Saunders, Tim Hill 112

The Key to defeating Hitler in Normandy

Whoever holds Hill 112 holds Normandy seems an unlikely saying when you look at the hill from a distance, but when you reach its plateau, the view opens up in all directions over a large part of Normandy. For the Germans, it was an important defensive area; for the British, it was an important springboard on the way to the River Orne and the open country south of Falaise. The SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend lost Hill 112 to the British 4th Armoured Brigade when the Scots captured the Tourmauville bridge intact, but the tactical problem of Hill 112 soon became apparent. It was impossible for the tanks to survive on the wide plateau, while the infantry could only hold the skeletal orchards and woods at great cost. As the II SS Panzer Corps prepared to attack the British, the tip was abandoned and the British 11th Armoured Division held only a bridgehead across the Orne River. Ten days later, the 43rd Wessex Division was ordered to resume its advance on the Orne, with Hill 112 as its first objective. As the men from western England and the British tanks began their advance, they came under heavy fire from the fortress that Hill 112 had become. This set the stage for one of the most gruesome battles of the entire campaign. For six weeks, from late June into August, when the Allied advance finally gained momentum, Hill 112 was far too important for the enemy to hold and exploit. Consequently, it was regularly bombarded with artillery and mortars and shrouded in smoke and dust, while soldiers on both sides dug in at the respective edges of the plateau. In the end, Hill 112 had a reputation as notorious as certain places on the Western Front during the First World War.