Sword Beach
"Sword" was the code name for the extreme
left beach of the five landing areas of the
Normandy Invasion. It occupied a 5-mile
(8-kilometre) stretch of the French coastline
from Lion-sur-Mer on the west to the city of
Ouistreham, at the mouth of the Orne River,
on the east. The area was dotted with
vacation homes and tourist establishments
located behind a seawall. It was also
approximately nine miles north of the hub city
of Caen. All major roads in this sector of the Normandy countryside ran
through Caen, and it was a key city to both the Allies and the Germans
for transportation and maneuver purposes.
The Germans had fortified the area with
relatively light defenses consisting of beach
obstacles and fortified emplacements in the
sand dunes. For the most part, however, the
defense of the beach was anchored on the
75-millimetre guns of the Merville Battery,
located some 5 miles to the east across the
Orne River estuary, and on bigger
155-millimetre guns located some 20 miles
farther east at Le Havre. A few miles inland
from the beach were 88-millimetre guns
capable of supporting the machine guns and mortars that were placed in
the dunes and villas and that constituted the Germans' first line of
defense. There were also antitank ditches and mines as well as huge
concrete walls blocking the streets of the towns. Elements of the
German 716th Infantry Division—in particular, the 736th and 125th
Regiments—along with forces of the 21st Panzer Division were in the
vicinity and were capable of participating in defensive or offensive
operations. To the east, across the Dives River, lay the 711th Division.
Sword Beach lay in the area of landing beaches assigned to the British
2nd Army, under Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey. It was divided by
Allied planners into four sectors named (from west to east) Oboe, Peter,
Queen, and Roger. It was assaulted at 0725 hours (7:25 A.M.) on D-Day by the
British 3rd Division, with French and British commandos attached.
Elements of the South Lancashire Regiment assaulted Peter sector on
the right; the Suffolk Regiment assaulted the centre in Queen sector; and
the East Yorkshire Regiment assaulted Roger sector on the left. The
objective of the 3rd Division was to push across Sword Beach and pass
through Ouistreham to capture Caen and the important Carpiquet
airfield nearby. The attached commandos of Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat,
had the mission of fighting their way off the beach and pushing through
toward the bridges over the Orne River and Caen Canal some 3 1/2
miles inland. There they were to link up with forces of the 6th Airborne
Division, which were to have seized the bridges in a glider-borne coup
de main just after midnight.
The invading forces were greeted
with moderate fire. They were able
to put out suppressing fire, and by
0800 hours (8:00 A.M.) the fighting was mostly
inland. By 1300 hours (1:00 P.M.) the commandos had
achieved their most important
objective: they had linked up with
Major John Howard's airborne
troops at the bridges over the Orne
waterways. On the right flank the
British had been unable to link up
with Canadian forces from Juno
Beach, and at 1600 hours (4:00 P.M.) tank forces and mechanized infantry men
from the 21st Panzer Division launched the only serious German
counterattack of D-Day. The 192nd Panzer Grenadier Regiment
actually reached the beach at 2000 hours (8:00 P.M.), but the 98 tanks of the 21st
Panzer were halted by antitank weapons, air strikes, and Allied tanks
themselves. The counterattack was stopped.
At the end of the day, the British had landed 29,000 men and had taken
630 casualties. German casualties were much higher; many Germans
had been taken prisoner. The commandos had linked up with the
airborne forces at the bridges, though the optimistic objectives of Caen
and the Carpiquet aerodrome were still a long 3 miles away.