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Trooper Sydney Moore
Background to Operation Totalize
Sid's unit, the
144th Regiment,
Royal Armored Corps was part of
the British 33rd Armoured
Brigade. The regiment fielded three
tank Squadrons A, B
and C. The Regimental authorised strength was 59 standard
Sherman Tanks with 12 Firefly Sherman tanks armed with the
larger 17-pounder tiger tank killing guns. Sid's younger brother
Ron can remember a story he used to tell about his time in
France. Sid was out of his tank walking around a French town
that he believed was in Allied hands. All of a sudden he heard a
loud rumble and saw the distinctive large 88mm gun belonging to
the feared German Tiger Tank come around a corner. Sid ran and
hid by a wall. With his heart pounding he tried to make himself
invisible. The monster killing machine trundled past him
unnoticed.
On the 7th August
1944, as part of Operation
Totalize,
they supported the
51st Highland Division that included famous Scottish Infantry
regiments like the Gordon Highlanders, Cameron Highlanders,
Argylle & Sutherland Highlanders, Seaforth Highlanders and the
Black Watch. The aim of the operation was to fight their way
south of Caen and break through the German defensive line with
strong narrow armoured columns. The British advanced south down
the east side of the N158 main road. The 2nd Canadian Army
advanced south on the west side of the N158.
The German
defensive line at the point of impact was held by the 89th
German Infantry Division, 12th SS Panzer Division and later
reinforced with the 1st Panzer Division. The cream of the German
Army was in front of them. The fighting was very hard.
What the Allied commanders did not know was that the
German 7th Army had launched Operation Lüttich on the same day
as Operation Totalize. It was a
counter attack that was moving from east to west designed to try
and force a split between the Americans heading for Brittany and
the other Allied forces in the north of Normandy. This meant
that Sid, unknowingly, was heading
 towards
an even bigger and stronger hornets nest of German tanks and
infantry regiments. The German Military had wanted to make a
deliberate withdrawal to a defensive line across the river Seine
but Hitler refused to allow any retreat. he insisted on a
counter attack. The German 7th Army was commanded by SS General
Paul Hausser. The attack was launched soon after midnight on 7th
August 1944. The exact same time the Allied Operation Totalize
was launched heading south. The German attack contained their best troops; 2nd SS Division Das
Reich, 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, 9th Panzer
Division, 116th Panzer Division and 2nd Panzer Division. By the
early afternoon of the 7th August the fog and low cloud
disappeared and the Allied fighter bombers scored numerous hits
on German armored tanks and vehicles. Rocket firing RAF Hawker
Typhoons destroyed many panther and tiger tanks. There was more
fog on the morning of the 8th August. This allowed the Germans
to continue moving forward. By the evening of 11th August the
German attack had turned into a retreat. Operation Totalize had
failed in its breakout objective but Sid had helped the Allied army's stop the last German counter attack
in Normandy. He had been facing the elite of the German Army.
The Allied map below shows the attack. The
N158
main road
running south from Caen was the dividing line between the
Canadian and British armies. The Canadians took the west side of
the Road and moved south. The British attacked southwards on the
eastern side of the road. What the map does not show is that the
German Armoured Divisions were attacking from east to west
across the allied path. Fighting was very hard.
This is a
photograph taken of Tanks from A Squadron 144th Regiment Royal
Armoured Corps moving to the 'formong=up' location south of Caen
on 7th August 1944 just before the launch of Operation Totalize
Books that cover
Op Totalize are 'Blue Flash' written by Alan Jolly (p47 covers
Sid) & 'No
Holding Back' by Brian A Reid
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