Bloody Hell - Operation Goodwood & Operation Spring

Historians have described the British attack near Caen and the Canadian assault against Verrieres Ridge as disasters. Indeed, following these operations the Germans were able to transfer to the western sector of Normandy much of their surviving armor to deal with the American offensive. Nonetheless, recently discovered material and some oral histories have shown the Allied offensives came close to success. Operation Goodwood This game on Operation Goodwood grew out of the interest in developing the companion game about Operation Spring, the Canadian offensive on Verrieres Ridge on July 25th, 1944. Montgomery's massive onslaught against what was thought to be a severely beaten and depleted enemy was meant to be an unstoppable, irresistible offensive that would finally break the Allies out of the Normandy beachhead. That it instead ran into an un-moveable defense, planned earlier by Field Marshal Rommel, made for a ruinous fight that seriously damaged subsequent British offensives in the war. Nearly 2/3rds of the British tanks committed were destroyed in the two-day fight.The Germans also suffered heavy losses in keeping control of their defensive positions. While many of Montgomery's supporters pointed out that Goodwood seriously eroded the Germans' capabilities to resist the Americans' Operation Cobra offensive a week later, the cost to Great Britain was severe. That the Allied soldiers came close to winning a dramatic victory ahead of the Americans is a testament to the ferocity and courage both sides brought to this battlefield. Operation SpringGeneral Montgomery's offensive to take Verrieres Ridge was modeled after the one he used successfully at El Alamein. The Canadians' 2nd and 3rd Infantry Divisions, backed by their 2nd Armored Brigade, and the Canadian Corps' along with the 8th Army's artillery, would pry an opening in the German lines through which the British 7th and Guards Armored Divisions would exploit. Monty was convinced the defenders had suffered as badly as his forces did in the battles to take Caen and the earlier Operation Goodwood offensive. This assumption was to cost the Canadians dearly. Indeed, following the battle the Germans redeployed their surviving armored units to the west, confident the Commonwealth forces were sufficiently defeated. That the Canadians came close to driving the Germans to their breaking point is a testament to the ferocity and courage both sides brought to this battlefield.