12TH CORPS LAUNCHES AN OFFENSIVE ON IIND SS PANZER CORPS' FRONT IN THE ODON VALLEY [Allocated Title]

Churchill tanks from 147th RAC's 'B' squadron assemble at dawn on July 16th 1944 at Tourville-sur-Odon before moving up to support 15th (Scottish) Division's assault on Evrecy. Wrecked equipment from both sides - an SdKfz 11 3t half-track and a Morris Quad and a 17-pounder gun - testify to the destructiveness of the fighting in the Odon valley. M10 SPGs from the 86th Anti- Tank Regiment RA move up to 227th Brigade's start-lines. Infantrymen serving with the 10th Highland Light Infantry march up the slopes of Hill 113 while German mortar fire falls in an adjoining field. Sherman Crab flail tanks from the 1st Lothian and Border Horse's 'C' squadron move up to clear minefields. German artillery air-bursts hang over a line of trees warning of deadlier shells to follow. Large numbers of British land-mines lie in neat rows where they have been lifted. An M5 half-track from 141st RAC's HQ squadron sets off to spot for artillery. Two SS panzer-men are led across the Odon as POWs. On the Caen - Villers-Bocage railway line, an RAP has been estate by 15th (Scottish) Division RAMC units at Verson station.

35mm