Sword Beach
Sword Beach itself was about five miles across and the town of Ouistreham was all but in the middle of the target beach. The main prize was Caen was important because all the main roads in the region ran through the city and control of these was vital if the Allies were to successfully advance inland and to the east and west. Such was the importance of Caen, that the Germans were also prepared to fight for it – ultimately to the city’s detriment. Units of the British 2nd Army led by Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey were assigned the beach. The time for the first landings at Sword was 07.25 when British and French commandos attacked the beach. Troops from the British 1st Corps led by Crocker continued the attack. The soldiers attacking the beach were joined by paratroopers from 3rd and 5th Parachute Brigades who landed at places inland from the beach. Paratroopers who landed at Ranville, to the south-east of Ouistreham, were less than five miles from Caen. The British met little resistance at Sword. By 08.00 most of the fighting around the beach was over. By 13.00, commandos had linked up with paratroopers by the Orne waterways, inland from Ouistreham. By the end of the day, 29,000 men had been landed at Sword with 630 casualties. Allied forces had advanced about four miles inland and stabilised the beach. A corridor had been created between Sword Beach and Juno but this was not to prove a long-term problem. However, their major targets of Caen and the aerodrome at Carpiquet were still a long way off.