59TH INFANTRY DIVISION “STAFFORDSHIRE”

In the summer 1939, it became obvious that a new war was going to take place. Anticipating the forcoming crisis, the British army needed to reinforce its army by creating new divisions. For that, it had recourse to duplication: this approach consisted in taking from an existing division a core of experienced officers to form the structures of a new division.

It was decided that the 55^th West Lancashire division would form the 59^th Staffordshire infantry division on this basis. On August 21^st, this latter was reactivated, endorsing the tradition of the homonymous unit which had fought during the Great War.

The first elements of Staffordshire began to land in Normandy on June 26^th. As of July 7^th, division took part to operation Charnwood , directed aginst Caen. Attached to the 1^st Corps, it launched its attack southward, between the 3^rd British and Canadian ID. Its first struggle occured very difficult, some companies which attacked in direction of Bijude loosing all their officers…. It is only in the evening that it managed to occupy Galmanche, but its effort, by attracting german attention, allowed the other divisions to close on their targets.

Between July 16^th and on 18^th, division was attached to the 30^th Corps to take part in operation Pomegrenate . It was a diversion operation on the right flank of Goodwood, intended to divert German attention. Starting its attack from the battlefield of the previous operation Epsom (Rauray, Cristot, Fontenay Pesnel), it tried to push in direction of the south. July 17^th, the 177^th brigade reached Noyers, but had to be withdrawn because of the strong enemy counter-attack. Finally, the 176^th brigade captured Senevière, and the operations were suspended the following day, division being limited then on this sector to offensive patrols. For a short step forward, losses were almost as important as at the time of fighting north of Caen…

From August 6^th, Staffordshire division was engaged in the struggle for Villers-Bocage. Attached this time to the 12^th Corps, 59^th ID established a bridgehead  in Grimbosq the next morning. Tigers from kampfgruppe Wunsche, gathered in the evening, launched a strong assault which forced most of 7^th South Staffordshire to recross the river, but a massive artillery barrage allowed the division to save the bridgehead. Reinforced by the 56^th brigade, 59^th ID pushed back the German 271^st ID on Thury-Harcourt, but it still had to launch several unsuccessfull attacks before managing to have Germans leave the city on the 14^th. The last fight delivered by the 59^th ID was to push back the forces of the 7^th German Army in the Falaise pocket. Hot on Germans heels, the Staffordshires moved full east, in direction of Commeaux and the RN 158 which it reached the 18^th.