Dead Horses - Falaise Gap

Liberation

bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Germany > The ETO > Liberation > Normandy, © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 27 Sep 2022.

Only a small portion of Normandy had been liberated when the Normandy Campaign ended and the Northern France Campaign began in late July. This webpage outlines the remaining major Allied military operations in Normandy in August 1944.

Brief Normandy Timeline, August 1944

• 7 August - German 7th Army begins abortive Mortain counterattack attacking west in effort to reach Avranches and cut off U.S. 3rd Army.
• 8 August - XV Corps elements penetrate Le Mans; XX Corps advances towards Nantes & Angers.
• 9 August - XV Corps turns north from Le Mans aiming towards Argentan.
• XX Corps captures Nantes.
• 12 August - Battle begins to close Falaise Pocket and trap German 7th Army - much of 7th Army escapes.
• 13 August - XV Corps captures Argentan; Bradley orders halt northward .
• 17 August - Elements of Canadian First Army finish capture of Falaise.
• 21 August - Falaise Pocket finally closed. Most Allied forces are already moving to the east pursuing retreating German units.

Normandy Area Index Map

France's Normandy Region, showing departments & their capitals

The Breakout, 1 - 13 August 1944

By 13 August, the end of the period shown on the accompanying map, the Canadian First, British Second, and US First Armies were focused on closing the Falaise Pocket, shown on the accompanying map.

The US Third Army's VIII Corps was occupied in Brittany, while its XV Corps had just received instructions to move from the Falaise Pocket east towards the Seine River.

Third Army's XX and XII Corps were about to begin their remarkable dash eastwards, across the upper Seine River, the Marne River, and the Meuse River. Unfortunately they would run out of gas, literally and figuratively, at the end of August approaching the cities of Metz and Nancy on the Moselle River.

Northwestern France, 1944, The Breakout, 1-13 August

Scalable Version

Operation Lüttich, the German counterattack at Mortain, 7-13 August 1944

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

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

US dead numbered between 2,000 and 3,000, with 1,000 of the dead coming from VII Corp's 30th Infantry Division, which bore the brunt of the German attack.

Operation Lüttich - The German Counterattack

The Falaise Pocket, a salient in German lines in southern Normandy, developed in mid August 1944.

Germany's 7th Army and part of the 5th Panzer Army confronted Montgomery's forces to the north and Bradley's forces to the south to keep the pocket open to allow retreat to the east.

Unfortunately, too long elapsed before the pocket was permanently closed:

• Effective resistance from Wehrmacht forces kept the pocket open.
• Some weaker Allied divisions were used in the attempt to close the pocket.
• Communications between British-led forces on the north and Americans on the south was poor.
• General Bradley denied General Patton's request to move XV Corp north from Argentan towards Falaise in an attempt to close the pocket.​

The Falaise Pocket

Before the Falaise Pocket closed permanently on 21 August, many Germans escaped eastward, crossed the Seine river, and returned to Germany. The German 7th Army was reconstituted and in December participated in the Ardennes counteroffensive, better known as the Battle of the Bulge.

Sources for Big Pigeon's The ETO > Liberation > Normandy  webpage:
Major Sources:

• Breakout and Pursuit, by Martin Blumenson, 1961, ~702 pp. [CMH #7-5]

Sources for webpage images: (C/O = courtesy of)

• Dead Horses, Falaise Gap, webpage header photo, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/354869645615189261/. This photograph demonstrates both the heavy use of horses by the German Army during World War II and the Allied destruction of most of the German 7th Army's heavy equipment during the closing of the Falaise Pocket around August 20, 1944.
• The Normandy Area Index Map, http://www.mapmanusa.com/cci-print-11.html - C/O Cartographic Concepts, Inc., custom mapping by Gene Thorp, http://www.mapmanusa.com. Gene Thorp's maps appear in The Liberation Trilogy (see below).
• France's Normandy Regionm map, excerpted from https://www.map-france.com/regions/ - C/O https://www.map-france.com.
• Northwestern France, 1944, The Breakout, 1-13 August, map, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Breakout.jpghttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Breakout.jpg.
• Operation Cobra - The Allied Breakout, map taken from medium.com/@Inflab/western-front-maps-of-world-war-ii-58798ee9d792 - C/O Infobase Publishing, infobase.com, a major producer of on-line learning materials.
• Operation Lüttich, the German CounterAttack and The Falaise Pocket, maps taken from liberationtrilogy.com/books/guns-at-last-light/maps-from-the-guns-at-last-light/images-for-maps-from-the-guns-at-last-light/. These 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 Trilogy. 

​Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - The ETO > Liberation > Normandy:

• Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Dead module.

03-02 - The ETO > Liberation > Normandy: (nine dead, updated 31 Dec 2022)

• When the official Normandy Campaign ended in July 1944, most of Normandy still lay in German hands.

† Bailey, Jack Carl, SN 37-356-705, US Army, Pott Co. & Cheyenne Co., NE

• Co. E, 60th Inf. Regt., 9th Inf. Div. (part of 2nd Bn. attached to 4th Inf. Div.); KIA 8 Aug 1944 NE of Avranches, Manche Dept., Normandy, France; The ETO > Liberation > Normandy.

† Baylor, Charles William, SN 37-001-796, US Army, Cass Co.

• 134th Inf. Regt., 35th Inf. Div.; KIA 4 Aug 1944 La Metairie, near Vire, Calvados Dept., Normandy, France; The ETO > Liberation > Normandy.

† Heilig, Kenneth Otto, SN O-1311299, US Army, Pierce Co., WA

• 41st Inf. Bn., 2nd Armored Div., XIX Corps, First Army; DOW 13 Aug 1944 SW of Falaise, Calvados Dept., Normandy, France; The ETO > Liberation > Normandy.

† Kakac, Victor Otto Jr., SN 37-476-218, US Army, Harrison Co.

• Co. M, 137th Inf. Regt., 35th Inf. Div.; KIA 1 Aug 1945 SE of St. Lo., Manche Dept., Normandy, France; France The ETO > Liberation > Normandy.

† Moss, Herman Albert, SN 37-141-303, US Army, Harrison & Pott. Cos.

• Co. L, 38th Inf. Regt., 2nd Inf. Div.; KIA 13 Aug 1944 SE of St. Lo, near Tinchebray, Orne Dept., Normandy, France; The ETO > Liberation > Normandy.

​† Peterson, Harry Earl, SN 37-138-626, US Army, Pott. Co.

• 357th Inf. Regt., 90th Inf. Div.; KIA 3 Aug 1944 near Avranches, Manche Dept., Normandy, France; The ETO > Liberation > Normandy.

† Renteria, Martin, SN 37-261-777, US Army, Pott. Co.

• Co. I, 120th Inf. Regt., 30th Inf. Div.; WIA 1 Aug 1944 near St. Lo, Manche Dept., Normandy, France; DOW 17 Aug 1944 in hospital, England; The ETO > Liberation > Normandy.

† Smith, Garland, Forsythe, SN 37-679-021, US Army, Cass Co.

• 115th Inf. Regt., 29th Inf. Div; KIA 11 Aug 1944 SE of St. Lo, near Vire, Calvados Dept., Normandy, France; The ETO > Liberation > Normandy.

† Smith, Norman Franklin, SN 37-071-817, US Army, Shelby Co.

• 46th Armored Inf. Bn., 5th Armored Div., XV Corps, Third Army; KIA 10 Aug 1944 near Le Mans, Sarthe Dept., Pays de la Loire Region, France; ​The ETO > Liberation > Normandy.