#0611_01: Misery at le Mesnil-Patry - Battles of Normandy

le Mesnil-Patry, West of Caen: June 11th, 1944. (Scenario Size: Battalion+. Head to Head or Human vs AI for either side) For the first week after D-Day the Commonwealth attempted to flank Caen from the West. Operation Perch began on June 7th. The Operation was intended to create the threat of a British breakout to the south-east of Caen by XXX Corps. The 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division landed on Gold Beach on 6 June and was to rapidly move inland and capture Bayeux and the road to Tilly-sur-Seulles. The 7th Armoured Division and the 8th Armoured Brigade would then take over from the 50th Northumbrian Division and advance from Tilly-sur-Seulles to Mont Pincon. The Canadian 3rd Infantry Division attacked in support of the British 50th with the aim of securing their left flank. The town of le Mesnil-Patry had been reported as being abandoned and the Canadians mounted the Queens Own Rifles onto the tanks of the 1st Hussars to take the town on the run. The advance was anything but a cakewalk.