The Advance on Caen

The COSSAC planners in 1943 outlined a strategy to capture the city of Caen, some 10 miles in-land from the coastline with an airborne division. On assumption of command of 21st Army Group, General Montgomery up-scaled the invasion and inserting SWORD Beach, gave the task of capturing the city to the 3rd Division on D Day or shortly afterwards. The Germans, however, seeing the number of Allied divisions, many fictional, multiplying on their situation maps, believed that a secondary landing would