were only just beginning! Montgomery had tasked the Division with the capture of Caen but the Germans were deployed in greater depth and strength than the Allies assumed. Rommel had deployed 21st Panzer Division into positions immediately behind the invasion area. With bitter fighting in the villages and open ridges around Caen the two sides fought a desperate battle; the Germans knew that once firmly ashore it would be impossible to throw them back into the sea. This film charts the operations on D Day from the embarkation of the force, the crossing, assault landing and the subsequent advance to the Perriers Ridge.