Time and time again, Dietrich tried to muster his panzer divisions for a corps-level counterattack, but he was constantly having to reorganize his forces to plug holes in the front. The Panzer Lehr Division had still not arrived in strength, leaving the Hitlerjugend Division to hold the line to the west of Caen for another day. It was reinforced by the arrival of I SS Panzer Corps' artillery regiment, but this did little to even out the mismatch between German and Allied firepower in Normandy.

The British and Canadians attack

The Canadians were now joined by the British 50th Division for a major attack on the afternoon of 11 June. The reconnaissance battalion again proved its worth as a hard-hitting mobile strike force. A company of Hitlerjugend Panthers and the division's reconnaissance battalion raced to block their line of advance. Holding their fire until the British tanks had run ahead of their infantry, machine-gunners in the reconnaissance halftracks then raked the ranks of the Green Howards Regiment. Lying in ambush, the Panthers picked off the British Shermans of the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards from a hilltop firing line. The British attack faltered when one Sherman that had penetrated to within a few yards of the German battalion's command post was knocked out by a 75mm anti-tank gun. The arrival of the reserve Panther company sent the British reeling backwards. The British lost 250 men and 7 tanks in withering German fire.

At the same time, the Canadian 2nd Armoured Brigade had been launched against Mohnke's regiment. The brunt of the attack fell on the divisional pioneer battalion, which was now holding the line south of Norrey-en-Bessin. A regiment of Shermans rolled forward, loaded with infantrymen on their rear decks. The pioneers were soon locked in fierce hand-to-hand combat. Shermans were stalked by German Panzerfaust teams through village streets and country lanes.

The Germans lose Rots

A Panzer IV company was moved forward from a reserve position to a hill that overlooked the Canadian line of advance. Hitting the Canadians in the flank, some 46 Shermans were soon burning fiercely in the Normandy fields. Not surprisingly, Shermans were soon nicknamed Ronsons, after the cigarette lighter, because of their alarming ability to burn.

The panzers now charged the confused mass of Canadians, sending them running back to their start-line. Almost 200 Germans were killed or wounded, along with 3 tanks destroyed.

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