German radio or field telephone antenna base ground spike recovered from Death Valley near Hill 112 the battle in operation Epsom on the Normandy battlefield of 1944
This is a German radio or field telephone antenna base ground spike which is complete and in relic condition.The pin is rusty but solid not braking up or falling apart it has been very well cleaned and is still very solid it is perfect for display or any collection.The antenna pin was recovered from Death Valley near Hill 112 the battle in operation Epsom on the Normandy battlefield of 1944. A nice unusual relic from the Normandy battlefield.
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The capture of Caen and Carpiquet at the same time was followed immediately by renewed attacks west of the city in order to capture the high ground between the Odon and the Orne, to encircle Caen from the south, and above all to continue to engage the main German force so it could not block an American breakout to the south. This time the attack was on a broader front with no fewer than six divisions: the 49th and 50th attacked south to Hottot, the 59th attacked south to Noyers, the 15th Scottish was to attack Evrecy, an objective of EPSOM, followed by the 53rd, and in the first attack the 43rd Division was to capture Hill 112 and Maltot on 10th July 1944.
| The 43rd Division already held a bridgehead across the Odon, which it had taken over from the 15th Scottish and the 11th Armoured Divisions when Epsom was terminated on 30 June. Since then it had held the panzer divisions that surrounded it on three sides, though the bridgehead was less than a mile wide, consisting of little more than the banks of the Odon and including Death Valley, so called because of the casualties from mortar bombs that burst in the narrow gorge of the river with its steep slate walls. | ||
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Hill 112 was an unimpressive stretch of country covered with wheat two or three feet high, and with a few wooded copses and several villages on its slopes. From this elevation the entire valleys of the Odon and Orne could be seen, and the Germans said, "He who controls Hill 112 controls Normandy." Certainly they clung to it desperately, and when they were driven off counter-attacked at once to regain possession. Between 29 June, when the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions regained the hill, and 23 July, when they were driven from Maltot, the area around Hill 112 changed hands many times and thousands of Allied and German troops were killed or wounded on its bloody slopes. The 43rd Division alone lost more than 2,000 men in the first 36 hours of operation JUPITER to regain Hill 112. It was reported that the Odon River was dammed with corpses.
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