Falaise Pocket

Lore & Background

Six weeks after the 6 June 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy, German forces were in turmoil, having expended irreplaceable resources defending the frontline and with Allied air superiority threatening the availability of food and ammunition. On the Allied side, British forces had expected to liberate Caen immediately after the invasion, an operation which ended up taking nearly two months, and US forces had expected to control Saint-Lô by 7 June, yet German resistance delayed this until after Caen's liberation. The Allied armies developed a multi-stage operation, beginning with Operation Goodwood on 18 July, and continuing with Operation Cobra on 25 July, which saw American forces pushing into a gap around Saint-Lô and overwhelming the defending German forces. On 1 August, Lieutenant General George S. Patton was named the commanding officer of the newly recommissioned US Third Army, which included large segments of the force that had broken through the German lines. The Third Army quickly pushed south and then east, meeting little resistance. Concurrently, the British/Canadian troops pushed south in Operation Bluecoat, attempting to keep the German armour engaged. Four depleted panzer divisions were insufficient to defeat the First US Army, driving the Germans deeper into the Allied envelopment. On 8 August, Allied ground forces commander General Bernard Montgomery ordered the Allied armies to converge on the Falaise–Chambois area to envelop Army Group B, with the First US Army forming the southern arm, the British the base, and the Canadians the northern arm of the encirclement. The Germans began to withdraw on 17 August, and on 19 August the Allies linked up in Chambois. German counter-attacks forced gaps in the Allied lines, the most significant of which was a corridor forced past the 1st Polish Armoured Division on Hill 262, a commanding position at the pocket mouth. By the evening of 21 August, the pocket had been sealed, with an estimated 50,000 Germans trapped inside. Approximately 20–50,000 German troops managed to escape the pocket before it was closed. The Allied Liberation of Paris came a few days later, and on 30 August the remnants of Army Group B retreated across the Seine, completing Operation Overlord.

In Their Own Story

The chute tugs free and the ground rushes up—wheat stubble, a hedgerow, the black smear of a burned-out half-track. You hit the dirt hard, the harness biting, and the first thing you hear is not the wind but the crack of an MG42 from somewhere behind the ridge. A voice, hoarse, in a flat American drawl: "Move. Now. The gap's closing and they know it." You drag yourself up, rifle across your chest, and run. The sky above is still pale with the last of the drop, and somewhere to the east the tanks are grinding forward, sealing the door. All that's left is to cut the throat of the line before the last few hundred get through. You do not look back. You do not have time.

Reader's Guide

The battle is also referred to as the battle of the Falaise gap (after the corridor which the Germans sought to maintain to allow their escape). The US advance from the south made good progress on 12 August; Alençon was captured and Kluge was forced to commit troops he had been gathering for a counter-attack. The next day, the US 5th Armored Division of the US XV Corps advanced 35 mi (56 km) and reached positions overlooking Argentan. On 13 August, Bradley overruled orders by Patton for a further push northwards towards Falaise by the 5th Armoured Division. Bradley instead ordered the XV Corps to 'concentrate for operations in another direction'. The US troops near Argentan were ordered to withdraw.

Did You Know?

• The Falaise pocket was fought from 12 to 21 August 1944.
• The pocket was formed around Falaise, Calvados, in Normandy.
• German Army Group B, including the 7th Army and Fifth Panzer Army, was encircled.
• The Allies linked up in Chambois on 19 August.
• An estimated 50,000 Germans were trapped inside the pocket; 20,000–50,000 escaped.