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How did British antitank gunners help stop the 21st Panzer Division near Sword Beach?
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Sword Beach
Injured and exhausted assault troops being helped ashore at Sword Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
During the Normandy Invasion on June 6, 1944, elements of the German 21st Panzer Division launched a significant counterattack, driving into the gap between the British and Canadian forces near Sword Beach and Juno Beach. This maneuver posed a severe threat to the Allied landings, as the German forces nearly reached the sea.1
The counterattack was ultimately halted in the late evening through fierce resistance by British antitank gunners at Périers-sur-le-Dan. Their efforts, supported by Allied tanks and air strikes, successfully stopped the division's 98 panzers, preventing the German forces from disrupting the Allied beachhead.12