The British 1st Corps (49th...

history · 10 September 1944 · 80 years ago

The British 1st Corps (49th West Riding and 51st Highland Divisions) of the Canadian Army commenced the siege of Le Havre, the largest port in northern France, which had been earmarked for American use. The approaches to Le Havre were well protected by flooding, mines, anti-tank ditches and huge concrete gun emplacements primarily designed for sea defence. The German garrison of 11,000 (underestimated by Allied Intelligence as being around 8,700) was strongly provided with artillery. The siege opened with Allied aircraft dropping 4,000 tons of bombs on to the defences (followed by a further 5,500 tons over the two day battle). The 15-inch guns of HMS Erebus and Warspite were also brought to bear on the largest gun emplacements, although Erebus did receive some damage from return fire from the shore batteries. In addition, two heavy and six medium batteries added their support to the Divisional artillery Regiments during the softening-up process. The German resistance however proved less tenacious than expected resulting in a comparatively light Allied casualty rate of less than 400. Nevertheless on its capture the docks were found to have been thoroughly wrecked and it was over four weeks before the port could be used. 

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