German infantry put up massive resistance against the British 3rd Infantry Division, the picture to the left shows the German troops in action trying to stop the British advance.

After mid-day on June 6th. It was decided that the British infantry would have to move inland without tank support, the backlog on the beach head was hindering the advancement of the armour, it would have to catch up later.

Nearing Caen, they were met by the 21st. Panzer Division!! Storming out of the city to counter attack the beach landings.
This was totally unexpected, but thanks to the 185th. Brigade Group who destroyed 16 German tanks, the attack was repulsed.

The picture to the right shows the Massive Tiger 11 the largest of the Panzers, the 88 MM. gun had a terrific range, but the sheer weight of the tank made it slow and cumbersome.

The British 3rd. Infantry continued to advance to Caen along with the Canadians coming off Juno. At 7 p.m. that evening the German 21st. Panzer Division struck again, with a massive counter attack through the 3 mile gap between the British and Canadians, it was stopped in its tracks before reaching the beaches thanks to the allied anti-tank defences knocking out 13 tanks in all..
A total of 54 tanks were lost by the 21st Panzer Division, virtually 50% of their armour, during this period of constant counter attacks.

The British 3rd. Division failed to reach their D-Day objective (Caen), It was far too optimistic an aim when considering the amount of German resistance.
Never the less 29,000 men were put ashore on Sword Beach on the day, together with their equipment and huge amounts of heavy armour. The battle for Caen would eventually come.
The main objective now, was to secure a position of strength and prevent the Germans from pushing them back into the sea.