The Second Army commander, Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey, ordered Lieutenant-General Gerard Bucknall, the XXX Corps commander and Major-General George Erskine, the 7th Armoured Division commander, to disengage the 7th Armoured Division from Tilly-sur-Seulles, move through the gap, seize Villers-Bocage and menace the exposed left flank of the Panzer-Lehr Division. The British objective was a ridge to the east of Villers-Bocage. Dempsey hoped that its capture would force the Panzer-Lehr Division to withdraw or risk being surrounded. The 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division and most of the infantry brigade of the 7th Armoured Division were to continue the attack against the Panzer-Lehr Division around Tilly-sur-Seulles and the 1st US and 2nd US Infantry divisions of the V US Corps would continue their advance.