53rd Welsh Division arrived in the city to find it in complete ashen ruins from the firebombing, only one building - the Atlantic Hotel - still stood. /1 #WW2#SWW#History
There were over 400 camps around the city, containing around 100,000 malnourished, half-starved and desperately ill slave workers drawn from across Europe: "Displaced Persons" from across Europe.
In all honesty, no liberating Allied soldier could comprehend what had happened. /2
What they were witnessing was the grisly sinews of Nazi Germany's genocide state.Manufacturing everything from uniforms, boots, munitions, weapons, engine parts...
The essential, disposable pool of slave labour facilitating total war.
Hour by Hour: Showdown in Normandy
After 5 DAYS of intense action as Second Army attempted to envelop Panzergruppe West... tanks stop rolling, lines are refortified & both sides lick their wounds.
Our story will focus on the kink of the line at the BOTTOM, by Èvrecy.
This spur was hard won during Operation Greenline, as 15th Scottish & 53rd Welsh Divisions attempted to through through the blasted market town & reach the Orne.
II SS-Panzerkorps put paid to that plan. /2
The minuscule crossroads of Le Bon Repos sat near the bottom of Hill 113, allowing British FOOs to peer over the flank of Hill 112 & direct observation accordingly into II SS-Panzerkorps rear areas.