The Guards Armoured Division joined with the 7th and 11th Armoured Divisions for this attack. The aim was to strike south out of the Orne bridgehead on 18 July. The Guards Armoured Division was to advance south-east to capture Vimont and Argences. Prior to this attack the German defences were heavily bombed by the Royal Air Force. Unfortunately this was less effective than hoped against the dug-in defenders, both in the south of Caen and in Cagny and Emieville. All three of these areas were in the path of the Guards advance. The attack quickly bogged down and losses became heavy, the guards losing 60 tanks to a single battery of four Luftwaffe 88mm AA guns. In addition to this, a group of Tiger I tanks of the 503, which had been completely knocked out in the bombardment, recovered enough over the course of the morning to stiffen the resistance against the Guards. In addition, the Guards were checked by a "Schwere Panzerabteilung" and a counterattack by the 12 SS "Hilterjugend". Novel tactics had to be employed to deal with the more heavily gunned and armoured Tiger, with one being rammed by a Sherman of the Irish Guards.