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The Charnwood plan include the use of heavy 1944 when 467 Allied aircraft dropped 2,300 tons of bombs on the city. In forty minutes, the medieval city was reduced to rubble. This was the first time Bomber Command employed strategic heavy bombers in a tactical close support role. The attack front was 4,000 yards wide. Naval gunfire was also used to support the operation. The major effects of the bombing were largely counterproductive. Because the bombs were dropped on an urban area, many French civilians were killed. The shock value was ineffective because the bombing was not followed by an immediate assault, while the defenders were still stunned. Instead the ground attack started the following morning at 4:30 a.m. July 8th. Finally, the bombers used very heavy bombs (500 and 1,000 pounders) which created huge piles of rubble. This actually had the effect of delaying Allied tank movement into the city. After the capture of the city, a survey to determine the bombing's effectiveness found that there was virtually no sign of enemy gun positions, tanks, or German dead in the target area. A lesson learned from Charnwood was to use only light bombs, albeit in huge quantities, to avoid the massive rubbling of the attack area. This lesson was applied to operations that followed such as Operation Goodwood and, to a lesser extent, Operation Cobra . Charnwood was a very limited tactical success for the Allies. The western end of Caen was captured, but the eastern half including the Colombelles steel works (with its high observation points) remained in German hands. As one of a series of unsuccessful British attacks in Normandy, it contributed to the impending sense of stalemate felt in high Allied command levels in July. However, in the strategic sense it can be seen to have unintentionally aided the Allied objective in Normandy by continuing the German belief that the main Allied offensive would happen in the British sector. Ultimately that German focus helped win the Normandy campaign for the Allies. DRAMATIZATION
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