On each flank of Operation Goodwood, infantry divisions were to widen the armored push. Soldiers of the recently constituted II Canadian Corps had the biggest job, crossing the Orne, clearing the industrial suburbs of Caen and shoving through open country to Bourguebus Ridge itself.

On June 29, General Guy Simonds had finally opened tactical headquarters of II Canadian Corps at Amblie. With the arrival of Major-General Charles Foulkes' 2nd Canadian Division in early July, General Simonds' corps was complete. In the lull after Caen, its battalions moved into the line along the Orne to the right of the 3rd Canadian Division. The 2nd Canadian Division had Dieppe to avenge; some claimed that it had never quite recovered from the terrible losses. It did not have long to wait for a second test. On July 11, II Canadian Corps became operational. Its share of Goodwood was codenamed Operation Atlantic.

The toughest part of the operation seemed to fall to the veteran 3rd Division. From the British bridgehead, Blackader's 8th Brigade pushes south to Colombelles and the tangled ruins of a steelworks. It was the kind of fighting infantry had to do for themselves, and tanks of the 1st Hussars were of little use. It was fighting that demanded natural leaders - and killed them. At Colombelles, the Chaudieres were stopped by a big, fortified chateau. After they pulled back at noon to allow an air attack, they watched as bombs bounced on the flinty soil and flew high in the air. The French Canadians surged forward anyway and took the place. An impatient Keller pushed the North Shores past and into the steel works so that his 9th Brigade could fight its way into the Faubourg de Vaucelles. Meanwhile, at Giberville to the east, the Queen's Own Rifles were ripped apart by machine-gun nests. By dark, though, the Toronto men held the village and repelled the inevitable counter-attacks.

In Caen, Foster's brigade waited out the day. With the 3rd Division attack held up by bitter resistance, Simonds ordered a patrol to cross the Orne, with a battalion to follow up. The Regina Rifles slipped a few men across a ruined bridge; by 7:30 p.m., the whole battalion had crossed. The next day, July 19, both the 9th and the 7th Brigades sent battalions forward to the outlying suburbs of Cormelles. After confusion and a brief, painful clash, the men of the 3rd Division finally won their objectives for Operation Goodwood. 

For the 2nd Division, Operation Atlantic began more easily. As Goodwood developed to the east, Foulkes' division waited until evening to move forward. By nightfall, the Royal Regiment of Canada had cleared Louvigny, divisional engineers had begun bridging the Orne and Brigadier William Megill's 5th Brigade crossed over to lead next day's attack. 

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