Stopping the Panzers with Marc Milner (The Maple Leaf Route, Part II)

Historians have traditionally criticized the 3rd Canadian Division for its ‘slow’ progress after 6 June, for its failure to take Caen when it had a chance, and for succumbing to German counter-attacks and digging in on the Oak Line. But recent scholarship indicates that—Montgomery’s aspiration to get ashore and “crack about with tanks” notwithstanding—the Canadian role was to seize the Oak Line, dig in and kill the Panzer counter-attack on Operation Overlord itself.