Falaise pocket

Battle of the Falaise pocket
Part of the Normandy Campaign
Map showing the course of the battle from 8–17 August 1944
Date 12–21 August 1944 Location Normandy, France 48°53′34″N 0°11′31″W / 48.89278°N 0.19194°W / 48.89278; -0.19194 Result Allied victory[1] Liberation of Paris Destruction of most of Army Group B west of the Seine river
Belligerents
United States  United Kingdom  Canada Poland France	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Bernard Montgomery Omar Bradley Harry Crerar Miles Dempsey Courtney Hodges George S. Patton Arthur Coningham	Günther von Kluge † Walter Model Paul Hausser Heinrich Eberbach
Units involved
1st Army 3rd Army 1st Army 2nd Army 2nd Tactical Air Force	7th Army 5th Panzer Army
Strength
580,000 troops (23 divisions) 3,000 tanks and assault guns 6,780 artillery pieces 1,800 aircraft 64,400 vehicles	200,000 troops (remnants of 24 divisions) 719 tanks and assault guns 988 artillery pieces 9,802 vehicles
Casualties and losses
United States: Unknown United Kingdom: Unknown Free French: Unknown Canada: 5,679 casualties[nb 1] Poland: est. 5,150 casualties in total[3] of which 2,300 for the 1st Armoured Division.[4]	est. 60,000: est. 10,000 killed est. 50,000 captured 500 tanks/assault guns

The Falaise pocket or battle of the Falaise pocket (German: Kessel von Falaise; 12–21 August 1944) was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War. Allied forces formed a pocket around Falaise, Calvados, in which German Army Group B, consisting of the 7th Army and the Fifth Panzer Army (formerly Panzergruppe West), were encircled by the Western Allies. The battle resulted in the destruction of most of Army Group B west of the Seine, which opened the way to Paris and the Franco-German border.

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. However, 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 the 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.

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