THE 8TH RIFLE BRIGADE GOES INTO ACTION WITH THE 29TH ARMOURED BRIGADE DURING OPERATION 'GOODWOOD' [Allocated Title]

I. At Ranville, section leaders watch RAF bombers attack German positions south-east of Caen at dawn. Marker incendiaries drift earthwards. In wheatfields dotted with derelict Horsa gliders, 8th Rifle Brigade's 'H' company, riding in M5 half-tracks and universal carriers, prepares to move off. During its advance to the Caen-Troarn railway, a British shell falls short (?) and explodes near a burning carrier. Beyond the first railway line, 'H' company pushes through wheatfields past Demouville with 13th Royal Horse Artillery SPGs and 23rd Hussars armour. German prisoners are sent unescorted to the rear. Near Le Mesnil Fremental, 'dead' 23rd Hussars Shermans are encountered. The rest of the armoured regiment streams towards the Colombelles-Falaise railway embankment past burning and inert 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry Sherman tanks. Shermans move up through the wheat past Grentheville. Motorised infantry and armour halt beyond the railway embankment; a tank 'brews-up' on the Bourguebus ridge in the background. A signaller with a No 38 radio refers to a mapboard before calling for a mortar barrage.

II. 'H' company assembles behind the embankment before attacking Bras. Once in Bras, infantrymen from No. 14 platoon patrol the village; with them are two 3rd Royal Tank Regiment Shermans.

35mm