Possession of Caen and its surroundings would give the Second Army a suitable staging area for a push south to capture Falaise, which could be used as the pivot for a swing left to advance on Argentan and then towards the Touques River. Hampered by congestion in the beachhead, which delayed the deployment of its armoured support and forced to divert effort to attack strongly held German positions along the route to the town, the 3rd Infantry Division was unable to assault Caen in force on D-Day and was stopped short by the 21st Panzer Division. Follow-up attacks failed as German reinforcements arrived. Abandoning the direct approach, Operation Perch—a pincer attack by I and XXX Corps—was launched on 7 June, to encircle Caen from the east and west.