THE BATTLES FOR HILL 112 - JUNE TO JULY 1944
4 KSLI, 4 SomLI, 7 SomLI and 5 DCLI
"He who controls Hill 112 - controls Normandy."
During the breakout battles of Normady, the Battle for Hill 112 was viewed as critical to both the British attackers and German defenders. As a result Hill 112 has often been called the 'Verdun of Normandy'. It was here that the British breakout came to a halt, following the crossing of the Odon, and the fighting around the high ground of the infamous Hill absorbed several British formations during the summer of 1944.
During two days fighting alone, 10th-11th July 1944, the 43rd (Wessex) Division suffered more than 2,000 casualties, and the slopes of the Hill were ablaze with the wrecks of British tanks (largely Churchills) knocked out by the SS Panzer units in occupation of the high ground. Hill 112 was not finally cleared until 3rd August, during the final phase of the breakout from Normandy. By that time the crest of the hill had been turned into a vast crater-zone of shell holes, wrecked vehicles and the bodies of those who had fought and died here.
The Battles for Hill 112 were symbollic for both sides during the early days of the Normandy invasion of 1944. The quote above came from the German Army. It is therefore not surprising that they resisted any British attempts to capture the feature. The following pages will attempt to bring together the accounts of what actually happened at Hill 112, between June and July 1944 from both a British and German perspective.
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