Operation Spring started with a night attack early in the morning of 25 July, after an air strike by 60 medium bombers. Then the Canadian infantry regiment of the 3rd Canadian Division advanced straight into the guns of the Leibstandarte. At 400m (1312ft) in front of their lines, the Waffen-SS tanks and panzergrenadiers opened fire. The North Nova Scotias were pinned down for more than 16 hours. By the time the regiment pulled back under cover of dusk, only 100 men returned. The 3rd Division's attacked was stopped dead.

The 2nd Canadian Division simultaneously attacked the left flank of the Leibstandarte. They benefited from the presence of a 17-pounder anti-tank gun battery that neutralized the Waffen-SS panzers and StuG IIIs, knocking out four tanks. Without panzer support, the Leibstandarte panzergrenadiers had to pull back, and by dawn the Royal Highland Light Infantry (RHLI) had captured the village of Verriéres. British tanks of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment (1 RTR) were now sent forward to exploit this success. They ran into dug-in Leibstandarte StuG IIIs, and soon British tanks were burning across the hillside. Later in the morning, it was the turn of the Black Watch of Canada to attack. They were enfiladed by panzer fire from high ground to the west, and their supporting tanks were decimated, so by the time they reached the crest of the Bourguebus ridge there were only 60 men left. More than 300 dead and wounded were littering the battlefield by 17:00 hours. Now the Leibstandarte launched a panzergrenadier counterattack, led by 10 Panzer IVs. They were closing in on the RHLI in Verriéres when two squadrons of RAF Typhoons swooped down, rocketing three German tanks.

Canadian casualties

When the full casualty returns started to arrive at II Canadian Corps' headquarters during the evening, senior commanders were horrified. More than 450 men were dead and some 1000 wounded, yet the frontline had only moved a few hundred metres farther south.

It took the British and Canadians six days to recover from the shock of Operation Spring. The 2nd Canadian Division was ordered to seize part of the summit of the Bourguebus ridge centred around Tilly-la-Campagne. After initial skirmishing on the night of 29/30 July, the main attack went in at 02:30 hours on 31 July led by the Calgary Highlanders. The attack failed, and for the next three days the Canadians resorted to pounding the village with artillery and air strikes, in between daily attempts to storm it. Each time, they were driven off with heavy losses. For the Leibstandarte men holding out in the ruins of Tilly-la-Campagne, this period entered their division's folklore as the most intense bombardment it had endured in six years of war.

As the Leibstandarte held firm south of Caen, the Hitlerjugend was withdrawn from the front to act as reserve for Dietrich's I SS Panzer Corps. Almost two months into the Normandy campaign, Kurt Meyer's division had suffered 3500 casualties. Its operational tank strength stood at 61 Panthers, 39 Panzer IVs and 27 Panzerjöger IVs on 30 July, as well as 19 Tigers of the attached 101st SS Battalion. The Leibstandarte was in better shape, and had 61 Panzer IVs, 40 Panthers and 23 StuG IIIs ready for action.

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