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sapper
The stench of death and decaying bodies? remain with all the Vets, Always
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That's the one thing we can't get from photos and film. The SMELL.
I've said before, that's the thing the Great War Veterans mentioned all the time. The SMELL.
Sgt Sam Beard, 179th Field Regt RA, 43rd (Wessex) Division
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We fired 600 rounds per gun into the falaise pocket. The observation and reconnaissance vehicles returning to our lines were washed down with disinfectant to remove human and animal debris from them. Dead friend and foe alike- for there were many French civilains trapped in the area- lay in heaps, their bodies mixed together with horses and domestic animals, filling the sunken lanes where they had sought shelter. So intense was the carnage of man and beast, that all the dead animals could not be buried and later these piles of rotting flesh were bulldozed into heaps and set on fire with petrol.
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Wally Caines, battalion signals sergeant 4th Dorsets, wrote in his diary:
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22 Aug. Near Falaise, massed slaughter had taken place by Typhoon Fighter Bombers. the recce party passed through this area. We travelled one road and actually our vehicle travelled over the top of many crushed German dead bodies.... how that lot looked and stunk, dead bodies were running over with maggots and flies- it was indeed a ghastly sight seeing these dead Nazis bursting in the blistering heat of the day. the road was about 1 1/2 miles long. Never before had I seen or smelt anything like it.
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From The Fighting Wessex Wyverns. Patrick Delaforce.
Even the RAF got a close up view of the carnage.Johnnie Johnson wrote in
Wing Leader Quote:
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"After the fighting had ebbed away from Falaise, we decided to drive there and see the results of our attacks at first hand. We thought that we were prepared for the dreadful scenes. On the last flights the stench from the decaying bodies below had even penetrated through the cockpit canopies of the Spitfires. Another, and , perhaps the most important, object of our visit was to bring back a suitable German staff car, since it was obvious that we should soon be on the move across France, and a comfortable Mercedes would provide a welcome change from our hard-riding jeeps. After we left Falaise behind, all the roads were so choked with burnt-out German equipment that it was quite impossible to continue the journey. The bloated corpses of unfortunate domestic animals also lay in our path, so we took to the fields and tried to make some progress across country. Each spinny and copse contained its dreadful quota of dead Germans lying beside their wrecked vehicles, and once we came across the body of waht had been a beautiful woman lying sprawled across the back seat of a staff car. We found our limosines, which consisted of Renaults, Citroens, Mercedes and strangley enough a smooth Chevolet. We had brought ropes , jacks and a few jerrycans of petrol, but it was impossible to extricate any of the cars. Soon we abandoned our search and left the fields and lanes, heavy with their rotting burden in the warm sunshine."
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Can't have a Falaise Gap thread without this famous painting can we?
http://www.vectorfineart.com/Images/...g_typhoons.jpg 
Rocket Firing Typhoon's at the Falaise Gap - Normandy 1944 by Frank Wootton