 Several days later, the Second Army made a frontal assault on Caen Operation Charnwood.The attack was preceded by Operation Windsor, to capture the airfield at Carpiquet just outside Caen.By 9 July, Caen north of the Orne and Odon rivers had been captured but German forces retained possession of the south bank and a number of important locations, including the Colombelles steel works, whose tall chimneys commanded the area.