Operation Bluecoat

Operation Bluecoat was an attack by the British Second Army at the Battle of Normandy during World War II, from 30 July 1944 to 7 August 1944.

The geographical objectives of the attack were to secure the key road junction of Vire and the high ground of Mont Pinçon. Strategically, the attack was made to support the American exploitation of their breakout on the western flank of the Normandy beachhead.

The Operation was codenamed Bluecoat. The advance was prepared by yet another heavy bombardment by the Allied airforces, but ground to a halt in the face of clever tactics by the often fragmented German defenders, and by the well situated minefields.Success only came when elements of 11th Armoured located a gap in the German lines, crossed Bull Bridge and began threatening Vire, a town crucial to the German defensive positions.