Advance to the Seine 6th Airlanding Brigade (United Kingdom)

men of 6th airlanding brigade in france, 1944.

on 7 august 6th airborne division ordered prepare move on offensive, objective being mouth of river seine. division began advance germans retreated france following defeat in battle of falaise. 6th airlanding brigade, commanded brigadier edwin flavell, had 1st belgian infantry brigade , royal netherlands motorized infantry brigade under command. form left flank of division s advance, moving along french coast, while remainder of division advanced further inland.

the 6th airlanding brigade advance started on 17 august along 2 axes, 12th devons on left, 2nd obli on right, , 1st rur in reserve. @ longuemare 12th devons had fight through german rearguard, , 1st rur took on advance on left , reached cabourg without meeting further resistance.

the brigade group moved area east of troarn on 21 august. 12th devons leading advanced again, occupying branville, vauville , deauville on 22 august. attempts cross river touques repulsed force estimated around 1,200 men. outflanking german position, 2nd obli crossed river @ touques on 24 august. keeping pressure on retreating germans on 25 august, le correspondence, petreville , malhortie captured. however, germans had retained control of bridge outside malhortie , high ground @ manneville-la-raoult. 2nd obli attacked , captured bridge intact, mannerville-la-raoult taken @ dusk, @ cost of several casualties. next day, 26 august, battalion captured foulbec on river seine @ 19:00, although not before germans had destroyed bridge, , earlier day 1st rur had captured berville-sur-mer. on 27 august division ordered concentrate in area between honfleur , pont audemer.

in 9 days of fighting 6th airborne division had advanced 45 miles (72 km), despite, divisional commander, major-general richard nelson gale put it, infantry units being quite inadequately equipped rapid pursuit . division had captured 400 square miles (1,000 km) of territory , taken on 1,000 german soldiers prisoner. since landing on 6 june division s casualties 4,457, of 821 killed, 2,709 wounded , 927 missing. 6th airlanding brigade suffered 115 men killed during campaign. division withdrawn france, , embarked england @ beginning of september.