D-Day • 80th Anniversary
Formed in 1939, the 51st Highland Infantry Division was part of the territorial force; a great number of its men were taken prisoner in May 1940. After it was brought up to strength, the Division was engaged in the campaigns of North Africa in June 1942 and Sicily in July 1943. Highly experienced, the men were repatriated to Britain from November 1943 to prepare for Operation Overlord. On 6 June 1944, the 51st Highland Division landed on Juno Beach.
The men first came into contact with the enemy at the German radar station in Douvres-la-Délivrande. From 9 June they fought in the woods of Bavent to the east of the Orne River, where the Division had come to reinforce the bridgehead of the 6th British Airborne, led by General Bullen-Smith. The Scottish Division was exhausted by a long battle against the firmly entrenched Germans. Therefore, it only had a supporting role in Operation Goodwood (18 - 21 July 1944), launched for the liberation of Caen.
After a period of rest, the division was attached to the 2nd Canadian Corps. Now being under the command of General Rennie, they led an assault between 7 and 11 August to capture the town of Falaise during Operation Totalize. The division progressed with difficulty to Garcelles and Saint-Aignan-de-Crasmenil and veered eastwards to eventually reach Lisieux, which was liberated on 23 August 1944. After crossing the Seine, the Scots were given the symbolic mission to liberate the town of Saint-Valéry-en-Caux to avenge the humiliation of 1940. They fought their last battle in Normandy during the battle of Le Havre from 10 to 12 September 1944, before continuing towards the Netherlands and the Ardennes
The Division was reborn from its twin, the Territorial 9th Scottish Division, along with many of those that had escaped St Valéry. Changing its name to the 51st Highland Division, it was deployed to North Africa, spearheading Montgomery’s attack at El Alamein and pursuing the Axis forces through Tripoli,
Medenine, Mareth and Wadi Akarit to final victory in North Africa.
After a brief respite the Division took part in Operation HUSKEY, the Allied invasion of Sicily, where is saw much hard action at Vizzini and Francofonte, Gerbini and Sferro before retuning home to prepare for D Day.
The Division landed at Normandy on the 7th June 1944 as part of 1 Corps and fought in the breakout from the beachhead and in the return to St Valéry, conducted operations in the Low Countries, spent Christmas in the Ardennes, and went on to negotiate the Reichswald and the Rhine Crossing en route to final Victory in Europe.
The 51st Highland Division in Normandy
The UK Open University comissioned the BBC and Brian Cox (the astronomer, not the actor) to take another look at the astronomical part (not the microscopic to quantum realm) of the story over four decades later.