A brief history of the 1st Battalion, 50th Northumbrian Division

The next few months from June to August saw the battalion fighting an aggressive defence of the beachhead and a long and bitter breakout against a determined enemy.

Part of the Allied plan was for the 50th division to contain the enemy by aggressive action and capture the town of Villiers Bocage. The battalion being involved heavily in the fighting around the important village of Hottot, 5 miles north of Villiers Bocage. 231 bde was again in the vanguard of the 50th Div and the battalion fought from Villiers Bocage through the Normandy Bocage pushing the enemy before it, until it reached the village of St. Pierre which after a long bitter fight the German defence collapsed and the Germans retreated through the Falaise Gap.