Dead Horses - Falaise Gap

The ETO

France Liberated

bigpigeon.us webpage WW II - Germany > ETO > France Liberated > Normandy  Breakout, updated by RAC 7 Oct '19.

This webpage outlines Allied military operations in Normandy starting 25 July 1944. This is considered by the US Army as part of the Northern France Campaign, but are treated within my website as part of the Liberation of France. 

Brief Normandy Breakout Timeline

• 25 Jul 1944 - Operation Cobra, breakout from Normandy, begins with massive American carpet bombing west of St. Lo.
• 1 Aug 1944 - George Patton's 3rd Army activated at western end of Allied line in Normandy and begins rapid advance southwest, south, and southeast.
• 7 Aug 1944 - German 7th Army begins abortive Mortain counterattack attacking west in effort to reach Avranches and cut off U.S. 3rd Army.
• 12 Aug 1944 - Battle begins to close Falaise Pocket and trap German 7th Army - much of 7th Army escapes.
• 21 Aug 1944 - Falaise Pocket finally closed. Most Allied forces are already moving to the east pursuing retreating German units.

Normandy Area Index Map

The Allied Armies in France as of 1 August 1944

Two additional Allied armies participated in Phase 2 of the Normandy Campaign:

• Jul '44 - The First Canadian Army, partially comprised of elements already in Normandy, begins combat.
• 1 Aug '44 - George Patton's Third Army is activated and begins combat operations on the right flank of the US First Army. Some elements of the new Third Army were already in combat.

Thus, as of August '44 there were two army groups in France:

• on the left flank, the 21st Army Group, commanded by General Bernard Montgomery and consisting of  the First Canadian and the Second British Armies.
• on the right flank, the 12th Army Group, commanded by General Omar Bradley and consisting of the First and Third US Armies.

Operation Cobra - The Normandy Breakthrough

Operation Cobra included two infamous incidents of friendly fire. Preliminary carpet bombing by the Air Force killed 25 Americans on July 25, and the major carpet bombing the following day killed 111 more. The dead included a three-star general and a former reporter for the Des Moines Register.

However, the carpet bombing achieved its goal of shattering the German defenses in the area, and in the following few days the U.S. 1st Army made substantial advances to the south as shown on the accompanying map.

Operation Cobra - The Allied Breakout

Operation Lüttich, the German counterattack at Mortain

Operation Lüttich was a hail-mary attempt by the German Army to advance to the coast near Avranches, thus cutting off the American 7th Army. 

Undertaken by several under-strength Panzer (armored) divisions and several infantry divisions, it was soon beaten back after intense fighting.

Operation Lüttich - The German Counterattack

Eliminating the Falaise Pocket

The Falaise Pocket was a bulge in the German lines that in southern Normandy that developed in the first part of August 1944. Germany's 7th Army and part of the 5th Panzer Army confronted Montgomery's forces on the north and Bradley's forces on the south.

Unfortunately, some of the weaker Allied divisions were used to close the pocket, and communications between British-led forces on the north and Americans on the south was poor.
 
​Too many Germans escaped through the gap to the east, where they made their way eastward, crossed the lower Seine river, and returned to the German border. There the 7th German Army was reconstituted and in December participated in the Ardennes Offensive, better known as the Battle of the Bulge.

The Falaise Pocket

Sources for the WW II - Normandy Breakout webpage

• The header photo demonstrates both the heavy use of horses by the German Army during World War II and the Allied destruction of most of the 7th German Army's heavy equipment during the closing of the Falaise Pocket around August 20, 1944. Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/354869645615189261/.
• The Normandy Area Index Map is courtesy of Cartographic Concepts Inc. at http://www.mapmanusa.com/cci-print-11.html.
• The Operation Cobra - The Allied Breakout map was produced by Infobase Publishing, infobase.com, a major producer of on-line learning materials.
• The German Attack at Mortain and Falaise Pocket maps were created by Gene Thorp for The Guns at Last Light, the third volume of Rick Atkinson's Pulitzer Prize winning series, The Liberation Triology. One can view these maps at liberationtrilogy.com/books/guns-at-last-light/maps-from-the-guns-at-last-light/images-for-maps-from-the-guns-at-last-light/.
• I found the Infobase Publishing maps mentioned above, as well as many more-detaied maps of the ETO, in the inflab area of medium.com, namely ​medium.com/@Inflab/western-front-maps-of-world-war-ii-58798ee9d792. 

Pottawattamie County, Iowa WW II Dead - Normandy Breakout
(taken from the bigpigeon.us WW II Dead webarea)

• 03-02 - Liberation of France - Normandy Breakout: (four dead, updated 6 Oct ’19)
  † Bailey, Jack Carl - SN 37-356-705, US Army
  Co. E, 60th Inf. Regt., 9th Inf. Div.; KIA 8 Aug ’44 in Normandy; Mortain German counterattack.
  † Paulsen, Laverne Henry  - SN 37-445-364, US Army
  Recon. Co., 66th Armored Regt., 2nd Armored Div.; KIA 29 Jul ’44 in Normandy.
  † Peterson, Harry Earl - SN 37-138-626, US Army
  357th Inf. Regt., 90th Inf. Div.; KIA 3 Aug ’44 near Avranches, Normandy.
  † Renteria, Martin - SN 37-261-777, US Army
  Co. I, 120th Inf. Regt., 30th Inf. Div.; WIA 1 Aug ’44 near St. Lo, Normandy; DOW 17 Aug ’44, in hospital, England.
  ​

Supplemental Material

About Army Corps:
​One of Napoleon Bonaparte's military innovations was the corps, an organization intermediate between a division and an army. I avoid mentioning corps whenever possible, as they are generally an uncessary complication. However, because of the large number of divisions in the ETO, many maps show actions at the corps level and not at the division level. In the US and British armies, corps were identified by roman numerals.

Patton's Third Army contained the following corps at one time or another:
III Corps
V Corps
VIII Corps - led by General Middleton, this corps liberated Brittany in August & September '44.
XII Corps
XV Corps
XX Corps
​