Falaise Bloody Falaise.

[sapper]

Falaise,
Some may wonder why I return to this subject? Simple really it was the vast extent of what happened there. We had the very dubious distinction
of pushing from the back of the bag, There we experienced some fierce rearguard actions by the SS, In an attempt to give their mates time to get away. It was here that my best friend in the Suffolk's was wounded.

For some off reason it has never been seen as the huge victory it actually was.
Historian John Keegan described it as "The greatest disaster to the German army in the course of World war 2, Surpassing Stalingrad, Tunisia, or the destruction of army group centre.
Twenty-seven infantry divisions were completely destroyed, and 12 Panzer divisions reduced from 1800 tanks to 120. Over half a million casualties were incurred and Germany lost its best state France. The loss of 180,00 German troops with 20,000 escaping was a devastating Victory
The area was swamped with prisoners. What was worse was the number of German corpses lying in grotesque piles made worse with cattle and horses.
The road was impassable for the piles of dead.
The Dives valley was a five-mile long coffin filled with the rotting corpses, with as many as ten thousand German soldiers in obscene heaps. The piles of German dead so thick that bulldozers were used to clear a passage.
It was possible to walk for hundreds of yards walking on nothing but dead and decaying flesh.
The stench of the dead was so appalling, that the spotter planes flew higher to avoid the smell coming up from the ground. After the battle the whole area was dead, not a bird sang, hardly a patch of grass left……That was Falaise.
I can still smell it, and will carry it with me to the end of my days.
Some of these facts are from Lt General D Whitaker, He researched the battle.
The men that took the greatest hammering were the Canadians and the Poles that tried so desperately to close the neck of the bag, Bless thier cotton socks!
Sapper

[Owen]

Brian ,
It will stick with me too, my one and only trip, so far to Normandy was in the Falaise area.
Just glad that was 2005 and not 1944.

Can't agree with Keegan stating

The greatest disaster to the German army in the course of World war 2

In the WEST , yes but not the whole war.
That was undeniably in the East.

[sapper]

The figures show that to be untrue according to the research. I think that because of the winter and the publicity Stalingrad was seen as much worse. I agree with Keegan. 180,000 men lost. but also the total destruction of the artillery and the Armour. IT was a cauldron of unprecedented proportions
Sapper

[Gotthard Heinrici]

Operation Bagration losses for the German Army: 300,000 dead, 250,000 wounded, 2,000 tanks lost and 57,000 other vehicles. Following this defeat the Russians recaptured Belarus, drove as far as the Vistula and were the first Allied Army to set foot on German Soil.

Falaise was an important victory no question but it was not the biggest.

[Owen]

Having been to Falaise, it is quite a compact area compared to the area of operations of Op Bagration.

Whatever is biggest or bloodiest doesn't really matter as the battles still have an effect on the Veterans who were there in 1944.

[Gotthard Heinrici]

oh Absolutely. Sorry I was refuting Keegans Assertion,

[51highland]

Couple of photos from the IWM photo collections on line, the carnage of Falaise. Pzkpfw IV Tank with cremated crew. Dead horses in a road in the Falaise Gap.

[Owen]

With the mess at Falaise Germany had lost the battle for France.
Cross the Seine then on to The Great Swan.
A few pockets of resistance here and there but the next effective line of German defence was right back in Belgium.

[sapper]

Yet this was an overwhelming Victory. the complete destruction of 180,000 men and their armour and artillery as a fighting structure.
Yet the carpers and snipers sat in their comfortable armchairs back in the UK, never gave Monty any credit for what was in fact, one of the greatest victories of WW2, Not only did he destroy the German army in Normandy with his tacitcs. But he did it ten days ahead of schedule.

His Vicory was Complete, just as it had been in North Africa.
Sapper

[Gotthard Heinrici]

It was a complete victory alright but I would also like to state Sapper that it was an Allied Victory, not just Monty's. You are right that he didnt get as much credit but the Americans were also involved and Monty wasnt overall commander at this stage as far as I am aware.