and the attack was held up short of Bourguébus Ridge. VIII Corps had advanced on 18 July, but otherwise the results had been disappointing and casualties heavy. While the corps reorganised the following morning 8 AGRA fired concentrations on Bras and Hubert-Folie. 11th Armoured Division captured Bras in the afternoon. When 3rd RTR got into trouble, the field artillery FOOs called down the medium guns, whose shells could stop German armour, and two panzers were 'brewed up'. It took until the end of the day to capture Hubert-Folie. Rain made observation difficult on 20 July and the emphasis switched to II Canadian Corps attacking out of Caen towards Verrières Ridge in Operation Atlantic. At midday the objectives became a 'Murder target', subjected to the fire of two divisional artilleries and three AGRAs: 59 tones of shells in 3 minutes' rapid fire. 8th AGRA was loaned to II Canadian Corps for the diversionary Operation Spring on 25 July, firing a large programme of harassing fire (HF) tasks to assist the advance towards Verrières Ridge and Tilly-la-Campagne, with 61st (C&DY) Med Rgt in support of 7th Armoured Division. VIII Corps (including 8th AGRA) was then sent from its positions east of the River Orne to attack on the right flank of 21st Army Group (Operation Bluecoat). This meant cutting across the lines of communication of the whole of Second British Army. Moves were mainly made by night and VIII Corps' formation signs were covered up, in order to disguise the movement. 8th AGRA moved from Giberville across the Orne to an area south of Bayeux during the night of 28/29 July, then a further to deploy north of Caumont during 29 July. There was no time for registration of the guns before the operation began, though this helped the surprise effect. 8th AGRA was allocated a flight of Air Observation Post (AOP) aircraft to direct its fire after H Hour. Radio silence was maintained until 03.55 on D Day (30 July). There were fewer guns than normal for an attack by Second Army, and ammunition supply was limited because the 'tail' of the corps was still strung out east of the Orne when the battle began. 61st (C&DY) Medium Rgt was assigned to 15th (S) Division, whose 227th (Highland) Infantry Brigade began its Phase 1 attack with two battalions at 06.50, supported by artillery concentrations. The battalions were on their objectives by