During the night of 6/7 June, and the morning following the Battalion was subjected to sporadic mortar and shellfire, and suffered a few casualties: the Luftwaffe had also the temerity to fly a sortie over the area and drop a few bombs, a splinter from one of which wounded Capt. P. H. W. Clarke who was commanding HQ Coy.

Early in the day the decision was taken that the Battalion, which had come temporarily under command of 8 British Infantry Brigade, should clear the enemy from the chateau and village of Lion-sur-Mer. The CO gave out his orders at Midday, and the plan was for "B" Coy, under Maj. L. H. B. Colvin, to make the attack, with "C" Coy, under Capt. G. C. A. Gilbert, in support. The attack began, but when "B" Coy reached a sunken road which ran across their line of advance, the enemy brought down heavy mortar fire and swept the area with machine guns, temporarily checking the advance. "C" Coy, however, moving behind "B" Coy, and under cover of their fire, managed to get inside the Chateau grounds, which they speedily cleared of the enemy. "B" Coy then advanced into the village, and drove the Germans back into the strongpoint which had given the Marine Commandos so much trouble on the previous day. During this operation Lt. J. R. Bush, commanding 10 Platoon, was wounded in the leg, and evacuated. This action was followed by a quick consolidation by the two companies concerned of the ground they had taken, while the CO decided to assault the strongpoint with the remainder of the Battalion. Orders had been issued and zero hour actually fixed when the operation was called off by higher formation. The Battalion was to move immediately and take up a defensive position in the area of St Aubin D’Arquenay with one Coy guarding the Bridge over the River Orne at Benouville, which had been captured in the early hours of D Day by troops of the 6^th Airborne Division.

The move was carried out in MT without incident, and by last light the Battalion was dug in with three Coys and Battalion HQ in the village and "D" Coy, commanded by Maj. A. I. Fennell, looking after the now famous "Pegasus" bridge.

The Battalions short stay at St Aubin was uneventful except that during the night of 8 June a patrol was ordered to move northwards and destroy any enemy that might still be located near the mouth of the Orne, in the eastern outskirts of Ouistreham. The patrol, a platoon strong, under Capt. J. Boys, 2IC of "B" Coy, found no enemy, but experienced considerable difficulty with mines and suffered some casualties.

D + 3 saw the return of the Battalion to its own brigade. On D + 1, 1 Kings Own Scottish Borderers and 2 Royal Ulster Rifles, by a series of leapfrogging advances, had passed through Periers-sur-le-Dan and Mathieu, and after an abortive attempt to capture Cambes, had consolidated in the area of a large wood astride the main road from La Delivrande to Caen, near the chateau of Le Mesnil. Here they had remained with 1 Suffolk, who had taken our place in the Brigade group, in the village of Mathieu, while plans and preparations were made for a full scale attack to capture what still was the Brigade objective, the area of Cambes, Galmanche, St Contest and La Folie.

The Battalion was not included in the plans for this operation, except insofar as it moved forward to the Le Mesnil area one Company, "D" Coy under `Maj. A. I Fennell, to protect the view point from which the Brigade Commander and his "R" Group were to watch the first phase of the battle, the capture of Cambes by 2 Royal Ulster Rifles. In point of fact, this action took so long, and was so costly, that yet again a change of plan was necessary. 2 Royal Ulster Rifles captured their objective in magnificent fashion in the face of heavy and prolonged enemy mortar and machine gun fire, which began practically on their start line in Anisy and followed them all the way, causing heavy casualties, including some to our own "D" Coy. By failing light they were consolidating and the Brigade Commander decided to thicken what would now become an island of defence by pushing forward 1 Kings Own Scottish Borderers also into Cambes and the wooded area North of it. 1 Suffolk, who were to have carried out phase 2 of the operation – the capture of Galmanche, never actually moved from Mathieu. The remainder of 2 Lincolns, therefore, moved forward to join "D" Coy and consolidated in the area of Le Mesnil and came again under command of 9 British Infantry Brigade.

Now came a distinct change of policy. The rapid advance and quick capture of objectives – including Caen itself – optimistically envisaged in the briefing tents of our marshalling areas, were evidently not going to materialise. With 185 Brigade on our left compelled to withdraw from Le Bisey wood and consolidate in the area of Bieville and Beuville, and 8 British Infantry Brigade in reserve, the Divisional bridgehead was not at all a deep one, the furthest penetration reaching a distance of some five miles only. The English Channel too was behaving at its very worst, and supplies and reinforcements were practically nil for three crucial days. Faces with these facts, together with the stubborn defence set up by the German soldier (whose fighting qualities, it must be said, were sadly underrated back in England), and the inevitable build-up of armoured strength which had taken place opposite us while we were inching our way forward, defence of what we held, rather than immediate attack, became the first consideration.

Thus followed for the Battalion, and indeed for most of the Allied assault force, what must have been one of the most trying periods in this, or any, war. Still eager to press forward and still confident that we could do so, we were compelled to sit and hold. Anti-tank guns were carefully sited, nights were spent in laying minefields, and days in improving slit trenches. Even a bulldozed track – a sort of super communication trench – was constructed as a covered supply route to the isolated forward positions in Cambes. The Brigade Commander rang the changes and at regular intervals the Battalion moved into Cambes to relieve one of the Battalion there, or back again to Le Mesnil for a comparative rest.

It was a wearing business. Throughout the day it appeared as if we just waited for those brief but devastating periods of intense mortar and shell fire which we knew inevitably would come; and by night we harassed the enemy with our patrols. It is true that during this period the Battalion gained invaluable battle experience. The merit of a deep and narrow slit trench was impressed upon our minds as never in England in training; constantly diving for shelter inures us to the fire of the enemy’s high trajectory weapons, and gave us that pseudo-contempt for the effect of shell fire, which is part of the very make up of the battle experienced British soldier.

Of the many patrols undertaken by the Battalion during this phase – every single fighting soldier of the Battalion had his experience of these – one carried out by "C" Coy on the night of the 17/18 June deserves special mention. The Battalion was in occupation of Cambes wood at the time, and the plan was to carry out a raid on known enemy positions in Galmanche, and, if possible, to obtain an identification. At the appointed time Capt. G. C. A. Gilbert moved his Company out and occupied a firm base about midway between our own and the German positions. The plan was that from this base one strong patrol, under Lt. H. J. Pacey, should descend on the enemy from the East, and another, under Sjt. J. Ward, from the West. This they did, but the Hun, although surprised, fought like a tiger. (We discovered later that the enemy in this particular area belonged to the famous Hitler Yugen Division. Fierce hand to hand fighting took place and there were many casualties on both sides. Lt. Pacey was himself wounded in the thigh, although he managed to get back. Sgt. Ward, finding himself surrounded fought his way out with bayonet and grenades, and contrived to bring two wounded men away with him. It has since been announced that for this action Lt. Pacey was awarded the MC, and Sjt. Ward the MM.

Such a brush with the enemy was typical of the offensive spirit maintained by the Battalion in the most difficult circumstances. Sorely tied as they were by day, when movement was restricted to an absolute minimum, they went out after night, determined to come to grips with the German.

The static period came to an end on July 5^th. The larger plan was to attack and capture Caen on a three-divisional front, with right 3 Canadian Division, centre 59 Division, who had landed a few days before, and left 3 British Infantry Division. For this purpose 9 British infantry Brigade was relieved by 177 Brigade of 59 Division, in order to move over to a concentration area on the West bank of the Orne in the Benouville – Blainville area, preparatory to the great operation. The Battalion therefore left Le Mesnil during the afternoon and evening of 5 July, and was concentrated in Blainville by the early hours of the morning of the 6^th.

Cambes took its toll of the Battalion. On only two days did casualties actually reach double figures, but at the end of the period one officer and eighteen other ranks had lost their lives, and seven officers and ninety-six other ranks been evacuated with wounds. The officer killed was Lt. D. T. Brown of "C" Coy. A comparative newcomer to the Battalion, he had earned the reputation of a first class leader of men, and had in action shown that an excellent report from a Battle School in England was no mean indication of his capabilities on a battlefield in France. One of the other ranks to lose his life was CSM Watson of "A" Coy, a very old and worthy member of the Battalion.

The officers wounded were Maj. A. I Fennell, OC "D" Coy , Maj. E. F. H. G. Dawson, OC "S" Coy and then OC "D" Coy, Maj. S. J. Larkin, OC "A" Coy, Capt. E. G. Hill, 2IC "A" Coy, Lt. H. J. Pacey, "C" Coy, Lt. W. E. Groocock, "D" Coy, and Lt. J. A. Hamlet "D" Coy, Capt Hill , an old member of the Battalion, and Lt. Hamlet had joined us when our first reinforcements landed on D + 3.

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