Second Battle of the Odon

Second Battle of the Odon
Part of Battle for Caen
Vicinity of operations Greenline and Pomegranate
Date 15–17 July 1944 Location Normandy, France 49°04′47″N 00°28′16″W / 49.07972°N 0.47111°W / 49.07972; -0.47111Coordinates: 49°04′47″N 00°28′16″W / 49.07972°N 0.47111°W / 49.07972; -0.47111 Result Operational Allied success
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
General Miles Dempsey	General Heinrich Eberbach
Strength
6 infantry divisions 5 Tank/Armoured brigades	4 infantry divisions 3 Panzer divisions 1 heavy tank battalion
Casualties and losses
3,000–3,500	c. 2,000

The Second Battle of the Odon was a series of operations fought by the British Army in World War II in mid-July 1944 against Panzergruppe West as part of the Battle of Normandy. Operations Greenline and Pomegranate were intended to draw German attention away from the upcoming assault from the Orne bridgehead, codenamed Operation Goodwood. After four German infantry divisions arrived in Normandy, the objective was to prevent them from replacing German Panzer divisions deployed opposite the British Second Army for operations against the First US Army. No significant territorial gains were made but the attrition operations were strategically successful in keeping three German armoured divisions west of Caen, in the Odon river valley area, away from the Goodwood battlefield east of the Orne.

The Norman town of Caen was a D-Day objective for the 3rd British Infantry Division, which landed on Sword Beach on 6 June 1944. The capture of Caen, while "ambitious", was the most important D-Day objective assigned to I Corps. Operation Overlord called for the British Second Army to secure the city and then form a front from Caumont-l'Éventé to the south-east of Caen, to protect the left flank of the US First Army at the west end of the bridgehead and occupy ground suitable for airfields for the tactical air forces. Caen and its surroundings would give the Second Army a jumping-off point for an advance southwards to capture Falaise, for a swing right to advance on Argentan and the Touques River. The terrain between Caen and Vimont was especially promising for mobile operations being open and dry. Since the Allied forces greatly outnumbered the Germans in tanks and mobile units, a battle of manoeuvre would be to their advantage.

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