The 79th Armoured Division was a specialist armoured division of the British Army created during the Second World War. The division was created as part of the preparations for the Normandy invasion on 6 June 1944, D-Day.
Brigadier N. W. Duncan of the 30th Armoured Brigade watches the attack on Caen from beside his Humber Scout Car outside Beuville, 8 July 1944.
Duplex Drive Sherman tank with its flotation screen lowered
Sherman Crab; flail lowered into a dip; turret traversed rear to avoid flails
Churchill AVRE from 5th Assault Regiment, Royal Engineers - Sword Beach, 6 June 1944.
Battle for Brest
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The Battle for Brest was fought in August and September 1944 on the Western Front during World War II. Part of the overall Battle for Brittany and the Allied plan for the invasion of mainland Europe called for the capture of port facilities, in order to ensure the timely delivery of the enormous amount of war materiel required to supply the invading Allied forces. It was estimated that the 37 Allied divisions to be on the continent by September 1944 would need 26,000 tons of supplies each day. The main port the Allied forces hoped to seize and put into their service was Brest, in northwestern France.
A US M18 Hellcat of the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion in the streets of Brest in September 1944
Troops of the 2nd Infantry Division advance under machine gun fire into the outskirts of Brest
Commemorative plaque of General Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke's surrender, 19 September 1944 (ammunition bay near the fort des Capucins)
Fort Montbary today with a Churchill "Crocodile"