Tilly-Sur-Seulles 1944

On the British front on 7 June, the name of one village was to relegate all the others into the background and especially Caen, one of D-Day’s strategic objectives. A name that history would remember as one of the most tragic episodes of all the Battle of Normandy: Tillysur-Seulles. Tilly-sur-Seulles, Lingevres, Cristot, Boislondes, la Senaudiere, Saint- Pierre: so many names which symbolise the bitterness of the fighting marking the first three weeks following the landings between Caen and Bayeux. Although it wasn’t an objective for the Allied troops, Tilly-sur-Seulles became the lynchpin for the Battle of Caen and one of the first Norman villages to be destroyed in the fighting. It was captured and recaptured 23 times by the belligerents in almost one month ; 70% of the village was destroyed and almost 10% of its population was lost. Hundreds of soldiers died trying to break through or hold the front at Tilly. The British battalions lost on average 200 men a day during this period. The combats which took place in the sector are still studied at Sandhurst, the military academy. Using numerous maps, photos and eye-witness accounts most of which are as yet unpublished, as well as the unit log books, the author, the dean of the Museum at Tilly sur-Seulles, presents a day by day, hour by hour account of the hard fighting which took place on the Tilly Front opposing XXX Corps’ divisions and two elite SS divisions from the I.SS-Panzerkorps: the 12.SS-Hitklerjuegend and the Panzer Lehr. These titanic combats took place in the middle of the civilian population who also paid a heavy tribute to the battle.

Revised, corrected and enlarged edition with unpublished photographs.