Bombed empty trenches? Not sure about that aspect...
http://www.legionmagazine.com/featur...tory/98-11.asp
An elaborate bombing program was devised for Operation Goodwood, the British armored blitzkrieg of July 18, 1944, and Atlantic–the code-name for the Canadian portion of the operation. Christopher Evans, a young air historian who has written a detailed account of Bomber Command’s role in Goodwood, argues the bombing achieved almost all*of its objectives. The weakness of the*plan was the absence of a second, equally powerful onslaught the following day.
The targets were arranged in a complex U-shaped pattern. The industrial zone of Caen on the south bank of the Orne and the stone villages on the left flank of the tank corridor were to be destroyed with 1,000-pound, delayed fuse bombs. Mosquitoes of 8 Pathfinder Force employing Oboe, the navigation system based on radio beams, marked the targets with red smoke markers dropped from 22,000 feet. Behind them, flying into morning sun, the master and deputy master bombers corrected for wind drift dropping yellow target indicators. Finally, the Halifaxes and Lancasters approached the targets at heights of between 6,500 and 9,500 feet. The weather was clear and in slightly over 30 minutes the bombs were gone,*leaving unbelievable destruction behind. Six of the 1,014 aircraft that took part in the operation were shot down.
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Den/7664/caen.html
The British air attack began at dawn and the armor began to roll an hour later. The bombardment by over two thousand Allied heavy bombers not only destroyed the front line German infantry divisions, but the soft skinned vehicles of some of the armored formations. The German forces were badly scattered and out of communication with other units, but individual initiative of many commanders allowed small kampfgruppes to be organized and ambush the advancing British units.
and...
http://www.poeland.com/tanks/scenarios/goodwood/
The attack was preceded by a huge air bombardment dropped by over 1,000 British and American bombers. This carpet-bombing was severe enough to flip Tigers upside down, bury vehicles, and drive German infantrymen to madness. German lines and communications were completely disrupted.
But logistics slowed the British armour: minefield crossings, railroad line crossings, and dealing with hundreds of enthusiastic but inexperienced drivers. By the time the 11th Division reached the heart of the battlefield, the Germans had begun to regroup. 7th armour followed the 11th; and Guards held the eastern flank in close terrain.
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So it sounds like the bombing was rather effective. Sounds to me like it was more a matter of terrain issues and tactics. The terrain around Caen was extremely unfavorable to tank usage and forced vehicles to essentially stay on the roads, making perfect ambush targets.
And tactics- because the British decided to make the attack an all-armor operation, there was no reliable method available to take out anti-tank weapons. A single soldier with a panzerschrek could hold up the entire advance. It seems telling that each of the main armored groups involved encountered similar circumstances. The 11th made good progress- until a counterattack
stopped their progress. Similar situations arose with the Guards Armored Division and the 11th- each made good progress but was suddenly stopped by a counter attack. This sounds to me like a situation that could have easily been avoided through the use of infantry and armor co-operation. If infantry had also been part of the offensive, many german ambushes could have been avoided by early discovery, and maybe even some of the allied attacks could have kept their momentum. Once the armor was stopped by the german defenders or counter-attacks, there were no forces to step into place and keep up the momentum of the attack.
Makes me think in some ways of the Battle of the Bulge. The attacking german armored forces were far stronger than the american defenders - much like the British armored forces were likely during Goodwood much stronger than their german enemies, who had lost even more tanks during the bombing. BUT- even these minor forces caused major delays in the German advance. During Goodwood, the allies seemed to have encountered the same thing. Even though their armored forces were much stronger, every little ambush and battle caused too many delays for the allied operation to succeed.
my 3 cents worth...