#0809_01 Worthington Force - Sacrifice on Point 140 - Battles of Normandy

Potigny, South of Caen: August 9, 1944. (Scenario Size: Regiment. Head to Head or as the Germans against the AI) Operation Totalize began during the night of August 7/8. Multiple Allied mechanized columns infiltrated past the German defences during the hours of darkness and despite confusion, managed to close on their objectives by dawn. The second portion of the offensive called for an air strike by heavy bombers to allow the tanks of the Canadian 4th Armoured Division and the Polish 1st Armoured Division to continue attacking south. But the bombers weren't scheduled to start their attack until about noon and so the Canadian attack came to a halt, allowing the Germans to regroup. When the attack eventually commenced after the bombers were done, the results were less than stellar. As darkness started to fall, Lieutenant General Simmonds was disappointed in his armoured divisions. He ordered the Canadians to continue the attack after dark and seize the high ground around Point 195. The unit selected to conduct this night attack was Worthington Force. It was based on the British Columbia Regiment with attached infantry and supporting arms. The Canadians managed to penetrate German lines during the early morning hours of August 9. They detoured to the southeast to avoid the firefight going on near Bretteville-le-Rabet, but instead of turning to the southwest, they continued to moving to the southeast in the dark. As the darkness began to fade, the Canadians saw a rise in front of them and quickly moved to secure what they thought was Hill 195. They radioed in that they had seized their objective and were waiting for friendly forces to catch up to them. However, they were about seven and a half kilometres to the east of their objective and neither they nor General Simmonds would realize this until late in the afternoon. The initial calls for artillery support fell near Hill 195 and by the time that Worthington Force was located, their radios were no longer working. The only fire support they would receive would be from the air. The Germans, however, knew right where Worthington Force was located as they had settled down right in the middle of their defence in depth. Kurt Meyer quickly organized his forces to attack the isolated Canadians. Tanks supported by panzergrenadiers would attack from the west while infantry supported by tank destroyers would attack from the east. The Canadians fought valiantly through the day and a relief force was organized around the Canadian Grenadier Guards. However, the Guards ran into fierce anti-tank fire that forced them back and Worthington ordered his remaining mobile troops to escape to the north. The remainder fought on until they were eventually overrun. Worthington Force was no more.