VILLERS-BOCAGE & NORMAN TERRAIN
Normandy was a defender’s dream in the summer of 1944. Much of its central and western terrain was made up of the famed bocage – a patchwork of ancient fields and orchards surrounded by dense, thick hedgerows built up over centuries by farmers clearing their fields of stones and rocks. In between them was a network of sunken lanes and tracks with little room for manoeuvre, leading to dozens of medieval villages built like fortresses with farmhouse walls several feet thick. The eastern part of Normandy was more open but was dominated by a few prominent pieces of high ground and several ridgelines that provided the defenders with excellent observation and fields of fire. It was this eastern end of the duchy where much of the Westheer’s (the German Army in the West) armoured strength was concentrated.
Villers-bocage itself, home to around 1,000 people at the time, sat atop one such piece of high ground near the River Odon, and more or less astride what was then the main road between Caen and Rennes away to the southwest: the Route Nationale 175. The panzer crews quickly adapted to the terrain, selecting well-camouflaged, hull-down primary positions with long fields of fire, and secondary positions on reverse slopes where attacking Allied armour would be silhouetted against the skyline. At all times it was only the panzers’ thick frontal armour that would be exposed to enemy fire.
Commander Richard von Rosen recalled: “Soon my panzer was receiving the first hits… my Tiger received a direct hit. We all felt the hefty blow, the lights failed and we were dazed for a few moments… [we were] surprised to find we were all still alive.” The Tigers of his company then began pouring fire into the enemy: “Every round we fired hit a Sherman, which then burst into flames.” No wonder the Sherman crews called their tanks ‘Ronsons’ given their propensity to catch fire when hit and incinerate the crew.