After Operation Goodwood, the 3rd Canadian Division had the task of taking Verrieres and Bourguebus Ridge. The task certainly seemed necessary, for the 250-foot slope dominated the broad fields south of Caen, hiding tanks and guns that blasted the British armour. It was a vital obstacle on the way south, along Route National 158, to Falaise.

On July 20, Brigadier H. A. Young's 6th Brigade, with the Essex Scottish added, moved south of the Orne for the assault. By then, men of the 7th Armoured had already tried an attack, failed withdrawn beyond the die-straight highway. They and two squadrons of Sherbrooke Fusiliers would back up the assault with artillery. For some reason, the infantry was to go forward alone.

On the right, the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, a Winnipeg battalion, fought their way into St. Andre-sur-Orne and stayed, despite ceaseless German shelling and counter-attacks. 

On the left, Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal had just as difficult a fight for Beauvoir and Troteval farms. It was the South Saskatchewan Regiment, heading down the middle to Verrieres, that had the toughest objective and the farthest to go. 

As the South Sasks advanced, the rain that had threatened all day suddenly burst in a downpour, churning dirt into mud and forcing the circling Typhoons to head for home. 

Major G. R. Matthews, acting as commanding officer, ordered every anti-tank weapon he could get as German armour of the dreaded 1st SS rumbled out of the smoke and mist into his ranks. Nothing availed. Matthews and 65 of his men died fighting; 142 were wounded or prisoners. The remnant crawled or ran back through the high grass.

Here they met the battalion of Essex Scottish, exhausted from a sleepless night and an anxious day. Across the fields, behind the retreating Saskatchewan men, came triumphant German tanks and infantry in pursuit. Panic spread. The two leading companies of the Essex dissolved; the rest stayed, fought and somehow stopped the Germans. 

That night, Brigadier Young reformed the luckless battalions, replaced the colonel and led it back to dig in through the unyielding Norman soil. July 21 dawned with more drenching, demoralizing downpours - weather that delighted the German panzers for it swept the skies of their worst enemy. 

Again they came, this time shattering the Essex men's frail defences and overrunning both leading companies of the Fusiliers. The Mont-Royals' Troteval farm fell. Young's brigade faced destruction if the Black Watch, under his command had not driven from Ifs to shore up the line. Verrieres and the low, glowering ridge behind it were still held by the Germans.

The brave, hopeless drive on Verrieres had cost the South Sasks 215 men. Panic and the subsequent valiant resistance took 244 men from the Essex Scottish.

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