#Monument

No.3 Commando and the Post office

​​The memorial is located on the small green, the former village duck pond. It commemorates the British men of No.3 Commando, 1st Special Service Brigade. ​It was in this area that they entered the village on 6 June 1944, D-Day to, begin liberating the village.​

​​The village of Amfreville is located on the Breville Ridge and overlooks the Orne River and the approaches to Caen to the west. This area of high ground would become a crucial part of the Allied plans for Operation Overlord in 1944. The high ground needed to be held, and a defensive perimeter was formed on the left flank of the invasion area. 

On D-Day, early afternoon, 3 Troop, No.3 Commando, who had landed on Sword Beach that morning, was ordered to advance to the village of Amfreville. They were told that the 9th Parachute Battalion, British 6th Airborne Division, was under pressure from German forces and in need of support. 3 Troop left the area of Ranville on bicycles and headed towards the Ecarde crossroads which is at the bottom of the hill on Rue Morice. They then began the slow advance uphill towards this area of the village. 

3 Troop entered the village on Rue Morice through the high Norman stonewalls that offered some protection. As they approached, they could see a rifle muzzle sticking out of a window of the upper floor of 8 Rue Morice. This is the house on the corner with blue shutters. The Commandos of 3 Troop opened fire, and the rifle fell out of the window. They then continued the advance. 

They came around the corner from the high stone walls and towards the area of the pond, now where the memorial is, and where they then fired upon. 

The fire came from the ground-floor window of the old Post Office, which is now the Café Associatif de la Poste. This severely wounded several men, including Ronald ‘Dixie’ Dean. He lay in the road mortally wounded whilst the German machine gunner continued to fire with his Russian Maxim machine gun. Dixie’s friend Ossie Osbourne was able to quickly recover him and dragged him back down the road and into the protection of the Norman stonewalls. A short time later, Dixie would die in the arms of his friend Stan Scott. He is now buried in Ranville War Cemetery. 

The village was cleared of Germans late on D-Day and held by the Commandos. No.3 Commando held this area of the village in the coming weeks at numerous points as hard fighting developed. This area would also remain the frontline until the middle of August, when the Commandos started to advance eastwards during Operation Paddle. 

The memorial commemorates the men of No.3 Commando. It is one of several memorials to them and the other Commando units who held this village and line during the Normandy Campaign. 

​​Rue Morice, 14860​ Amfreville

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