Hillman Strongpoint (#275)
Today’s post covers another aspect of the D-Day invasion -- the Hillman Strongpoint and its role in slowing the British liberation of Caen.
This year, I am doing a series on leaders and leadership in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) in World War II. This is 21st in the series. Check out the blog to see them all or go to the links at the bottom of this article to see the most recent ones.
Hillman and Morris Strongpoints
Sword Beach had two German strongpoints behind it, nicknamed Hillman and Morris by the British 3rd Division. Interestingly, Hillman and Morris were each types of British cars. The Germans referred to these positions as Resistance Nest 17 and 16, respectively. Both Hillman and Morris blocked the roads that lead to Caen, a D-Day objective allocated to the “Iron Division.”
The Hillman Strongpoint was the regimental headquarters and command post for German Colonel Ludwig Krug, who was responsible for the coastal defense in the area. The Hillman Strongpoint, which was about 600 by 400 yards, housed approximately 150 officers and soldiers of the 736th Grenadier Regiment (part of the 716th Static Infantry Division). The Morris Strongpoint had 4 Czech 105mm howitzers at its center.
Responsibility for capturing Caen belonged to Major-General Tom Rennie’s 3rd Division. The task of seizing the Morris and Hillman strongpoints fell on the 1st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Richard E. Goodwin. The battalion landed on Sword Beach and moved to the French town of Hermanville, as a staging area, for the push south. Morris was taken without incident around 1:00 pm by the 1st Battalion, the Suffolk Regiment, after naval and artillery fire forced the German garrison to surrender.
After that, nothing went right. The supporting tanks failed to get off of Sword Beach due to congestion. Hillman was a maze of deep concrete bunkers and pillboxes, all connected by trenches. Much of the complex was underground and well camouflaged from aerial observation. Hillman sat astride Route de Colleville which led from the beach directly to downtown Caen. Unlike at the Morris Strongpoint, the Hillman defenders were determined to resist the British attacks. Eventually supporting the Suffolks were tanks from A Squadron, Staffordshire Yeomanry and C Squadron of the 13th/18th Royal Hussars, two batteries of artillery from 33rd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery and 76th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, and Royal Engineers of the 246th Field Company.
During the first attempt to seize Hillman, its’ protective wires were breached, but the Suffolks who got through the wire could not get close enough to the machine gun cupola to destroy it. Until it was eliminated, infantry couldn’t start reducing the bunkers. The deadly battle for Hillman went on throughout the afternoon and into the evening and eventually required the support of more tanks. The last remaining bunker surrendered on the early morning of June 7th. The Suffolks had lost two officers and 5 men killed and 24 wounded.
The delay taking Hillman had consequences — the Germans were able to reinforce the defenses of Caen. Unfortunately, Caen would not be completely captured until July 20th. After the battle, both the 1st Battalion, the Suffolk Regiment and the 3rd Division have been criticized for not eliminating Hillman faster. The failure to focus on the larger purpose of capturing Caen quickly kept the Allies bottled up in the bocage of Normandy for weeks.
Today, the Hillman Strongpoint serves as a museum for the Suffolk Regiment, as well as an outstanding example of the German fortifications along the Normandy coast.
Application
When has a small part of a project held up larger, more important aspects of the project? How do you keep the team on task and focused on the big picture?
Conclusion
The last five blog posts on leaders and leadership from the World War II European Theater of Operations are:
Interested in bringing your team to Leadership Experience that uses historic case studies, like the attack on the Hillman Strongpoint during D-Day to enhance your team’s leadership today? TFCG offers the D-Day, Market-Garden, and Battle of the Bulge Leadership Experiences in Europe. TFCG also offers the Eisenhower, Currahee!, the War in the Pacific Museum, and Pearl Harbor Leadership Experiences in the United States. Send me an email and we can start the discussion today about building better leaders in your organization using a historic Leadership Experience. Or click on one of the pictures to learn more about that specific program.
In the meantime, go on the offensive and use the story of the reduction of the Hillman Strongpoint on D-Day to inspire you this week.