The Battle of Villers-Bocage was a battle which took place during World War II, on June 13, 1944, seven days after the Allied forces landed on the Normandy beaches on D-Day. It was a smaller battle which was fought during the much bigger and longer Battle of Normandy. Although the Wehrmacht was losing ground, the Battle of Villers-Bocage was a German victory in which one German commander with only one Tiger tank destroyed 20 British armored vehicles.

The Battle of Villers-Bocage began when spearhead elements of the British 7th Armored Division advanced into the the French town of Villers-Bocage. But the British did not know that the 2nd Company of the 101st SS-Panzer Battalion, under the command of SS-Obersturmführer Michael Wittmann, had moved in during the night to took positions at point 213, which was near the crossroads at Villers-Bocage. then attacked the British tanks. When Wittmann realized that British armored vehicles were advancing through Villers-Bocage, he inmediately moved down the main road towards Villers-Bocage in his Tiger tank. In the next fifteen minutes, Wittmann, a battle-hardened German tank ace, destroyed ten British tanks, six anti-tank guns, and a dozen or more half-tracks and Universal carriers vehicles with only one Tiger tank. As Wittmann drove down the road which led from Villers-Bocage, the left track of his tank got hit by a 6-pdr shell. Not being able to further continue, he stopped on the street in front of the Huet-Godefroy store. Wittmann and the rest of the crew abandoned the tank and left the area on foot.
Later on the day, they joined the headquarters of the Panzer Lehr Division, miles away. Later Michael Wittmann would be promoted to Hauptsturmführer and awarded Swords to his Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross.

Operation Overlord was the code name used by the Allied commanders for the invasion of Normandy during the Second World War II. Under the command of General Dwight Eisenhower, around 170,000 troops crossed the English Channel and landed on six landing sectors (Utah, Pointe du Hoc, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword), securing beachheads, which allowed more than 3 million follow-up troops to land in Western Europe during the days that followed D-Day.

The Operation Overlord was initiated at 01:00 hours on June 6, 1944, when British and American pathfinders jumped off Allied planes to mark the drop zones for the airborne troops. At 01:30 hours, the US 82d and 101rst Airborne Divisions landed by parachute and glider near the town of Ste. Mere-Eglise; their mission was to secure the roads that led from the shoreline and thwart enemy efforts to reinforce beach defences. At 05:50 hours, a naval task force composed of 125 warships opened fire on the Utah Beach German batteries. At 06:30 hours, the American forces landed on Utah Beach, Omaha Beach, and Pointe du Hoc. At 07:30 hours, the British and Canadian forces landed on Gold Beach, Juno Beach, and Sword Beach. Omaha was the hardest landing point to secure, since the German defences there were strong and alert, directly facing the beach. Despite the casualties and some lack of coordination, Operation Overlord was a successful military campaign. It lasted three months and ended with the liberation of Paris on August 25, 1944.

Gold Beach was a codename for one of the three British landing zones in the Allied invasion Normandy, which took place on June 6, 1944, during the Second World War. From the six Allied landing sectors, Gold Beach lay in the center, between Arromanches and Ver-sur-Mer. The 50th Northumbrian Infantry Division and the British 8th Armored Brigade (2nd Army), under the command of Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey, were assigned to secure a beachhead. Gold Beach was five-mile wide and was subdivided into three narrow landing zones: Item, Jig (Green and Red), and King (also Green and Red).

The 231rst and 69th Infantry Brigades from the 50th Northumbrian Infantry Division, landed first on King sector at 07:25 hours and secured a beachhead. They were followed by the 56th Infantry Brigade and 151st Infantry Brigades who pushed south-west towards Route National 13; these elements were supported by tanks of the 8th Armored Brigade.

The 47 Royal Marine Commando captured Port-en-Bessin on the west and linked up with American forces landing on Omaha Beach. Other elements of the 50th Infantry Division met the Canadian troops coming ashore on Juno Beach. By the end of the day, more than 25,000 troops landed on Gold Beach and spearhead elements had advanced 6 miles inland.

Juno Beach was one of the three British landing zones of the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day, during World War II. Stretching from Courseulles-sur-Mer on the west to Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer on the east, it lay between Sword Beach and Gold Beach. Juno Beach was the Canadian landing sector. The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, under the command of General Rodney F L Keller, was given the task of securing a beachhead through which more military personnel and supplies would pour into France. To carry out its task, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division was reinforced with importan British elements and was under the overall command of Sir John Crocker. Force J was the naval task force which would give support to the invading troops.

Juno Beach was subdivided into two landing zones; "Nan" to the east and "Mike" to the west. The Wehrmacht 716th Division, under the command of General Wilhelm Richter, was assigned to defend this area. Entrenched in pillboxes and casemates, it was equipped with 20 batteries of 155 mm and 75 mm guns. Nevertheless, Allied air bombings carried out in the previous days had significantly damaged the German fortifications. At 06:00 hours, on June 6, 1944, Force J began to pound hard on the coast with heavy naval artillery. At 07:30, the 7th Brigade and the 6th Canadian Armored Regiment landed first on Mike Sector. They were followed by the 8th brigade, the 10th Canadian Armored Regiment, and the 48 RM Commando who landed on Nan sector. By 12:00 hours, these elements of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division had penetrated several miles and seized the bridges over the Seulles River. On the first day the bulk of the Canadian forces had landed on French territory. The Canadians had suffered about 1,000 casualties.

Sword Beach was of one of the three British landing beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. "Sword Beach" was a codename for that British landing sector, which stretched 5 miles from Ouistreham to Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer. It was also the easternmost landing sector of the six Allied landing points at D-Day and lay about 9 miles from Caen. The British I Corps, which was composed of the 27th Armored Brigade, the 3rd Infantry Division, units of the 79th Armored Division, plus British and French Commandos, under the command of General Sir John Crocker, had the task of establishing a beachhead which would allow other Allied military units to safely land on the beach along with the vital military supplies to wage war on the continent.

As resistance was weak, the British units landed with relative ease. By 08:00 hours, the British I Corps managed to make their way inland; on the east flank the Commando units had seized the bridge on the Orne and made contact with the British paratroopers by 13:00. The British did not link up with the Canadian forces to the west until much later in the day. There were two German counter-attacks which started at 16:00 hours. The German 21st Panzer Division pushed all the way from near Caen to the beach between Lion-sur-Mer and Luc-sur-Mer, but it was thrown back by late evening.