U
Ulf Norman
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An amazing expose, thanks! 
Normandy Tour - Day 6 - Falaise Pocket- End of the Battle for Normandy
- Thread starter Gunner
- Start date
After lunch at Moissy we headed down to Chambois.
I'm going to use this thread as a bit of a catch up.
- Thanks to King Tiger at the clubsnap website. He sums things up better than I ever could.
...With the U.S. First Army forming the southern arm, the British Second Army the base, and the Canadian First Army the northern arm of the encirclement, the Germans fought hard to keep an escape route open, although their withdrawal did not begin until 17 August.
There was pure chaos among the German troops. The organization was in shambles and orders were conflicting.
Hitler demanded attacks, but all the Germans can do is to go in a defense.
On 16 Aug that night the first attempt was made to escape the area. It went remarkably well, this was due to that fact that the Allies gave the Germans a free hand.
On 17 August it all changed dramaticly. Montgomery concluded that the Germans were trying to escape instead of fighting. He ordered that the escaping route should be closed.
The 2nd Canadian Armoured Army Corps and the 4th Canadian and the 1st Polish Armoured Division were given the assignment to head for Trun and further on to Chambois.
Trun was captured in one swift move and the Polish troops reach Chambois just short of 1 kilometer.
General George S. Patton started his advance to the north on 11 August 1944 while the British and Canadian head for Falaise and spearhead for Argentan.
The German troops went from attack to defense.
On 13 August the 1st SS and 2nd Pantzer Division arrived around Argentan, but instead of participating in the counterattack, they take defensive positions.
With the U.S. First Army forming the southern arm, the British Second Army the base, and the Canadian First Army the northern arm of the encirclement, the Germans fought hard to keep an escape route open, although their withdrawal did not begin until 17 August. There was pure chaos among the German troops. The organization was in shambles and orders were conflicting.
Hitler demanded attacks, but all the Germans can do is to go in a defense.
On 16 Aug that night the first attempt was made to escape the area. It went remarkably well, this was due to that fact that the Allies gave the Germans a free hand.
On 17 August it all changed dramaticly. Montgomery concluded that the Germans were trying to escape instead of fighting. He ordered that the escaping route should be closed.
The 2nd Canadian Armoured Army Corps and the 4th Canadian and the 1st Polish Armoured Division were given the assignment to head for Trun and further on to Chambois.
Trun was captured in one swift move and the Polish troops reach Chambois just short of 1 kilometer.
On 18 August, the Germans had just a hole of 8 kilometers wide to make the escape.
Under heavy fire from tanks, artillery and Hawker Typhoon fighter-bombers, the Germans tried desperate to bring back as much men as possible through this gap.
On 19 August the enclave were the last remains of fifteen divisions, wandering and lost troops, an enormous pack of tanks and other logistic vehicles.
In a last desperate attempt to escape and to make the escape route somewhat bigger, the Germans organized a plan of attack.
But the British troops pulled the noose around the 'pocket' tighter and the 4th Canadian Armoured Division headed for St-Lambert-sur-Dives and the 1st Polish Division captured the important 'Hill 262' (Mont-Ormel) that had an excellent view on the sector around Chambois and Vimoutiers.
The Allies linked up in Chambois but in insufficient strength to seal the pocket.
Gaps were forced in the Allied lines by desperate German assaults, the most significant and hard-fought being a corridor past elements of the Polish 1st Armoured Division, who had established a commanding position in the mouth of the pocket.
On 20 August, the Germans renewed the attack to force open an egress, elements of the 2nd and 9th SS Panzer Divisions attack from outside the pocket towards the Polish positions.
Around midday several units of the 10th SS, 12th SS, and 116th Panzer Divisions managed to break through the weak Polish lines and open a corridor, while the 9th SS Panzer Division prevented the Canadians from intervening.
St. Lambert and Chambois were taken but the Germans were still moving through the Moissy area.
It wasn't until the Polish 1st Armored Division were solidly emplaced on Hill 262 would the pocket be truly sealed.
Here are some pictures and artists renditions to remind you and get an idea of the destruction that took place in and near Moissy and Chambois....
Closing the Gap ~ Robert Taylor:
Typhoons at Falaise Nicolas Trudgian:
This one is hard.
You do not get the feeling of the loss of human life in the other pictures where it's just scattered debris.
This one kind of brings that home.
Prisoners From the Pocket (Trun, August, 1944)(From an oil painting by Capt. O.N. Fisher):
.
I'm going to use this thread as a bit of a catch up.
- Thanks to King Tiger at the clubsnap website. He sums things up better than I ever could.
...With the U.S. First Army forming the southern arm, the British Second Army the base, and the Canadian First Army the northern arm of the encirclement, the Germans fought hard to keep an escape route open, although their withdrawal did not begin until 17 August.
There was pure chaos among the German troops. The organization was in shambles and orders were conflicting.
Hitler demanded attacks, but all the Germans can do is to go in a defense.
On 16 Aug that night the first attempt was made to escape the area. It went remarkably well, this was due to that fact that the Allies gave the Germans a free hand.
On 17 August it all changed dramaticly. Montgomery concluded that the Germans were trying to escape instead of fighting. He ordered that the escaping route should be closed.
The 2nd Canadian Armoured Army Corps and the 4th Canadian and the 1st Polish Armoured Division were given the assignment to head for Trun and further on to Chambois.
Trun was captured in one swift move and the Polish troops reach Chambois just short of 1 kilometer.
General George S. Patton started his advance to the north on 11 August 1944 while the British and Canadian head for Falaise and spearhead for Argentan.
The German troops went from attack to defense.
On 13 August the 1st SS and 2nd Pantzer Division arrived around Argentan, but instead of participating in the counterattack, they take defensive positions.
With the U.S. First Army forming the southern arm, the British Second Army the base, and the Canadian First Army the northern arm of the encirclement, the Germans fought hard to keep an escape route open, although their withdrawal did not begin until 17 August. There was pure chaos among the German troops. The organization was in shambles and orders were conflicting.
Hitler demanded attacks, but all the Germans can do is to go in a defense.
On 16 Aug that night the first attempt was made to escape the area. It went remarkably well, this was due to that fact that the Allies gave the Germans a free hand.
On 17 August it all changed dramaticly. Montgomery concluded that the Germans were trying to escape instead of fighting. He ordered that the escaping route should be closed.
The 2nd Canadian Armoured Army Corps and the 4th Canadian and the 1st Polish Armoured Division were given the assignment to head for Trun and further on to Chambois.
Trun was captured in one swift move and the Polish troops reach Chambois just short of 1 kilometer.
On 18 August, the Germans had just a hole of 8 kilometers wide to make the escape.
Under heavy fire from tanks, artillery and Hawker Typhoon fighter-bombers, the Germans tried desperate to bring back as much men as possible through this gap.
On 19 August the enclave were the last remains of fifteen divisions, wandering and lost troops, an enormous pack of tanks and other logistic vehicles.
In a last desperate attempt to escape and to make the escape route somewhat bigger, the Germans organized a plan of attack.
But the British troops pulled the noose around the 'pocket' tighter and the 4th Canadian Armoured Division headed for St-Lambert-sur-Dives and the 1st Polish Division captured the important 'Hill 262' (Mont-Ormel) that had an excellent view on the sector around Chambois and Vimoutiers.
The Allies linked up in Chambois but in insufficient strength to seal the pocket.
Gaps were forced in the Allied lines by desperate German assaults, the most significant and hard-fought being a corridor past elements of the Polish 1st Armoured Division, who had established a commanding position in the mouth of the pocket.
On 20 August, the Germans renewed the attack to force open an egress, elements of the 2nd and 9th SS Panzer Divisions attack from outside the pocket towards the Polish positions.
Around midday several units of the 10th SS, 12th SS, and 116th Panzer Divisions managed to break through the weak Polish lines and open a corridor, while the 9th SS Panzer Division prevented the Canadians from intervening.
St. Lambert and Chambois were taken but the Germans were still moving through the Moissy area.
It wasn't until the Polish 1st Armored Division were solidly emplaced on Hill 262 would the pocket be truly sealed.
Here are some pictures and artists renditions to remind you and get an idea of the destruction that took place in and near Moissy and Chambois....
Closing the Gap ~ Robert Taylor:
Typhoons at Falaise Nicolas Trudgian:
This one is hard.
You do not get the feeling of the loss of human life in the other pictures where it's just scattered debris.
This one kind of brings that home.
Prisoners From the Pocket (Trun, August, 1944)(From an oil painting by Capt. O.N. Fisher):
.
Last edited:
After lunch we went to Chambois.
It is in Chambois where we meet the American forces again…..
…..Moving north out of Argentan early on August 18, the 90th Infantry recaptured Le Bourg-St Léonard, situated on a ridge taken some time before in a German counterattack. The ridge became an artillery observation post with a panoramic view of the German escape route. The artillery poured it on the Germans, as many as 15 batteries concentrating on a single area. Over-head, Piper Cub spotting planes called in fire missions and corrected the aim of the big guns. (One officer remarked that the little Cubs improved the effectiveness of the American artillery by as much as 40 percent.) Geography dictated that the Germans had to pass through specific points to transit the gap, so artillery coordinates remained the same as new Germans replaced old passing through the fixed kill boxes.
St. Leonard is at the bottom of the map
Here is a view from Le Bourg-St LĂ©onard. You can see Chambois in the middle disatnce.
By the end of August 19, the 90th Infantry was a mile short of Chambois, where its officers expected to link up with the Canadian First Army. Now American units were within rifle range of most of the German exits. The enemy was blown down like targets in a shooting gallery by direct tank fire, machine guns, and rifles. Hundreds of Germans simply gave up and walked to the American lines with hands raised. Hundreds more simply kept on walking east, almost oblivious to the hail of small arms, artillery, and aerial firepower deluging their ranks.
A pensive American sergeant standing near the body of a German soldier who was killed on the road near Chambois France. By the roadside a German multiple rocket launcher MRL 15 cm Panzerwerfer 42 Sd.Kfz.4- 1:
Two american soldiers in defensive position between Chambois and Fel:
Chambois was to be taken by the 359th Infantry Regiment of the 90th Division’s 2nd Battalion. Captain Leland Waters, commanding G Company, was one of the first men to approach the village on August 19. Sighting a man in a British uniform, Waters approached him. The man was no Briton but a Pole, Major Wladyslaw Zgorzelski of the 1st Polish Armored Division’s 10th Dragoons Regiment. The two officers shook hands. The Falaise gap was closed.
Lieutenant KĹ‚aptocz of the Polish 1st Armoured Division and Major Leonard Dull of the US 90th Infantry Division, in Chambois, August 1944, after the Allied ...
From the north…..
The Canadians reorganized and on 14 August launched Operation Tractable. Three days later Falaise fell. The Allied noose was closing around von Kluge's force and it fell to the Poles to draw it tight. In a meeting with his divisional commanders on 19 August, Simonds emphasized the importance of quickly closing the Falaise Pocket to General Stanisław Maczek.
Assigned responsibility for the Moissy–Chambois–Coudehard area, Maczek's Polish 1st Armoured Division had split into three battlegroups each composed of an armoured regiment and an infantry battalion and been sweeping the countryside north of Chambois. However, facing stiff German resistance and with Loszutski's battlegroup having "gone astray" and needing to be rescued, the division had not yet taken Chambois, Coudehard, or the Mont Ormel ridge.
Following his meeting with Simonds, Maczek was determined to get his men onto their objectives as soon as possible. The 10th Dragoons (10th Polish Motorised infantry Battalion) and 10th Polish Mounted Rifle Regiment (the division's armoured reconnaissance regiment) drove hard on Chambois, the capture of which would effect a link-up with the United States 90th Infantry Division who were simultaneously attacking the town from the south.
Having taken Trun and Champeaux, the 4th Canadian Armoured Division reinforced the Poles, and by the evening of 19 August the town was in Allied hands.
Pvt. John Wellington, 359thCorporal Grabowski (10th Dragoons1st Armored Polish Division) in Chambois August 20th
The site today:
When we arrived in Chambois we stopped in the center of town near the Chambois Castle or "The Keep (donjon) of Chambois Castle."
The keep (donjon) of Chambois Castle is located in Normandy and is a classic Norman style stone keep. It was built in the second half of the 12th Century when the kings of England were still lords of Normandy.
The town square and the memorials.
It is a very impressive place.
Here is a shot of the different displays and markers one can find here:
(I think I need to learn to keep the camera level)
The stone telling of what took place here:
More description, this one in English:
There is a great map here that shows the whole pocket and where the different forces were:
My brother Don gives you an idea of the scale of the map:
A closer view:
Finally, so we do not forget that this pretty little town was once a hard fought battlefield:
From here we head up towards Hill 262, also known as "The Mace" and the heroic stand the Polish 1st Armored...
.
It is in Chambois where we meet the American forces again…..
…..Moving north out of Argentan early on August 18, the 90th Infantry recaptured Le Bourg-St Léonard, situated on a ridge taken some time before in a German counterattack. The ridge became an artillery observation post with a panoramic view of the German escape route. The artillery poured it on the Germans, as many as 15 batteries concentrating on a single area. Over-head, Piper Cub spotting planes called in fire missions and corrected the aim of the big guns. (One officer remarked that the little Cubs improved the effectiveness of the American artillery by as much as 40 percent.) Geography dictated that the Germans had to pass through specific points to transit the gap, so artillery coordinates remained the same as new Germans replaced old passing through the fixed kill boxes.
St. Leonard is at the bottom of the map
Here is a view from Le Bourg-St LĂ©onard. You can see Chambois in the middle disatnce.
By the end of August 19, the 90th Infantry was a mile short of Chambois, where its officers expected to link up with the Canadian First Army. Now American units were within rifle range of most of the German exits. The enemy was blown down like targets in a shooting gallery by direct tank fire, machine guns, and rifles. Hundreds of Germans simply gave up and walked to the American lines with hands raised. Hundreds more simply kept on walking east, almost oblivious to the hail of small arms, artillery, and aerial firepower deluging their ranks.
A pensive American sergeant standing near the body of a German soldier who was killed on the road near Chambois France. By the roadside a German multiple rocket launcher MRL 15 cm Panzerwerfer 42 Sd.Kfz.4- 1:
Two american soldiers in defensive position between Chambois and Fel:
Chambois was to be taken by the 359th Infantry Regiment of the 90th Division’s 2nd Battalion. Captain Leland Waters, commanding G Company, was one of the first men to approach the village on August 19. Sighting a man in a British uniform, Waters approached him. The man was no Briton but a Pole, Major Wladyslaw Zgorzelski of the 1st Polish Armored Division’s 10th Dragoons Regiment. The two officers shook hands. The Falaise gap was closed.
Lieutenant KĹ‚aptocz of the Polish 1st Armoured Division and Major Leonard Dull of the US 90th Infantry Division, in Chambois, August 1944, after the Allied ...
From the north…..
The Canadians reorganized and on 14 August launched Operation Tractable. Three days later Falaise fell. The Allied noose was closing around von Kluge's force and it fell to the Poles to draw it tight. In a meeting with his divisional commanders on 19 August, Simonds emphasized the importance of quickly closing the Falaise Pocket to General Stanisław Maczek.
Assigned responsibility for the Moissy–Chambois–Coudehard area, Maczek's Polish 1st Armoured Division had split into three battlegroups each composed of an armoured regiment and an infantry battalion and been sweeping the countryside north of Chambois. However, facing stiff German resistance and with Loszutski's battlegroup having "gone astray" and needing to be rescued, the division had not yet taken Chambois, Coudehard, or the Mont Ormel ridge.
Following his meeting with Simonds, Maczek was determined to get his men onto their objectives as soon as possible. The 10th Dragoons (10th Polish Motorised infantry Battalion) and 10th Polish Mounted Rifle Regiment (the division's armoured reconnaissance regiment) drove hard on Chambois, the capture of which would effect a link-up with the United States 90th Infantry Division who were simultaneously attacking the town from the south.
Having taken Trun and Champeaux, the 4th Canadian Armoured Division reinforced the Poles, and by the evening of 19 August the town was in Allied hands.
Pvt. John Wellington, 359thCorporal Grabowski (10th Dragoons1st Armored Polish Division) in Chambois August 20th
The site today:
When we arrived in Chambois we stopped in the center of town near the Chambois Castle or "The Keep (donjon) of Chambois Castle."
The keep (donjon) of Chambois Castle is located in Normandy and is a classic Norman style stone keep. It was built in the second half of the 12th Century when the kings of England were still lords of Normandy.
The town square and the memorials.
It is a very impressive place.
Here is a shot of the different displays and markers one can find here:
(I think I need to learn to keep the camera level)
The stone telling of what took place here:
More description, this one in English:
There is a great map here that shows the whole pocket and where the different forces were:
My brother Don gives you an idea of the scale of the map:
A closer view:
Finally, so we do not forget that this pretty little town was once a hard fought battlefield:
From here we head up towards Hill 262, also known as "The Mace" and the heroic stand the Polish 1st Armored...
.
On the way up to Hill 262 there were a couple of stops we had to check out first.
The first stop was just outside of Vimoutiers - Rommel's crash site.
(How cool, right?)
THE ATTACK ON ERWIN ROMMEL
For the allied fighter pilots it was business as usual on Monday 17 July, 1944. Spotting German troops, shoot them up or throw bombs on them. Since the invasion in Normandy thousands of vehicles were destroyed on French roads. That afternoon, approximately 16.00 hours, Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel boarded his Horch staff car that was parked outside the headquarters of SS Oberstgruppenfurher Josef Dietrich, commander of 1ste SS Panzer Corps, at Pierre-sur-Dives.
Rommel took the D4 that should lead him through Livarot. He was in great hurry, everywhere the allies broke through the German defences. The roads were blocked at many places by burning wrecks that were knocked out by fighter-bombers. Because of some detouring Rommel arrived in Livarot around 18.00 hours that afternoon. Despite the danger the staff car continued it's way to Vimoutires on the N179. At that time eight Spitfires, of the No 602 Squadron, flew in the vicinity. Two Spitfires broke out of the formation when they spotted the staff car. Squadron Leader J.J. Le Roux, DFC (an ace with 23½ destroyed enemy airplanes), took a shot at the staff car. His shells smacked with heavy force into the Horch. Rommel his driver was hit badly in the arm. Rommel was wounded in the face and his skull is fractured in three places. Driver Daniel lost the car and it runs into the verge of the road, hits a tree and the car turns over. Rommel lands unconscious besides the car. They fear for his life, but Rommel survives the attack. Daniel, his driver dies of his wounds that same night.
You can still find the spot where the Horch staff car hit the trees. Follow the N179 from Livarot towards Vimoutiers. After you passed Ste-Foy-de-Montgommery you come across a gatehouse to the right that belongs to the estate of Usine Laniel. Opposite of this building, on the other side of the road, is the spot of the crash.
But of course nothing is this simple.
In doing research for this post I found that there is a great debate as to who actually strafed Rommel's staff car.
As stated above it is believed that Squadron Leader J.J. Le Roux from No 602 Squadron is being given credit for the attack on Rommel.
But a good case for Charley Fox of 412 (RCAF) Squadron should get the credit.
Below is just a piece of the account from "A New Look at the Evidence by Reginald Byron, Archivist." at :
http://www.tangmere-museum.org.uk/articles/who-shot-rommel
…." Let us, then, look at the 412 Squadron claim. In 2003, Lance Russwurm, the Canadian artist, put up a website showing his new painting of Rommel’s car under attack by two Spitfires of 412 (RCAF) Squadron. It depicted Charley Fox in the leading Spitfire, firing his guns at a large black convertible. That Charley Fox might have been the pilot who shot up Rommel’s car had been known locally for years."
After checking archives and other documented about patrol times and log books things start to look better for Fox being the pilot doing the strafing.
Again see http://www.tangmere-museum.org.uk/articles/who-shot-rommel for a much more detailed argument.
In an interview with Lance Russwurm, Fox is quoted as saying:
“Here are my recollections of the events of July 17, 1944:
“In the late afternoon, 412 (Canadian) Spitfire Squadron took off on an armed recce. We were part of 126 Wing, 2nd Tactical Air Force, based at Bény-sur-Mer, just inland from Juno beach in Normandy.
“Three sections of four aircraft, led by our CO, Squadron Leader Jack Sheppard, got airborne and then broke up into three separate flights. These were led by the CO, Flight Lieutenant Rob Smith DFC, and myself.
“I spotted a large black car travelling at high speed along a road with trees on either side. It was coming towards us, on my left, at about 11 o’clock. I maintained steady, level flight until the vehicle passed us at 9 o’clock. I then began a curving, diving attack to my left, with my number two following to watch my tail. The other two aircraft maintained their height, keeping an eye out for enemy activity. I started firing at approximately 300 yards, and hit the staff car, causing it to crash. At the time, I had no idea who it was. [It was] just a large black open car, gleaming in the sun without any camouflage, which was unusual.
“The Americans claimed that one of their P-47s had shot up Rommel. Okay, end of story, as far as I was concerned.”
(Rommel, shortly after the strafing)
Fox is also quoted by David McKittrick, in The Independent’s obituary of him in November 2008, as saying:
“I timed the shots so that I was able to fire and get him as the car came through a small opening in the trees. I got him on that pass. We were moving pretty fast, but I knew I got him. I saw hits on the car and I saw it start to curve and go off the road.”
(some say this is from the gun camera but I think it may have been to high for the strafing of Rommel's staff car)
"There is more to the story. In May 1997, a former Royal Canadian Air Force pilot, Edward L. Prizer, and his wife Artice, visited the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum on a holiday trip to England from their home in Florida. Mr Prizer later wrote to the Museum, enclosing a four-page typescript recounting his experiences while stationed at Tangmere with 412 Squadron during the build-up to Operation Overlord in May and June 1944. This letter and typescript lay in one of the Museum’s storerooms until January 2011 when it was gathered up, along with hundreds of other loose documents that had accumulated here and there round the Museum, to be catalogued and filed in our document archive."
(Note the July 17th entry)
"Could Ed Prizer have been Charley Fox’s wingman when Rommel’s car was shot up? "
"I asked Lance if he knew who Charley’s wingman was on that sortie. Charley had said, initially, that it would have been his usual wingman, Steve Randall, but when he was shown the page from the ORB he realised that he had misremembered. Steve Randall, the ORB showed, hadn’t flown on that sortie. In April 2003 Charley wrote in his album, “According to the records an American — Ed Priser [sic] — serving in the RCAF was my number two, putting us in the air at the right time and place agreeing with the German records.”
Ed Prizer did write in his diary on 31 July 1944:
“Days have been passing by, with our armies rolling along, sometimes by yards and recently by miles. News comes in of rebellions in Germany [the Bomb Plot of 20 July] and Rommel wounded by strafing. Perhaps the old boy was in a car our squadron attacked, perhaps one of mine. Probably never know.”
"There are still questions to which we have no answers. What sort of car was it, and is there any evidence about what kind of gunfire struck it? In his 2003 interview, Charley Fox described it as a “large black open car” or four-door civilian cabriolet of the kind familiar to us from German newsreels. This is the sort of car that Lance Russwurm, following Charley’s description of it, depicted in his painting. But, in contrast, field staff cars of the kind in which Rommel was often pictured both in North Africa and in Normandy were utilitarian vehicles designed for battlefield conditions. Could Charley Fox, recollecting the events of 60 years earlier, have misremembered what kind of car it was, as he initially misremembered the identity of his wingman? In his original log book entry, Charley merely wrote “staff car”, and Ed Prizer described the vehicle as a “truck”. Neither described it, in their log book entries made at the time, with words suggesting “large”, “black”, “open”, or “civilian”."
If this photograph is what it claims to be (and it may not, as more than one staff car was attacked that day), the most interesting thing about it is the half-inch bullet hole in the centre of the windscreen. Had the projectile been an explosive 20 mm shell rather than a solid .5-calibre bullet, the hole would have been bigger and damage to the laminated glass much worse. Since Charley Fox is said to have fired only his 20 mm guns, the bullet must have come from one of the .5 Brownings of a second Spitfire.
Was it Ed Prizer’s? We shall probably never know.
A picture taken of the gate house and close to the bridge.
The gate house:
My nephew Andrew, sitting on the very spot a wounded Rommel was taken.
(Some stuff)
We were only on this spot for 10 or 15 minutes but you could spend hours reading and researching what happened here.
Also, what happened here changed the face of the war.
.
The first stop was just outside of Vimoutiers - Rommel's crash site.
(How cool, right?)
THE ATTACK ON ERWIN ROMMEL
For the allied fighter pilots it was business as usual on Monday 17 July, 1944. Spotting German troops, shoot them up or throw bombs on them. Since the invasion in Normandy thousands of vehicles were destroyed on French roads. That afternoon, approximately 16.00 hours, Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel boarded his Horch staff car that was parked outside the headquarters of SS Oberstgruppenfurher Josef Dietrich, commander of 1ste SS Panzer Corps, at Pierre-sur-Dives.
Rommel took the D4 that should lead him through Livarot. He was in great hurry, everywhere the allies broke through the German defences. The roads were blocked at many places by burning wrecks that were knocked out by fighter-bombers. Because of some detouring Rommel arrived in Livarot around 18.00 hours that afternoon. Despite the danger the staff car continued it's way to Vimoutires on the N179. At that time eight Spitfires, of the No 602 Squadron, flew in the vicinity. Two Spitfires broke out of the formation when they spotted the staff car. Squadron Leader J.J. Le Roux, DFC (an ace with 23½ destroyed enemy airplanes), took a shot at the staff car. His shells smacked with heavy force into the Horch. Rommel his driver was hit badly in the arm. Rommel was wounded in the face and his skull is fractured in three places. Driver Daniel lost the car and it runs into the verge of the road, hits a tree and the car turns over. Rommel lands unconscious besides the car. They fear for his life, but Rommel survives the attack. Daniel, his driver dies of his wounds that same night.
You can still find the spot where the Horch staff car hit the trees. Follow the N179 from Livarot towards Vimoutiers. After you passed Ste-Foy-de-Montgommery you come across a gatehouse to the right that belongs to the estate of Usine Laniel. Opposite of this building, on the other side of the road, is the spot of the crash.
But of course nothing is this simple.
In doing research for this post I found that there is a great debate as to who actually strafed Rommel's staff car.
As stated above it is believed that Squadron Leader J.J. Le Roux from No 602 Squadron is being given credit for the attack on Rommel.
But a good case for Charley Fox of 412 (RCAF) Squadron should get the credit.
Below is just a piece of the account from "A New Look at the Evidence by Reginald Byron, Archivist." at :
http://www.tangmere-museum.org.uk/articles/who-shot-rommel
…." Let us, then, look at the 412 Squadron claim. In 2003, Lance Russwurm, the Canadian artist, put up a website showing his new painting of Rommel’s car under attack by two Spitfires of 412 (RCAF) Squadron. It depicted Charley Fox in the leading Spitfire, firing his guns at a large black convertible. That Charley Fox might have been the pilot who shot up Rommel’s car had been known locally for years."
After checking archives and other documented about patrol times and log books things start to look better for Fox being the pilot doing the strafing.
Again see http://www.tangmere-museum.org.uk/articles/who-shot-rommel for a much more detailed argument.
In an interview with Lance Russwurm, Fox is quoted as saying:
“Here are my recollections of the events of July 17, 1944:
“In the late afternoon, 412 (Canadian) Spitfire Squadron took off on an armed recce. We were part of 126 Wing, 2nd Tactical Air Force, based at Bény-sur-Mer, just inland from Juno beach in Normandy.
“Three sections of four aircraft, led by our CO, Squadron Leader Jack Sheppard, got airborne and then broke up into three separate flights. These were led by the CO, Flight Lieutenant Rob Smith DFC, and myself.
“I spotted a large black car travelling at high speed along a road with trees on either side. It was coming towards us, on my left, at about 11 o’clock. I maintained steady, level flight until the vehicle passed us at 9 o’clock. I then began a curving, diving attack to my left, with my number two following to watch my tail. The other two aircraft maintained their height, keeping an eye out for enemy activity. I started firing at approximately 300 yards, and hit the staff car, causing it to crash. At the time, I had no idea who it was. [It was] just a large black open car, gleaming in the sun without any camouflage, which was unusual.
“The Americans claimed that one of their P-47s had shot up Rommel. Okay, end of story, as far as I was concerned.”
(Rommel, shortly after the strafing)
Fox is also quoted by David McKittrick, in The Independent’s obituary of him in November 2008, as saying:
“I timed the shots so that I was able to fire and get him as the car came through a small opening in the trees. I got him on that pass. We were moving pretty fast, but I knew I got him. I saw hits on the car and I saw it start to curve and go off the road.”
(some say this is from the gun camera but I think it may have been to high for the strafing of Rommel's staff car)
"There is more to the story. In May 1997, a former Royal Canadian Air Force pilot, Edward L. Prizer, and his wife Artice, visited the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum on a holiday trip to England from their home in Florida. Mr Prizer later wrote to the Museum, enclosing a four-page typescript recounting his experiences while stationed at Tangmere with 412 Squadron during the build-up to Operation Overlord in May and June 1944. This letter and typescript lay in one of the Museum’s storerooms until January 2011 when it was gathered up, along with hundreds of other loose documents that had accumulated here and there round the Museum, to be catalogued and filed in our document archive."
(Note the July 17th entry)
"Could Ed Prizer have been Charley Fox’s wingman when Rommel’s car was shot up? "
"I asked Lance if he knew who Charley’s wingman was on that sortie. Charley had said, initially, that it would have been his usual wingman, Steve Randall, but when he was shown the page from the ORB he realised that he had misremembered. Steve Randall, the ORB showed, hadn’t flown on that sortie. In April 2003 Charley wrote in his album, “According to the records an American — Ed Priser [sic] — serving in the RCAF was my number two, putting us in the air at the right time and place agreeing with the German records.”
Ed Prizer did write in his diary on 31 July 1944:
“Days have been passing by, with our armies rolling along, sometimes by yards and recently by miles. News comes in of rebellions in Germany [the Bomb Plot of 20 July] and Rommel wounded by strafing. Perhaps the old boy was in a car our squadron attacked, perhaps one of mine. Probably never know.”
"There are still questions to which we have no answers. What sort of car was it, and is there any evidence about what kind of gunfire struck it? In his 2003 interview, Charley Fox described it as a “large black open car” or four-door civilian cabriolet of the kind familiar to us from German newsreels. This is the sort of car that Lance Russwurm, following Charley’s description of it, depicted in his painting. But, in contrast, field staff cars of the kind in which Rommel was often pictured both in North Africa and in Normandy were utilitarian vehicles designed for battlefield conditions. Could Charley Fox, recollecting the events of 60 years earlier, have misremembered what kind of car it was, as he initially misremembered the identity of his wingman? In his original log book entry, Charley merely wrote “staff car”, and Ed Prizer described the vehicle as a “truck”. Neither described it, in their log book entries made at the time, with words suggesting “large”, “black”, “open”, or “civilian”."
If this photograph is what it claims to be (and it may not, as more than one staff car was attacked that day), the most interesting thing about it is the half-inch bullet hole in the centre of the windscreen. Had the projectile been an explosive 20 mm shell rather than a solid .5-calibre bullet, the hole would have been bigger and damage to the laminated glass much worse. Since Charley Fox is said to have fired only his 20 mm guns, the bullet must have come from one of the .5 Brownings of a second Spitfire.
Was it Ed Prizer’s? We shall probably never know.
A picture taken of the gate house and close to the bridge.
The gate house:
My nephew Andrew, sitting on the very spot a wounded Rommel was taken.
(Some stuff)
We were only on this spot for 10 or 15 minutes but you could spend hours reading and researching what happened here.
Also, what happened here changed the face of the war.
.
A short ride from Rommel's crash site, driving around a bend, coming up on the side of the road….a Tiger tank!
The Vimoutiers Tiger tank is a World War II German Tiger tank on outside display on the outskirts of Vimoutiers in the French departement of Orne, in Normandy. The tank is located on the way out of Vimoutiers heading towards Gacé on Route Départemental D979.
The date is August 21st,1944. The place is east of the town of Vimoutiers, in Southern Normandy. A group of German troops and several tanks, Panzer III & IV's, Tigers and Panthers are heading for a fuel dump at nearby Chateau de l'Horloge.
Both Men and vehicles are weary following the continuous fighting in the area after the Allied invasion of the Normandy coast. A Tiger 1,(no.231 *) of 2nd Kompanie of the s.SS.Pz.Abt 102, grinds to a halt in the middle of the N179, straddling the road after exhausting the last fuel vapor in its massive tanks. The commander makes the decision to abandon their vehicle and disable it. The crew start unloading all the ammunition and distributing it to the other vehicles in their company.
Then they remove their personal gear and negotiate a ride with their still, mobile comrades....... Making a hurried attempt at demolition, two charges are placed in the tank, one inside the turret, the other on the engine....The fuses are lit.......... They jump to the ground and walk slowly away, looking behind them at their mighty beast of war, soon to be destroyed by their own hands.
How long the Tiger remained there until the American engineers pushed it off the road down a bank into the trees, is unknown..........
(It is also said that "Sometime later, advancing units of 2nd Canadian Division (the Black Watch) bulldozed the tank off the road and down an embankment.")
After World War II, Normandy was littered with discarded military hardware. Local scrap dealers purchased this hardware off the land owner and would then scrap the vehicles. The Tiger was sold to a scrap dealer called Morat who removed easily accessible parts of the tank such as the gear box, hatches, smaller fittings, exhaust cowlings etc. Souvenir hunters over time also removed other items off the tank.
A local scrapman, Ms Morat, was not long in making a claim on the wreck and, once the purchase went through, did nothing about it apart from removing the turret and lifting out the gearbox. There it sat, half under the trees for 30 years, every loose fitting inside removed by souvenir hunters, when Ms Morat died, his sister sold the tank to a scrapyard in Caen.
The new owners wasted no time and soon arrived to cut up the Tiger ! they started the cutting torch on the turret top. The work was discovered by M.Michel Dufresne on her way home after shopping. Her husband contacted the Mayor of Vimoutiers straight away! The local town council soon heard about this, and rushed to the scene where they confronted the new owners saying this was "their" Tiger........
After much haggling and a telephone call by Mr Eddy Florentin, a historian, to the Ministry of War in Paris, on the Mayor's authority,the villagers paid the scrap dealer 6000 Francs (ÂŁ600) and secured it's future!
In May,1975 After The Battle magazine did a feature on The Falaise battle (issue 8) and pictured the tank on the cover. Now that the tank had widespread publicity,the feeling of the townspeople was that the tank should be removed from its resting place and restored and re-painted...The job of its recovery was given to Alain Roudeix, an ex-Maquis collector-extraordinaire, who had taken part in clearing much of the local battlefields just after the war.
In October,1975 the project began.....
A concrete plinth was made ready, in a lay by in the bend of the road, then the turret was lifted off to reduce the weight, and the hull was dragged up onto the road by two bulldozers...It was a struggle as you can see, as one of them goes "airborne"!
The turret was replaced and the next thing was to weld thin plates to cover the apertures where the hatches had been blown off. The removal of the torsion bars had collapsed the suspension so, a concrete support was made under the front and rear of the hull, so the tank would "sit" right.The wartime damage and more recent weld cuts were made good and then the tank was re-painted desert sand colour, the camoflage pattern was added with reference to armour plate still in M.Roudeix's collection.The tank has the serial no. 251 113, and the Tiger in Saumur is 251 114, which is known to belong to s.SS.Pz.Abt.102, so it is a good assumption that this Tiger belonged to the same group! Turret/Tank no. 231 reference is from the sites visitor information sign!.
The Vimoutiers Tiger is one of only six Tiger I tanks remaining. France and Russia both have two, a working Tiger is at the Tank Museum, Bovington in the UK and one can be found in the US.
Weather and time has caused damage to the Tiger tank. The tank's current paint scheme was applied by a local volunteer and does not closely match the green, dark yellow and red that Tiger tanks had during the Normandy campaign.
As of 2013, the mayor of Vimoutiers began to seek funding for a restoration project.[5] But due to the high cost, the decision on whether to carry out this restoration is being debated by the city council.
We talked about it and it's history with Gary and al in all spent about 20 minutes here (we were burning daylight after all.)
It was a good photo op too!
I have to say that this was a pretty cool stop.
It's not often, here in New York, do you find a Tiger tank on the side of the road
Another note too, we have tanks here in museums, mostly stationary but some that still are in working order and you can see them drive around. But almost always they are behind a rope or somehow cordoned off so you can't touch them....let alone climb on them!
This was truley a unique expieience for me.
Great stuff!
OK. This side trip is over.
Now, after another short drive, we will join the Polish again on Hill 262 and close the Pocket.
.
The Vimoutiers Tiger tank is a World War II German Tiger tank on outside display on the outskirts of Vimoutiers in the French departement of Orne, in Normandy. The tank is located on the way out of Vimoutiers heading towards Gacé on Route Départemental D979.
The date is August 21st,1944. The place is east of the town of Vimoutiers, in Southern Normandy. A group of German troops and several tanks, Panzer III & IV's, Tigers and Panthers are heading for a fuel dump at nearby Chateau de l'Horloge.
Both Men and vehicles are weary following the continuous fighting in the area after the Allied invasion of the Normandy coast. A Tiger 1,(no.231 *) of 2nd Kompanie of the s.SS.Pz.Abt 102, grinds to a halt in the middle of the N179, straddling the road after exhausting the last fuel vapor in its massive tanks. The commander makes the decision to abandon their vehicle and disable it. The crew start unloading all the ammunition and distributing it to the other vehicles in their company.
Then they remove their personal gear and negotiate a ride with their still, mobile comrades....... Making a hurried attempt at demolition, two charges are placed in the tank, one inside the turret, the other on the engine....The fuses are lit.......... They jump to the ground and walk slowly away, looking behind them at their mighty beast of war, soon to be destroyed by their own hands.
How long the Tiger remained there until the American engineers pushed it off the road down a bank into the trees, is unknown..........
(It is also said that "Sometime later, advancing units of 2nd Canadian Division (the Black Watch) bulldozed the tank off the road and down an embankment.")
After World War II, Normandy was littered with discarded military hardware. Local scrap dealers purchased this hardware off the land owner and would then scrap the vehicles. The Tiger was sold to a scrap dealer called Morat who removed easily accessible parts of the tank such as the gear box, hatches, smaller fittings, exhaust cowlings etc. Souvenir hunters over time also removed other items off the tank.
A local scrapman, Ms Morat, was not long in making a claim on the wreck and, once the purchase went through, did nothing about it apart from removing the turret and lifting out the gearbox. There it sat, half under the trees for 30 years, every loose fitting inside removed by souvenir hunters, when Ms Morat died, his sister sold the tank to a scrapyard in Caen.
The new owners wasted no time and soon arrived to cut up the Tiger ! they started the cutting torch on the turret top. The work was discovered by M.Michel Dufresne on her way home after shopping. Her husband contacted the Mayor of Vimoutiers straight away! The local town council soon heard about this, and rushed to the scene where they confronted the new owners saying this was "their" Tiger........
After much haggling and a telephone call by Mr Eddy Florentin, a historian, to the Ministry of War in Paris, on the Mayor's authority,the villagers paid the scrap dealer 6000 Francs (ÂŁ600) and secured it's future!
In May,1975 After The Battle magazine did a feature on The Falaise battle (issue 8) and pictured the tank on the cover. Now that the tank had widespread publicity,the feeling of the townspeople was that the tank should be removed from its resting place and restored and re-painted...The job of its recovery was given to Alain Roudeix, an ex-Maquis collector-extraordinaire, who had taken part in clearing much of the local battlefields just after the war.
In October,1975 the project began.....
A concrete plinth was made ready, in a lay by in the bend of the road, then the turret was lifted off to reduce the weight, and the hull was dragged up onto the road by two bulldozers...It was a struggle as you can see, as one of them goes "airborne"!
The turret was replaced and the next thing was to weld thin plates to cover the apertures where the hatches had been blown off. The removal of the torsion bars had collapsed the suspension so, a concrete support was made under the front and rear of the hull, so the tank would "sit" right.The wartime damage and more recent weld cuts were made good and then the tank was re-painted desert sand colour, the camoflage pattern was added with reference to armour plate still in M.Roudeix's collection.The tank has the serial no. 251 113, and the Tiger in Saumur is 251 114, which is known to belong to s.SS.Pz.Abt.102, so it is a good assumption that this Tiger belonged to the same group! Turret/Tank no. 231 reference is from the sites visitor information sign!.
The Vimoutiers Tiger is one of only six Tiger I tanks remaining. France and Russia both have two, a working Tiger is at the Tank Museum, Bovington in the UK and one can be found in the US.
Weather and time has caused damage to the Tiger tank. The tank's current paint scheme was applied by a local volunteer and does not closely match the green, dark yellow and red that Tiger tanks had during the Normandy campaign.
As of 2013, the mayor of Vimoutiers began to seek funding for a restoration project.[5] But due to the high cost, the decision on whether to carry out this restoration is being debated by the city council.
We talked about it and it's history with Gary and al in all spent about 20 minutes here (we were burning daylight after all.)
It was a good photo op too!
I have to say that this was a pretty cool stop.
It's not often, here in New York, do you find a Tiger tank on the side of the road
Another note too, we have tanks here in museums, mostly stationary but some that still are in working order and you can see them drive around. But almost always they are behind a rope or somehow cordoned off so you can't touch them....let alone climb on them!
This was truley a unique expieience for me.
Great stuff!
OK. This side trip is over.
Now, after another short drive, we will join the Polish again on Hill 262 and close the Pocket.
.
Our next few stops have to do with Hill 262 or what the Poles called "The Mace".
The fighting on this hill top was intense.
The 1st Polish Armored Division found themselves surrounded, not only fighting off the retreating Germans coming from the west out of the Pocket but also a counter attack from the east by the 2nd and 9th SS Panzer Divisions who were trying to force the Pocket back open.
Books were written on what happened on this hill.
The next three stops:
The Mace (Maczuga) - Hill 262 North - Polish 1st Armoured Division positions - Polish Memorial
Boisjos Farmhouse - HQ and aid station for Polish 1st Armoured Division
Montormel - Memorials and view over the pocket/gap
Since there quite a few pictures I wold like to post with this subject I am going to spread them out over the next three posts.
1) Location
Here is a map of an over all view of what was happening in France at the time the action on t"The Mace" was happening:
Our location and maps....
With this pic taken from Google Maps you can see what a commanding position this is overlooking the escape route out of the Pocket.
Chambois is on the left and you can see the one road leading past Montormel.
The British/Canadians were just to the North of the road and the Americans were just to te south so evrything funneled staright at the Poles on Montormel.
The fighting on this hill top was intense.
The 1st Polish Armored Division found themselves surrounded, not only fighting off the retreating Germans coming from the west out of the Pocket but also a counter attack from the east by the 2nd and 9th SS Panzer Divisions who were trying to force the Pocket back open.
Books were written on what happened on this hill.
The next three stops:
The Mace (Maczuga) - Hill 262 North - Polish 1st Armoured Division positions - Polish Memorial
Boisjos Farmhouse - HQ and aid station for Polish 1st Armoured Division
Montormel - Memorials and view over the pocket/gap
Since there quite a few pictures I wold like to post with this subject I am going to spread them out over the next three posts.
1) Location
Here is a map of an over all view of what was happening in France at the time the action on t"The Mace" was happening:
Our location and maps....
With this pic taken from Google Maps you can see what a commanding position this is overlooking the escape route out of the Pocket.
Chambois is on the left and you can see the one road leading past Montormel.
The British/Canadians were just to the North of the road and the Americans were just to te south so evrything funneled staright at the Poles on Montormel.
2) The story
August 18th, Major Zgorzelski’s detachment pressed on towards Chambois, skirting to the north of Trun. However, General Maczek sought to take the high ground of Coudehard ď€ Mont-Ormel (262 m.), which commanded the plain and the valley of the Dives(s), where the Germans were still fighting savagely. Major Stefanowicz advanced on Hill 262 and was getting ready to occupy the whole of the crest when he found himself in the presence of the entire German army in full flight, using the Chambois-Vimoutiers road to escape from the encirclement. This road was, in point of fact, their last exit since, with the Americans holding Chambois, it was no longer possible to flee towards GacĂ©.
Polish General Stanislaw Maczek
The Poles moved their tanks into position…, and commenced the massacre. The German columns came to a standstill under the persistent Polish fire. In panic men abandoned their equipment, setting fire to whatever would burn, cars, tanks and other vehicles. Then they took to their legs to save themselves. The bodies of men and horses strewed the road. When night came, the smoke of burning war material was so dense and impenetrable that visibility was reduced to nil and our Polish allies could advance no further.
On the 19th of August Lieutenant-Colonel Koszutski’s group, reinforced by the 9th Battalion of the Light Infantry, arrived on Hill 262. On the night of August 19th/20th, therefore, two armoured regiments and three battalions of light infantry held this strategic position. It was to be a terrible night.
The Germans were completely surrounded and hemmed in on the plain. They had no option but to attack at this point, apparently the most vulnerable in the containing ring. The tanks were in action for more than seventy hours; the fire was ceaseless, the terrain was crawling with men slipping stealthily along the hedgerows. At dawn, German armoured cars from St-Lambert burst through: S.S. troopers, trapped in 'the pocket' which was becoming a hellish cauldron, assaulted Hill 262 in waves. Their ferocious attacks pinned down the Polish units which were unable to close the whole width of the breach.
It was then that 2nd S.S. Panzer Corps, which had reached Vimoutiers the previous day after fighting its way out of the cauldron, received the order to move off and attack the Poles from the rear. Some Panthers, in a surprise attack, broke through the Polish perimeter and in a few minutes five tanks of the 1st Polish Armoured Regiment were set ablaze while their exhausted crews were still asleep. Supporting the Panthers were battalions of panzer grenadiers. The surprise was complete. There was an indescribable mêlée with vicious hand-to-hand fighting.
The element of surprise, the fatigue of the defenders, the Panther’s superiority over the Sherman and the lack of supplies created a situation such that the outcome of the battle depended on the valour of the men, their will to resist, and their determination to overcome the enemy, or be killed where they fought. Not one man fled! Not one surrendered!
Hard pressed our Poles requested air support: impossible! They were told that in the mêlée the aircrew could not tell friend from foe, the air forces were to concentrate on the approach roads.
What follows is the account of Colonel Pierre SĂ©vigny, a Canadian, then an artillery observation officer with the rank of Captain, attached to the 1st Polish Armoured Division. At the time of the attack on Saturday, August 19th, he had just joined his brave comrades in a regiment of armoured cavalry.
“At dawn the Polish major asked me to accompany a regiment of armoured cavalry which was about to support the attack on Hill 262 (Boisjos), the capture of which constituted our essential objective. A column of tanks set off for the attack. My vehicle was a Sherman tank armed with a cannon and two machine-guns. I had, in addition, two radio sets: one was for sending fire orders to my batteries which were to the rear; the other was to enable me to communicate with the front-line troops… We soon had the hill in sight: we found ourselves in the middle of hell. A company of German infantry, determined to hold it at no matter what cost, defended the position. Our troops had to annihilate them utterly; not one man would surrender. After several hours of desperate fighting the ground was finally ours: then I was able to observe the scene. The hill, 262 metres in height, was topped by a small wood near which was the old manor house (of Boisjos), half destroyed. The Germans had already dug a considerable network of trenches on its sides…. Enormous stocks of munitions were stored in every possible shelter…. This hill appeared to be essential to the enemy if he were to keep free the only two roads remaining to him.
The remains of a Polish Sherman tank and two German vehicles (a Panther tank and Sd.Kfz. 251 halftrack), destroyed in the vicinity of Boisjois near Point 262N
I could see clearly the two roads in question: the fire of the brigade’s guns would quickly have destroyed any enemy column attempting to pass through. The situation, thus, was favourable enough as far as it went. But…. the Canadians and Americans were showing no signs of life and the morning’s attack had cost us half of our effective strength! In addition, we had had no food for twenty-four hours; we were short of water; and an 88 had killed the doctor and destroyed all the medical supplies!
About three in the afternoon a patrol reported that two German columns were coming up towards us. That was the worst possible news! It meant the severing of our communications with the rear and the complete isolation of our group! Finally the enemy line of approach converged: I gave the order to aim at the crossroads. The batteries were ready, we waited! Fifteen minutes went by…. Utterly and completely motionless…. camouflaged, the troops lay in wait. The two columns reached the crossroads at exactly the same time. As we had foreseen there was confusion, everyone trying to move on to the road together: huge trucks filled with troops, guns drawn by six-horse teams, staff cars, reconnaissance half-tracks and even two enormous assault guns, armed with 88s. The disorder was total! Then, in a voice which I was trying to keep calm, I gave the order: “Fire!” Sixteen guns opened up simultaneously: twenty salvos were fired. Their 100 lb. shells fell on the heaving mass. What a massacre! The gun-layers did their work beautifully! I saw numerous vehicles burst into flames, terrified horses trapped in their harnesses. Men trying to flee….
Their efforts were in vain, a shell soon found them and I saw bodies flying through the air. Another shell lifted the turret from a tank; a tank nearby caught fire. Our machine-guns carried on the slaughter…. Ten minutes later everything on the road was in flames. Ammunition exploded inside the vehicles, killing the occupants.…
On our side we were unscathed! We had, however, to prepare for the counter-attack. Encouraged by this first success we quickly made Hill 262 into a fortified castle. Towards 17.00 we received a discouraging message: the Canadians were at a dead stop five miles away. In spite of all their efforts they could make no further progress without reinforcements. Our only hope hung on the Americans who were coming up from the south; they had to join us during the night. At 21.00 came another message: the Americans, too, had been stopped. Here we were then, by ourselves and completely surrounded!
The Polish major called his officers together and spoke to them all in French, for my benefit:
“Gentlemen,” he said, “the hour is grave. The brigade is completely isolated. The enemy is still fighting: his only escape routes are those you see to the right and to the left. There is nobody except us who can stop them: that is what we shall try to do! Surrender is out of the question! As Poles! This is what I propose to do: the infantry will hold the lower ground and will withdraw to the higher ground only in the last resort, the tanks will remain here in the little wood with engines stopped to save petrol. My Command Post will be in this old house where we are now (Boisjos Manor House).”
Addressing me, he asked: “Can you lay down fire from your guns right round the hill?”
I replied in the affirmative. Everybody shook hands and we went to our posts. I zeroed in my guns on four points where I expected enemy attacks. That way they would later be able to fire with accuracy whenever they were wanted.
(Polish 1st Armored Division)
The night began. The men were calm. They did not know how grave the situation was. About midnight there was firing near the crossroads we had already shelled. Once again I gave the order: “Five rounds per gun!” We heard explosions and the cries of the wounded. However, firing broke on the left, then on the right. The enemy was attacking everywhere at the same time. At the foot of Coudehard hill there was bloody, hand-to-hand fighting all night. We lost many men and all we had for the wounded was a little iodine.
Sunday, August the 20th
Daylight came: it was absolutely essential for us to reorganise and contract our defence perimeter. All attacks had been repulsed but our losses during the night had been considerable. And it was still going on! Fortunately our dominating position ensured that we could not be surprised…! We fired without ceasing, the machine-guns and rifles grew red hot!
In the end the enemy pulled back but he still threatened the right. Attention! He was about to pass the first two points I had pre-ranged. I quickly gave the order to my signaller. The shells fell, the Boches were thrown back in disorder!
A lull. We were not short of things to trouble us: the major had been hit in the chest by a shell splinter. We had exhausted our rations, there was scarcely half a bottle of water left per man; ammunition was scarce! Suddenly, over on our left, we heard the sounds of numerous tanks moving! The Canadians! At last! We looked for the green flares. Nothing! We came down to earth: they were German tanks advancing on us.
The major then decided on a bold manoeuvre. The best defence was still attack: and we set off to meet the enemy with twelve tanks! We soon saw the silhouettes of sixteen, enormous, German tanks, Tigers! The battle began and within three minutes of the start we had lost six tanks to one of theirs!
Only the artillery could save us! Crouching in a hole I used a portable radio to send orders to my signaller to relay to the guns. And I waited: had I studied my map thoroughly enough? Had I marked the targets well enough? Would the guns fire in time? The steel monsters were still coming, firing with all their weapons. I saw the sparkling of their machine-guns: their 88s whistled over my head. What were our gunners doing? The leading tank was only 500 metres away…, 400 now, 300, 250, 200! It was all over! I no longer dared look! Yet, I looked again: 150 metres, 100 metres. I dived into the bottom of the hole, pressing my face to the earth, not daring to move. Death would come to me in seconds, of that I was sure…. Instinctively, I murmured a prayer…. Then, suddenly, a hurricane, rolls of thunder, the ground trembling! Death? Life? Could it be possible? Was this help? Our guns were firing! What I was hearing were our shells! And there, in the hole, I laughed and cried! Stupidly I raised my head, but only for an instant! We were saved! With unparalleled accuracy and at a prodigious rate of fire, unknown till then, a cloud of shells burst over the enemy.
The Boche hesitated. Five tanks were burning like haystacks. My gunners had orders to fire all their ammunition! The attack was broken: the Germans retired, pursued by the Poles who destroyed another three tanks! How I congratulated my men on the fine work they had done!
…….. Nevertheless the attack was soon renewed. Our losses mounted constantly…. but now I could not believe my eyes: the Boches were advancing towards us singing, “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles”! We let them come to within 50 yards, then we mowed down their ranks…. More waves followed.... When the fifth came we were out of ammunition. The Poles charged them with the bayonet! During that day we suffered eight attacks like this! The enemy was exploiting our weakness, but what fanaticism he showed! One of the wounded near me looked like a child: I read the date of birth in his paybook: April, 1931! He was thirteen years old. How horrible!
We took prisoners. Some of those from the Wehrmacht were of Polish birth. They were asked if they would join us: anyone who accepted was given the rifle and paybook of one of the dead! They were unexpected, precious reinforcements. The S.S. and those whose paybooks showed that they had taken part in the invasion of Poland in ’39 received no mercy!
About 6 o' clock the attacks ceased. The battlefield was a scene from a nightmare! On the flanks of the hill thousands of corpses made a veritable rampart. We had been forced back to the top of Hill 262. Around the wood, which was about 600 metres long and 300 metres across, now filled with the wounded, we had dug trenches which were to be held at all cost! Aircraft tried to drop supplies to us but all the containers fell behind enemy lines.
At nightfall that Sunday evening the major called his officers together: out of sixty only four were fit to fight, three lieutenants and myself, all the others, including the major himself, were more or less seriously wounded. Lying in terrible pain on some straw, the Polish major found the strength to pull himself upright and give his instructions. I will never forget his words:
“Gentleman, all is lost. I do not think the Canadians can relieve us. We have no more than 110 fit men. There is no food and not much ammunition: five shells per gun and fifty rounds per man! That is very little…. even so, fight on! It would be useless to surrender to the S.S., you know that! I give you my thanks: you have fought well. Good luck, gentleman, this night we will be dying for Poland and civilisation!”
As he gave me his orders he added,
“Carry on with the same tactics. Afterwards it will be every tank for itself and then every man for himself!”
By now very weak he stopped speaking…. When I got back to my tank the silence was like that of death. Suddenly, in the distance, I heard the rumble of tanks. This time there could be no mistake: these were Shermans, but they were still far off!
Now that communication with the Polish major had become pointless I tried to find some music on one of the radios. I tuned in to a German announcing, in perfect English, the encirclement of an entire Polish division in the Falaise area! He was exaggerating, but he was not exactly lying! I tuned to another station: Strauss waltzes, played by an orchestra in London: I could hear the voices and laughter of the dancers. Over there, a different world was taking its pleasure!
In Canada the theatres in every town would be overflowing with people. I thought of the days when I knew nothing of war…. I thought of my parents…. so anxious at hearing that I was on the continent…. feelings shared by thousands of families throughout the world who prayed for only one thing: that God would protect their sons in the fire of battle.... Now it was finished: in the last forty-eight hours thousands of men had been wiped out before my eyes…. It would soon be my turn!
I was thinking for a long time, and the night went by.
Nearly 4 in the morning, Monday, August the 21st
A shaft of moonlight lit the clearing in front of me: shadows! Immediately came a burst of machine-gun fire. A quarter of an hour later, a new attack! We were losing a lot of men, among them two of the Polish lieutenants: there was only one left!
Half an hour later it was dawn. I went to sleep literally standing up. Suddenly my signaller woke me and I started: “Captain, I can hear our tanks!”
There was no possible mistake! They must have been very close, perhaps 600 metres to the west, and I could clearly distinguish the two, green flares. Between them and us, however, on the side of the hill lay a small, thick wood and the Germans were still in it. What were we to do? If our friends bumped into resistance the likelihood was that they would pull back and look for another way. No hesitation! We had to attack and link up with our relief no matter what it cost.
Immediately I gathered the men. They all agreed: we had to take the enemy by surprise. Luckily his attention was diverted by the noise of the tanks! At the blast of a whistle we went forward! We advanced quickly despite branches, craters and the S.S. Nothing could stop the wrath of the Poles. The Polish lieutenant was in front of me: I saw him fall, hit in the forehead by a bullet. At the same time, from behind a tree, a soldier aimed his carbine at me: I threw myself to one side as he fired: he missed and was instantly bayoneted. A bullet grazed my left shoulder: it was nothing, and we reached the bottom of the hill to see six Shermans firing on us! They finally recognised us and, with our strength increased, we were soon climbing back up that famous Hill 262.
When we reached the Command Post the Polish major greeted us, he was shaking with emotion and I became part of a scene of delirious joy. We laughed, we wept, we embraced each other. The soldiers told long stories in Polish to the Canadians who understood not a word but nevertheless burst into peals of laughter!
Our victory was total, but at a terrible price: only seventy Poles survived the slaughter unhurt: I was the only officer still able to stand!
(Polish soldiers resting next to a Sherman after the battle)
The Poles now call that hill “Maczuga”, which means “The Mace”. And that is it exactly: the battle of “Maczuga” hill was the final, crushing blow which broke German power."
(Pierre SEVIGNY, Montréal)
The Balance-sheet of this fearful confrontation:
The Poles, who went into this fight with eighty-seven Sherman tanks against all the remaining weaponry of the German Seventh army surrounded on the plain of Tournai ď€ Aubry ď€ St-Lambert, lost 325 dead, 16 of whom were officers, 1,002 wounded and 114 missing. Eleven tanks were destroyed.
The Germans had about 2,000 killed, 5,000 taken prisoner, including a general, six colonels and 80 officers. They left on the battlefield 55 tanks, of which 14 were Panthers and 6 Tigers, 44 guns and 152 armoured vehicles, 359 vehicles of all types were destroyed.
August 18th, Major Zgorzelski’s detachment pressed on towards Chambois, skirting to the north of Trun. However, General Maczek sought to take the high ground of Coudehard ď€ Mont-Ormel (262 m.), which commanded the plain and the valley of the Dives(s), where the Germans were still fighting savagely. Major Stefanowicz advanced on Hill 262 and was getting ready to occupy the whole of the crest when he found himself in the presence of the entire German army in full flight, using the Chambois-Vimoutiers road to escape from the encirclement. This road was, in point of fact, their last exit since, with the Americans holding Chambois, it was no longer possible to flee towards GacĂ©.
Polish General Stanislaw Maczek
The Poles moved their tanks into position…, and commenced the massacre. The German columns came to a standstill under the persistent Polish fire. In panic men abandoned their equipment, setting fire to whatever would burn, cars, tanks and other vehicles. Then they took to their legs to save themselves. The bodies of men and horses strewed the road. When night came, the smoke of burning war material was so dense and impenetrable that visibility was reduced to nil and our Polish allies could advance no further.
On the 19th of August Lieutenant-Colonel Koszutski’s group, reinforced by the 9th Battalion of the Light Infantry, arrived on Hill 262. On the night of August 19th/20th, therefore, two armoured regiments and three battalions of light infantry held this strategic position. It was to be a terrible night.
The Germans were completely surrounded and hemmed in on the plain. They had no option but to attack at this point, apparently the most vulnerable in the containing ring. The tanks were in action for more than seventy hours; the fire was ceaseless, the terrain was crawling with men slipping stealthily along the hedgerows. At dawn, German armoured cars from St-Lambert burst through: S.S. troopers, trapped in 'the pocket' which was becoming a hellish cauldron, assaulted Hill 262 in waves. Their ferocious attacks pinned down the Polish units which were unable to close the whole width of the breach.
It was then that 2nd S.S. Panzer Corps, which had reached Vimoutiers the previous day after fighting its way out of the cauldron, received the order to move off and attack the Poles from the rear. Some Panthers, in a surprise attack, broke through the Polish perimeter and in a few minutes five tanks of the 1st Polish Armoured Regiment were set ablaze while their exhausted crews were still asleep. Supporting the Panthers were battalions of panzer grenadiers. The surprise was complete. There was an indescribable mêlée with vicious hand-to-hand fighting.
The element of surprise, the fatigue of the defenders, the Panther’s superiority over the Sherman and the lack of supplies created a situation such that the outcome of the battle depended on the valour of the men, their will to resist, and their determination to overcome the enemy, or be killed where they fought. Not one man fled! Not one surrendered!
Hard pressed our Poles requested air support: impossible! They were told that in the mêlée the aircrew could not tell friend from foe, the air forces were to concentrate on the approach roads.
What follows is the account of Colonel Pierre SĂ©vigny, a Canadian, then an artillery observation officer with the rank of Captain, attached to the 1st Polish Armoured Division. At the time of the attack on Saturday, August 19th, he had just joined his brave comrades in a regiment of armoured cavalry.
“At dawn the Polish major asked me to accompany a regiment of armoured cavalry which was about to support the attack on Hill 262 (Boisjos), the capture of which constituted our essential objective. A column of tanks set off for the attack. My vehicle was a Sherman tank armed with a cannon and two machine-guns. I had, in addition, two radio sets: one was for sending fire orders to my batteries which were to the rear; the other was to enable me to communicate with the front-line troops… We soon had the hill in sight: we found ourselves in the middle of hell. A company of German infantry, determined to hold it at no matter what cost, defended the position. Our troops had to annihilate them utterly; not one man would surrender. After several hours of desperate fighting the ground was finally ours: then I was able to observe the scene. The hill, 262 metres in height, was topped by a small wood near which was the old manor house (of Boisjos), half destroyed. The Germans had already dug a considerable network of trenches on its sides…. Enormous stocks of munitions were stored in every possible shelter…. This hill appeared to be essential to the enemy if he were to keep free the only two roads remaining to him.
The remains of a Polish Sherman tank and two German vehicles (a Panther tank and Sd.Kfz. 251 halftrack), destroyed in the vicinity of Boisjois near Point 262N
I could see clearly the two roads in question: the fire of the brigade’s guns would quickly have destroyed any enemy column attempting to pass through. The situation, thus, was favourable enough as far as it went. But…. the Canadians and Americans were showing no signs of life and the morning’s attack had cost us half of our effective strength! In addition, we had had no food for twenty-four hours; we were short of water; and an 88 had killed the doctor and destroyed all the medical supplies!
About three in the afternoon a patrol reported that two German columns were coming up towards us. That was the worst possible news! It meant the severing of our communications with the rear and the complete isolation of our group! Finally the enemy line of approach converged: I gave the order to aim at the crossroads. The batteries were ready, we waited! Fifteen minutes went by…. Utterly and completely motionless…. camouflaged, the troops lay in wait. The two columns reached the crossroads at exactly the same time. As we had foreseen there was confusion, everyone trying to move on to the road together: huge trucks filled with troops, guns drawn by six-horse teams, staff cars, reconnaissance half-tracks and even two enormous assault guns, armed with 88s. The disorder was total! Then, in a voice which I was trying to keep calm, I gave the order: “Fire!” Sixteen guns opened up simultaneously: twenty salvos were fired. Their 100 lb. shells fell on the heaving mass. What a massacre! The gun-layers did their work beautifully! I saw numerous vehicles burst into flames, terrified horses trapped in their harnesses. Men trying to flee….
Their efforts were in vain, a shell soon found them and I saw bodies flying through the air. Another shell lifted the turret from a tank; a tank nearby caught fire. Our machine-guns carried on the slaughter…. Ten minutes later everything on the road was in flames. Ammunition exploded inside the vehicles, killing the occupants.…
On our side we were unscathed! We had, however, to prepare for the counter-attack. Encouraged by this first success we quickly made Hill 262 into a fortified castle. Towards 17.00 we received a discouraging message: the Canadians were at a dead stop five miles away. In spite of all their efforts they could make no further progress without reinforcements. Our only hope hung on the Americans who were coming up from the south; they had to join us during the night. At 21.00 came another message: the Americans, too, had been stopped. Here we were then, by ourselves and completely surrounded!
The Polish major called his officers together and spoke to them all in French, for my benefit:
“Gentlemen,” he said, “the hour is grave. The brigade is completely isolated. The enemy is still fighting: his only escape routes are those you see to the right and to the left. There is nobody except us who can stop them: that is what we shall try to do! Surrender is out of the question! As Poles! This is what I propose to do: the infantry will hold the lower ground and will withdraw to the higher ground only in the last resort, the tanks will remain here in the little wood with engines stopped to save petrol. My Command Post will be in this old house where we are now (Boisjos Manor House).”
Addressing me, he asked: “Can you lay down fire from your guns right round the hill?”
I replied in the affirmative. Everybody shook hands and we went to our posts. I zeroed in my guns on four points where I expected enemy attacks. That way they would later be able to fire with accuracy whenever they were wanted.
(Polish 1st Armored Division)
The night began. The men were calm. They did not know how grave the situation was. About midnight there was firing near the crossroads we had already shelled. Once again I gave the order: “Five rounds per gun!” We heard explosions and the cries of the wounded. However, firing broke on the left, then on the right. The enemy was attacking everywhere at the same time. At the foot of Coudehard hill there was bloody, hand-to-hand fighting all night. We lost many men and all we had for the wounded was a little iodine.
Sunday, August the 20th
Daylight came: it was absolutely essential for us to reorganise and contract our defence perimeter. All attacks had been repulsed but our losses during the night had been considerable. And it was still going on! Fortunately our dominating position ensured that we could not be surprised…! We fired without ceasing, the machine-guns and rifles grew red hot!
In the end the enemy pulled back but he still threatened the right. Attention! He was about to pass the first two points I had pre-ranged. I quickly gave the order to my signaller. The shells fell, the Boches were thrown back in disorder!
A lull. We were not short of things to trouble us: the major had been hit in the chest by a shell splinter. We had exhausted our rations, there was scarcely half a bottle of water left per man; ammunition was scarce! Suddenly, over on our left, we heard the sounds of numerous tanks moving! The Canadians! At last! We looked for the green flares. Nothing! We came down to earth: they were German tanks advancing on us.
The major then decided on a bold manoeuvre. The best defence was still attack: and we set off to meet the enemy with twelve tanks! We soon saw the silhouettes of sixteen, enormous, German tanks, Tigers! The battle began and within three minutes of the start we had lost six tanks to one of theirs!
Only the artillery could save us! Crouching in a hole I used a portable radio to send orders to my signaller to relay to the guns. And I waited: had I studied my map thoroughly enough? Had I marked the targets well enough? Would the guns fire in time? The steel monsters were still coming, firing with all their weapons. I saw the sparkling of their machine-guns: their 88s whistled over my head. What were our gunners doing? The leading tank was only 500 metres away…, 400 now, 300, 250, 200! It was all over! I no longer dared look! Yet, I looked again: 150 metres, 100 metres. I dived into the bottom of the hole, pressing my face to the earth, not daring to move. Death would come to me in seconds, of that I was sure…. Instinctively, I murmured a prayer…. Then, suddenly, a hurricane, rolls of thunder, the ground trembling! Death? Life? Could it be possible? Was this help? Our guns were firing! What I was hearing were our shells! And there, in the hole, I laughed and cried! Stupidly I raised my head, but only for an instant! We were saved! With unparalleled accuracy and at a prodigious rate of fire, unknown till then, a cloud of shells burst over the enemy.
The Boche hesitated. Five tanks were burning like haystacks. My gunners had orders to fire all their ammunition! The attack was broken: the Germans retired, pursued by the Poles who destroyed another three tanks! How I congratulated my men on the fine work they had done!
…….. Nevertheless the attack was soon renewed. Our losses mounted constantly…. but now I could not believe my eyes: the Boches were advancing towards us singing, “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles”! We let them come to within 50 yards, then we mowed down their ranks…. More waves followed.... When the fifth came we were out of ammunition. The Poles charged them with the bayonet! During that day we suffered eight attacks like this! The enemy was exploiting our weakness, but what fanaticism he showed! One of the wounded near me looked like a child: I read the date of birth in his paybook: April, 1931! He was thirteen years old. How horrible!
We took prisoners. Some of those from the Wehrmacht were of Polish birth. They were asked if they would join us: anyone who accepted was given the rifle and paybook of one of the dead! They were unexpected, precious reinforcements. The S.S. and those whose paybooks showed that they had taken part in the invasion of Poland in ’39 received no mercy!
About 6 o' clock the attacks ceased. The battlefield was a scene from a nightmare! On the flanks of the hill thousands of corpses made a veritable rampart. We had been forced back to the top of Hill 262. Around the wood, which was about 600 metres long and 300 metres across, now filled with the wounded, we had dug trenches which were to be held at all cost! Aircraft tried to drop supplies to us but all the containers fell behind enemy lines.
At nightfall that Sunday evening the major called his officers together: out of sixty only four were fit to fight, three lieutenants and myself, all the others, including the major himself, were more or less seriously wounded. Lying in terrible pain on some straw, the Polish major found the strength to pull himself upright and give his instructions. I will never forget his words:
“Gentleman, all is lost. I do not think the Canadians can relieve us. We have no more than 110 fit men. There is no food and not much ammunition: five shells per gun and fifty rounds per man! That is very little…. even so, fight on! It would be useless to surrender to the S.S., you know that! I give you my thanks: you have fought well. Good luck, gentleman, this night we will be dying for Poland and civilisation!”
As he gave me his orders he added,
“Carry on with the same tactics. Afterwards it will be every tank for itself and then every man for himself!”
By now very weak he stopped speaking…. When I got back to my tank the silence was like that of death. Suddenly, in the distance, I heard the rumble of tanks. This time there could be no mistake: these were Shermans, but they were still far off!
Now that communication with the Polish major had become pointless I tried to find some music on one of the radios. I tuned in to a German announcing, in perfect English, the encirclement of an entire Polish division in the Falaise area! He was exaggerating, but he was not exactly lying! I tuned to another station: Strauss waltzes, played by an orchestra in London: I could hear the voices and laughter of the dancers. Over there, a different world was taking its pleasure!
In Canada the theatres in every town would be overflowing with people. I thought of the days when I knew nothing of war…. I thought of my parents…. so anxious at hearing that I was on the continent…. feelings shared by thousands of families throughout the world who prayed for only one thing: that God would protect their sons in the fire of battle.... Now it was finished: in the last forty-eight hours thousands of men had been wiped out before my eyes…. It would soon be my turn!
I was thinking for a long time, and the night went by.
Nearly 4 in the morning, Monday, August the 21st
A shaft of moonlight lit the clearing in front of me: shadows! Immediately came a burst of machine-gun fire. A quarter of an hour later, a new attack! We were losing a lot of men, among them two of the Polish lieutenants: there was only one left!
Half an hour later it was dawn. I went to sleep literally standing up. Suddenly my signaller woke me and I started: “Captain, I can hear our tanks!”
There was no possible mistake! They must have been very close, perhaps 600 metres to the west, and I could clearly distinguish the two, green flares. Between them and us, however, on the side of the hill lay a small, thick wood and the Germans were still in it. What were we to do? If our friends bumped into resistance the likelihood was that they would pull back and look for another way. No hesitation! We had to attack and link up with our relief no matter what it cost.
Immediately I gathered the men. They all agreed: we had to take the enemy by surprise. Luckily his attention was diverted by the noise of the tanks! At the blast of a whistle we went forward! We advanced quickly despite branches, craters and the S.S. Nothing could stop the wrath of the Poles. The Polish lieutenant was in front of me: I saw him fall, hit in the forehead by a bullet. At the same time, from behind a tree, a soldier aimed his carbine at me: I threw myself to one side as he fired: he missed and was instantly bayoneted. A bullet grazed my left shoulder: it was nothing, and we reached the bottom of the hill to see six Shermans firing on us! They finally recognised us and, with our strength increased, we were soon climbing back up that famous Hill 262.
When we reached the Command Post the Polish major greeted us, he was shaking with emotion and I became part of a scene of delirious joy. We laughed, we wept, we embraced each other. The soldiers told long stories in Polish to the Canadians who understood not a word but nevertheless burst into peals of laughter!
Our victory was total, but at a terrible price: only seventy Poles survived the slaughter unhurt: I was the only officer still able to stand!
(Polish soldiers resting next to a Sherman after the battle)
The Poles now call that hill “Maczuga”, which means “The Mace”. And that is it exactly: the battle of “Maczuga” hill was the final, crushing blow which broke German power."
(Pierre SEVIGNY, Montréal)
The Balance-sheet of this fearful confrontation:
The Poles, who went into this fight with eighty-seven Sherman tanks against all the remaining weaponry of the German Seventh army surrounded on the plain of Tournai ď€ Aubry ď€ St-Lambert, lost 325 dead, 16 of whom were officers, 1,002 wounded and 114 missing. Eleven tanks were destroyed.
The Germans had about 2,000 killed, 5,000 taken prisoner, including a general, six colonels and 80 officers. They left on the battlefield 55 tanks, of which 14 were Panthers and 6 Tigers, 44 guns and 152 armoured vehicles, 359 vehicles of all types were destroyed.
3) Today
At the top of the Hill is a Polish Memorial dedicated to what the Polish soldiers accomplished here.
A bronze dedicated to Polish General Stanislaw Maczek is nearby:
Me leaning against the Sherman "General Maczek"
(I may be wrong but I do not think this is a WWII Sherman)
The view from up here is spectacular and you can see why this was such an important tactical position:
Circling to the north side of the hill.
The 2nd SS came up this way.
There was much bloody combat and hand to hand fighting in these fields.
Turning around you can look across the field and see the top of the Boisjos farmhouse.
This was the HQ and aid station for the troops on the hill.
Again, major fighting across this field to the foot of the farmhouse.
The battle raged 360 degrees all around here.
And last the farmhouse showing battle scars.
When quiet again descended upon the area of the Gap, it presented an extraordinary and terrible sight. Burned-out tanks and vehicles in incredible numbers lined and blocked every road and track. Dead soldiers and dead horses by hundreds and thousands lay on the roadways and in the ditches. Bulldozers had to clear a way through the human and mechanical debris for our advancing columns. This region of Trun and Chambois was in fact, as one observer later put it, "the graveyard of the flower of the German Army". Let one matter-of-fact account be quoted. It was written by an officer who visited the area on 22 August:
The road from Trun to Chambois was liberally strewn with German equipment and dead. The 6th Canadian Armoured Regiment was north-east of St. Lambert-sur-Dives on a side road ... The road in was lined with hundreds of dead, so close together that they were practically touching. They did not smell and in most cases had not become discoloured.
This officer, perhaps, was fortunate in visiting the Gap at an early date. As the days passed, there arose from this tremendous charnel-house a stench which made it virtually impossible to enter the area. So numerous were the dead that, although numbers of German prisoners were put to work burying their compatriots, many still lay unburied weeks later.
It had been a very great victory. The cooperation of troops of many nations, fighting in concert on a front of hundreds of miles, had produced the effect for which General Eisenhower and General Montgomery had planned. Some German troops had got out of the pocket, but vast numbers were dead, many thousands were in the prisoner-of-war cages, and material beyond reckoning had fallen into our hands. The price on the Canadian front had been high. The total casualties of Canadian troops of the First Canadian Army, from the beginning of operation TOTALIZE on 7 August through 23 August, by which date the pocket had been finally liquidated, were 389 officers and 5,795 other ranks, killed, died of wounds, wounded or missing. Enemy prisoners taken on the Army front during the same period numbered 18,381. No attempt was made to count the enemy dead, but as has already been amply demonstrated, their name was legion. On those portions of the front where movement had been more rapid and the Allied columns had "motored" freely across country, the number of prisoners was still greater.
Tremendous events had also been happening elsewhere. On the night of 14-15 August, Allied forces had landed in Southern France and in an unbelievably short space of time that whole region of the country had been liberated and the invaders from the Mediterranean had joined hands with those from the Channel. And while the battle was raging in the Gap, General Patton's right wing was driving on eastwards towards the capital. The approach of the armies of liberation led to a patriotic uprising of the people of Paris; the city that had fallen so easily in 1940 now became once more a beacon for free men.
On 25 August, the news that General Leclerc's 2nd French Armoured Division had entered Paris that morning electrified the civilized world.
The Normandy bridgehead was now a matter of history. The operations were no longer a question of breaking out; the breakout had succeeded and the enemy had suffered a devastating reverse. His Seventh Army had for the present ceased to exist as a fighting force; his Fifth Panzer Army had been very heavily defeated and was reeling backward.
The Allied operations had entered the phase of pursuit.
There are only a few more quick stops, or points of interest, as we swing around back through the American lines and head back to the hotel.
.
At the top of the Hill is a Polish Memorial dedicated to what the Polish soldiers accomplished here.
A bronze dedicated to Polish General Stanislaw Maczek is nearby:
Me leaning against the Sherman "General Maczek"
(I may be wrong but I do not think this is a WWII Sherman)
The view from up here is spectacular and you can see why this was such an important tactical position:
Circling to the north side of the hill.
The 2nd SS came up this way.
There was much bloody combat and hand to hand fighting in these fields.
Turning around you can look across the field and see the top of the Boisjos farmhouse.
This was the HQ and aid station for the troops on the hill.
Again, major fighting across this field to the foot of the farmhouse.
The battle raged 360 degrees all around here.
And last the farmhouse showing battle scars.
When quiet again descended upon the area of the Gap, it presented an extraordinary and terrible sight. Burned-out tanks and vehicles in incredible numbers lined and blocked every road and track. Dead soldiers and dead horses by hundreds and thousands lay on the roadways and in the ditches. Bulldozers had to clear a way through the human and mechanical debris for our advancing columns. This region of Trun and Chambois was in fact, as one observer later put it, "the graveyard of the flower of the German Army". Let one matter-of-fact account be quoted. It was written by an officer who visited the area on 22 August:
The road from Trun to Chambois was liberally strewn with German equipment and dead. The 6th Canadian Armoured Regiment was north-east of St. Lambert-sur-Dives on a side road ... The road in was lined with hundreds of dead, so close together that they were practically touching. They did not smell and in most cases had not become discoloured.
This officer, perhaps, was fortunate in visiting the Gap at an early date. As the days passed, there arose from this tremendous charnel-house a stench which made it virtually impossible to enter the area. So numerous were the dead that, although numbers of German prisoners were put to work burying their compatriots, many still lay unburied weeks later.
It had been a very great victory. The cooperation of troops of many nations, fighting in concert on a front of hundreds of miles, had produced the effect for which General Eisenhower and General Montgomery had planned. Some German troops had got out of the pocket, but vast numbers were dead, many thousands were in the prisoner-of-war cages, and material beyond reckoning had fallen into our hands. The price on the Canadian front had been high. The total casualties of Canadian troops of the First Canadian Army, from the beginning of operation TOTALIZE on 7 August through 23 August, by which date the pocket had been finally liquidated, were 389 officers and 5,795 other ranks, killed, died of wounds, wounded or missing. Enemy prisoners taken on the Army front during the same period numbered 18,381. No attempt was made to count the enemy dead, but as has already been amply demonstrated, their name was legion. On those portions of the front where movement had been more rapid and the Allied columns had "motored" freely across country, the number of prisoners was still greater.
Tremendous events had also been happening elsewhere. On the night of 14-15 August, Allied forces had landed in Southern France and in an unbelievably short space of time that whole region of the country had been liberated and the invaders from the Mediterranean had joined hands with those from the Channel. And while the battle was raging in the Gap, General Patton's right wing was driving on eastwards towards the capital. The approach of the armies of liberation led to a patriotic uprising of the people of Paris; the city that had fallen so easily in 1940 now became once more a beacon for free men.
On 25 August, the news that General Leclerc's 2nd French Armoured Division had entered Paris that morning electrified the civilized world.
The Normandy bridgehead was now a matter of history. The operations were no longer a question of breaking out; the breakout had succeeded and the enemy had suffered a devastating reverse. His Seventh Army had for the present ceased to exist as a fighting force; his Fifth Panzer Army had been very heavily defeated and was reeling backward.
The Allied operations had entered the phase of pursuit.
There are only a few more quick stops, or points of interest, as we swing around back through the American lines and head back to the hotel.
.
After leaving The Mace we drove back through Chmabois/Fel and did a quick stop.
Fel is right next to Chambois.
You can see the red arrow point to where we are.
It is here, through this archway, was an American HQ that many German wounded and prisoners past through.
Down the street is the church where on the wall is a little memorial to the action that took place here.
From here we drove up to the American lines that overlooked the Germans as they tried to squeeze through the pocket in and around Chambois (before it too fell to the Americans)
From
"A History of the 90th Division in World War II"
That night the 90th was released from the XV Corps and passed to the control of a Provisional Corps whose function it was to reduce the Falaise pocket. The mission of the 90th was to attack north, seize the village of Ommeel and the high ground northeast of Chambois. Since the main road by which the Seventh Army sought escape ran directly through Chambois, the control of that town was vital to the Americans as well as to the enemy.
The following day the Division passed to the control of V Corps, and returned once more to the First Army. And still the battle raged on. Never in history had artillery enjoyed such a field day. Observers, enjoying for the first time the luxury of perfect observation on numberless targets, radioed fire missions to their heart’s content. Desperately the trapped Germans beat themselves against the side of the wall that engulfed them, hopeless they plunged into the immobile lines that hemmed them in. And all the while the artillery loaded and fired, loaded and fired, pausing only to allow the tubes to cool.
In the meantime, the infantry was by no means idle. Against do or die resistance the doughboys advanced towards Chambois, closing the bottleneck, strangling the escape route with an iron noose. One after another the objectives fell . . . Hill 137, Hill 129, Ste. Eurgenie, Bon Menil, Fough; the road leading out of Chambois was cut, and the trap was sealed.
Prisoners poured into the 90th’s cages. Equipment, guns, vehicles beyond number littered the floor of the Valley. The once mighty cream of the German armies found itself being cut to bloody ribbons with no chance for escape. And still the artillery, eleven battalions, lashed the valley with high explosives, time and white phosphorous fire. Mercilessly the raked the valley, inflicting casualties, disrupting counterattacks, pouring a hail of steel into the milling remnants of the invincible conquerors of Europe.
An aerial observer, annoyed by the necessary time lapse between his reporting a target and the actual firing of the mission, shouted excitedly into his radio, “Stop computin’, and start shooting.”
And into the storm the unarmed Medics of the 315th Medical Battalion performed heroically under fire, evacuating the enemy wounded as well as the American casualties. A truce was called in order that the wounded might be attended and removed from the field of battle. The 315th, in spite of sniper fire (in violation of the terms of the truce), carried out its mission with unsung gallantry.
The 712th Tank Battalion and the 773rd Tank Destroyed Battalion also added their voices to the deafening salvoes that spread death in the valley. And still it continued, never pausing until the white flags appeared, timidly at first, then more and more openly. On the 20th of August the dramatic episode of the Falaise Gap moved rapidly toward its inevitable climax.
While coming off the hills and back in to the Valley at a place called Hill 144 is the only German Memorial in all of Normandy.
It's down this road near the copse of trees on the left.
It is a marker where the crash site and the death took place of Ruthard von Richthofen.
Driving back down we went through St Lamber one more time for a picture of the bridge across the Dives and another then/now shot.
As we were driveing through the pleasant valley and fields we pulled over on the side of the road, got out of the van, and Gary
said "Find the K98." Afetr scanning the surrounding area high up in a tree was the barrel of a K98 sticking out of a tree.
It was kind of a reminder of the horror that took place at this peaceful spot.
Finally before entering Tournai-sur-Dive, our final stop we drove past a place known as "Torpedo Junction".
This was the zero point for the U.S. 359th Regiment's artillery.
Today it's just a small farm track with a scenic view of the valley.
The 359th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 90th Division capyured 13,000 prisoners, killed or wounded 8.000 soldiers, and destroyed 4,000 vehicles, tanks, self-propelled guns, and artillery pieces.
The 359th suffered less than 600 killed or wounded.
Next is Tournai-sur-Dive.
Our final stop.
(whew)
.
Fel is right next to Chambois.
You can see the red arrow point to where we are.
It is here, through this archway, was an American HQ that many German wounded and prisoners past through.
Down the street is the church where on the wall is a little memorial to the action that took place here.
From here we drove up to the American lines that overlooked the Germans as they tried to squeeze through the pocket in and around Chambois (before it too fell to the Americans)
From
"A History of the 90th Division in World War II"
That night the 90th was released from the XV Corps and passed to the control of a Provisional Corps whose function it was to reduce the Falaise pocket. The mission of the 90th was to attack north, seize the village of Ommeel and the high ground northeast of Chambois. Since the main road by which the Seventh Army sought escape ran directly through Chambois, the control of that town was vital to the Americans as well as to the enemy.
The following day the Division passed to the control of V Corps, and returned once more to the First Army. And still the battle raged on. Never in history had artillery enjoyed such a field day. Observers, enjoying for the first time the luxury of perfect observation on numberless targets, radioed fire missions to their heart’s content. Desperately the trapped Germans beat themselves against the side of the wall that engulfed them, hopeless they plunged into the immobile lines that hemmed them in. And all the while the artillery loaded and fired, loaded and fired, pausing only to allow the tubes to cool.
In the meantime, the infantry was by no means idle. Against do or die resistance the doughboys advanced towards Chambois, closing the bottleneck, strangling the escape route with an iron noose. One after another the objectives fell . . . Hill 137, Hill 129, Ste. Eurgenie, Bon Menil, Fough; the road leading out of Chambois was cut, and the trap was sealed.
Prisoners poured into the 90th’s cages. Equipment, guns, vehicles beyond number littered the floor of the Valley. The once mighty cream of the German armies found itself being cut to bloody ribbons with no chance for escape. And still the artillery, eleven battalions, lashed the valley with high explosives, time and white phosphorous fire. Mercilessly the raked the valley, inflicting casualties, disrupting counterattacks, pouring a hail of steel into the milling remnants of the invincible conquerors of Europe.
An aerial observer, annoyed by the necessary time lapse between his reporting a target and the actual firing of the mission, shouted excitedly into his radio, “Stop computin’, and start shooting.”
And into the storm the unarmed Medics of the 315th Medical Battalion performed heroically under fire, evacuating the enemy wounded as well as the American casualties. A truce was called in order that the wounded might be attended and removed from the field of battle. The 315th, in spite of sniper fire (in violation of the terms of the truce), carried out its mission with unsung gallantry.
The 712th Tank Battalion and the 773rd Tank Destroyed Battalion also added their voices to the deafening salvoes that spread death in the valley. And still it continued, never pausing until the white flags appeared, timidly at first, then more and more openly. On the 20th of August the dramatic episode of the Falaise Gap moved rapidly toward its inevitable climax.
While coming off the hills and back in to the Valley at a place called Hill 144 is the only German Memorial in all of Normandy.
It's down this road near the copse of trees on the left.
It is a marker where the crash site and the death took place of Ruthard von Richthofen.
Driving back down we went through St Lamber one more time for a picture of the bridge across the Dives and another then/now shot.
As we were driveing through the pleasant valley and fields we pulled over on the side of the road, got out of the van, and Gary
said "Find the K98." Afetr scanning the surrounding area high up in a tree was the barrel of a K98 sticking out of a tree.
It was kind of a reminder of the horror that took place at this peaceful spot.
Finally before entering Tournai-sur-Dive, our final stop we drove past a place known as "Torpedo Junction".
This was the zero point for the U.S. 359th Regiment's artillery.
Today it's just a small farm track with a scenic view of the valley.
The 359th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 90th Division capyured 13,000 prisoners, killed or wounded 8.000 soldiers, and destroyed 4,000 vehicles, tanks, self-propelled guns, and artillery pieces.
The 359th suffered less than 600 killed or wounded.
Next is Tournai-sur-Dive.
Our final stop.
(whew)
.
"The Pretzels are too Salty"
I just completed a 10 stay in the hospital in Zagreb recovering from a Prostate operation. I always wanted to visit Normandy, so I decided to take advantage of my hospital stay to do it vicariously through the posts of your trip. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey, just like being there!
Thanks and have a great dsy!
Adio
I just completed a 10 stay in the hospital in Zagreb recovering from a Prostate operation. I always wanted to visit Normandy, so I decided to take advantage of my hospital stay to do it vicariously through the posts of your trip. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey, just like being there!
Thanks and have a great dsy!
Adio
LoL!
Well I'll be....
I gave up on someone finding the pretzels too salty.
Thanks for that .
I'm sorry to hear that you were in the hospital and I hope everything is fine now.
I am happy that my posts helped pass the time for you.
And you have made my day much better.
Perhaps someday we may have a beer together and we will drink and eat our salty pretzels and toast the soldiers who fought on the beaches.
Zivjeli !
:cheers:
Well I'll be....
I gave up on someone finding the pretzels too salty.
Thanks for that .
I'm sorry to hear that you were in the hospital and I hope everything is fine now.
I am happy that my posts helped pass the time for you.
And you have made my day much better.
Perhaps someday we may have a beer together and we will drink and eat our salty pretzels and toast the soldiers who fought on the beaches.
Zivjeli !
:cheers:
Hi Gunner!
Hope all is well with you in the Empire State!
My Little Brother in my Fraternity at GA Tech was from Westbury, NY, which I see is not too far away from you by US Standards! I also used to visit the Long Island/NY City area a lot when I was a professor at the Military Academy back when I was in the Army. Those were fun days for sure!
Well, I am now back in Dubrovnik on a two month convalescence to recover from my operation. Since I was reading your posts on Normandy on my I Phone at the hospital, I decided to review all of the posts again on my laptop at home so I could see all of the photos better. What a great trip you had and it was fun for me to tag along "Vicariously" as well!
Thanks for your effort!
Also, it would seem you have some knowledge of the "Croatian/Bosnian/Serbian" Language with your "Zivjeli" at the end of your last post! I am originally from the States, Georgia, but was yanked back to my roots in Croatia about 20 years ago, met all of my relatives as my granddad had immigrated to Boston in 1892, and decided to settle here permanently about 10 years ago. Have you been to this area before??
Anyway, thanks again for the great posts! and I am sure they bring back great memories of your trip when you review them yourself.
In the meantime, have a great day and all the best in your Battles on the CM Front!
Adio from Dubrovnik, Land of the Rilovic Klan! :cheers:
Hope all is well with you in the Empire State!
My Little Brother in my Fraternity at GA Tech was from Westbury, NY, which I see is not too far away from you by US Standards! I also used to visit the Long Island/NY City area a lot when I was a professor at the Military Academy back when I was in the Army. Those were fun days for sure!
Well, I am now back in Dubrovnik on a two month convalescence to recover from my operation. Since I was reading your posts on Normandy on my I Phone at the hospital, I decided to review all of the posts again on my laptop at home so I could see all of the photos better. What a great trip you had and it was fun for me to tag along "Vicariously" as well!
Thanks for your effort!
Also, it would seem you have some knowledge of the "Croatian/Bosnian/Serbian" Language with your "Zivjeli" at the end of your last post! I am originally from the States, Georgia, but was yanked back to my roots in Croatia about 20 years ago, met all of my relatives as my granddad had immigrated to Boston in 1892, and decided to settle here permanently about 10 years ago. Have you been to this area before??
Anyway, thanks again for the great posts! and I am sure they bring back great memories of your trip when you review them yourself.
In the meantime, have a great day and all the best in your Battles on the CM Front!
Adio from Dubrovnik, Land of the Rilovic Klan! :cheers:
Just when you thought it was safe.....I'm back.
Sorry for the long absence but I haven't forgotten I need to finish this up.
@Balkan Warrior
B.K. I grew up in a town called East Meadow which is right next to Westbury!
Who knows, perhaps we shared a drink in a local bar and we do not even know it :cheers:
When you say Military Academy do you mean you were up at West Point? It is a beautiful part of the State.
I'm glad you enjoyed the Normandy trip and I am very happy to have contributed something to this site after all the enjoyment it has given me.
Unfortunately I have never been to Croatia.
Perhaps someday though
The furthest east I have been in Europe is outside of Frankfurt.
Several of my co-workers are from eastern Europe, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic etc. and they are the ones who gave me the good 'toast" to end my post with.
I cannot take credit for the word, just the effort to find a good one
Yes, doing these posts does bring back great memories indeed!
And in doing the research for these posts also educated me in much more detail about where we actually stood and what we saw.
That, as it turns out is a very big part of doing theses posts.
Also, now when I watch documentaries I can say "I know that place, I was there!"
In the mean time, we have contact with our Normandy tour guide and he has a new three day tour following the 1SS Panzer Corps concentrating on the battles south and west of Caen. We may also touch on the fight at Mortain. So stay tuned
Sretno!
Sorry for the long absence but I haven't forgotten I need to finish this up.
@Balkan Warrior
B.K. I grew up in a town called East Meadow which is right next to Westbury!
Who knows, perhaps we shared a drink in a local bar and we do not even know it
:cheers:When you say Military Academy do you mean you were up at West Point? It is a beautiful part of the State.
I'm glad you enjoyed the Normandy trip and I am very happy to have contributed something to this site after all the enjoyment it has given me.
Unfortunately I have never been to Croatia.
Perhaps someday though
The furthest east I have been in Europe is outside of Frankfurt.
Several of my co-workers are from eastern Europe, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic etc. and they are the ones who gave me the good 'toast" to end my post with.
I cannot take credit for the word, just the effort to find a good one
Yes, doing these posts does bring back great memories indeed!
And in doing the research for these posts also educated me in much more detail about where we actually stood and what we saw.
That, as it turns out is a very big part of doing theses posts.
Also, now when I watch documentaries I can say "I know that place, I was there!"
In the mean time, we have contact with our Normandy tour guide and he has a new three day tour following the 1SS Panzer Corps concentrating on the battles south and west of Caen. We may also touch on the fight at Mortain. So stay tuned
Sretno!
Last edited:
The Last Stop
Tournai-sur-Dive is our last stop.
It was here, it is said, that the last of the Germans in the Falaise Pocket surrendered thus ending the Battle of Normandy.
The Allies had closed the Pocket and sealed the last escape route between Trun and Chambois.
There is a church in Tournai-sur-Dive where the surrender was negotiated.
Here a Father Launay was involved to negotiate the surrender.
I found this article from Weekend Magazine. Vol. 11 No. 34, 1961 that tells the story well….
"Canadian Who Liberated A Village
He accepted the surrender of 2,000 Germans all by himself and marched them back to the Allied lines armed with only a tommy gun.
This Remembrance Day, when the world is torn between remembering the sacrifices of two world wars and visualizing the honors of a possible third, a priest in the quiet French hamlet of Toumai-sur-Dive remembers a happier wartime incident.
Father Launay, in fact, remembers the occasion very well. It was Aug. 21, 1944. The green and usually peaceful countryside of Normandy was in flames. As German armies reeled back from the disaster and carnage of the Falaise Gap with Allied armies in full pursuit, town after town in this picturesque and historic part of France was caught up in the horrors of modern warfare.
Tournai-sur-Dive was one of these. Strong elements of the German 7th Army were entrenched in and around the village. The Allies turned 400 pieces of artillery against this stubborn foe. The shells started to hammer down and they did not choose between Frenchman and German.
The 500 villagers of Tournai-sur-Dive burrowed into the ruins. Father Launay knew he had to stop the fighting or most of his parishioners would die. So at 3 P.M. on Aug. 21, he succeeded in convincing the German major in charge of the village that it was suicide to continue the fight.
A German junior officer volunteered to accompany the priest to the Allied lines to attempt to arrange a cease-fire. They got through the brutal barrage and then encountered advancing Canadian troops.
The Canadians named a single soldier to accompany Father Launay back to Tournai-sur-Dive to accept the surrender of the Germans. And this is just what happened. The lone Canadian, when he reached the village, accepted the surrender of 2,000 Germans. Father Launay, his village saved, watched the Germans disappear, the Canadian shepherding them with the help of a sub-machine-gun. Then, suddenly, he realized that he had forgotten to ask the name of the soldier who had delivered his village.
For 17 years he tried to locate the Canadian soldier. The surrender which saved the community was commemorated by a panorama in the nearby museum at Laigle, including two wax models — one of the priest and one of the unknown Canadian soldier.
Then, almost 17 years after the incident, the story became known in Canada. And in Kitchener, Ont., reporter pave Green, of the Kitchener-Waterloo News Record, came up with the answer Father Launay was looking for.
Maj. Gordon Sim, a Kitchener school teacher who went to war with the famed Highland Light Infantry, seemed to be the man in question. Sgt. Harvey Knipfel, C. D. Campbell (H.LL adjutant at that time), and other Kitchener veterans recalled that it was Maj. Sim (Susie Sim to his men) who had taken part in the single-handed capture.
But Father Launay and the village of Tournai-sur-Dive will never be able to express their thanks to this Canadian soldier. Two weeks later, as the fighting rolled over the city of Rouen and burst out on to the fields and wooded hills beyond, Maj. Sim, 30, was killed in action."
God rest all their souls.
The plaque on the church wall listing the names of the civilian casualties during the fighting.
It was in this courtyard behind the church that the negotiations took place.
And finally, the memorial where the surrender took place...
After this last stop it was time to mount up and head back to our hotel for our last night in Normandy.
At the hotel parking we said goodbye to our guide, Gary, for the last time. (or so we thought)
I'm not sure if we were just customers or "tourists" to him but to us he became a friend, someone we'll never forget.
We offered that if he were ever in the States that he was to look us up and he was welcome in our homes or, if wanted, we take him on a tour.
If anything, we would certainly buy him a beer or three!
Cheers Gary!
6 Days, 10 hours a day, from 9am to 7pm, 89 stops, from the American Drop Zone through to the closing of the Falaise Pocket and the end of the Battle for Normandy.
Truly an adventure.
I've said it before and I'll say it many times again…..
This….was a trip of a lifetime.
Tournai-sur-Dive is our last stop.
It was here, it is said, that the last of the Germans in the Falaise Pocket surrendered thus ending the Battle of Normandy.
The Allies had closed the Pocket and sealed the last escape route between Trun and Chambois.
There is a church in Tournai-sur-Dive where the surrender was negotiated.
Here a Father Launay was involved to negotiate the surrender.
I found this article from Weekend Magazine. Vol. 11 No. 34, 1961 that tells the story well….
"Canadian Who Liberated A Village
He accepted the surrender of 2,000 Germans all by himself and marched them back to the Allied lines armed with only a tommy gun.
This Remembrance Day, when the world is torn between remembering the sacrifices of two world wars and visualizing the honors of a possible third, a priest in the quiet French hamlet of Toumai-sur-Dive remembers a happier wartime incident.
Father Launay, in fact, remembers the occasion very well. It was Aug. 21, 1944. The green and usually peaceful countryside of Normandy was in flames. As German armies reeled back from the disaster and carnage of the Falaise Gap with Allied armies in full pursuit, town after town in this picturesque and historic part of France was caught up in the horrors of modern warfare.
Tournai-sur-Dive was one of these. Strong elements of the German 7th Army were entrenched in and around the village. The Allies turned 400 pieces of artillery against this stubborn foe. The shells started to hammer down and they did not choose between Frenchman and German.
The 500 villagers of Tournai-sur-Dive burrowed into the ruins. Father Launay knew he had to stop the fighting or most of his parishioners would die. So at 3 P.M. on Aug. 21, he succeeded in convincing the German major in charge of the village that it was suicide to continue the fight.
A German junior officer volunteered to accompany the priest to the Allied lines to attempt to arrange a cease-fire. They got through the brutal barrage and then encountered advancing Canadian troops.
The Canadians named a single soldier to accompany Father Launay back to Tournai-sur-Dive to accept the surrender of the Germans. And this is just what happened. The lone Canadian, when he reached the village, accepted the surrender of 2,000 Germans. Father Launay, his village saved, watched the Germans disappear, the Canadian shepherding them with the help of a sub-machine-gun. Then, suddenly, he realized that he had forgotten to ask the name of the soldier who had delivered his village.
For 17 years he tried to locate the Canadian soldier. The surrender which saved the community was commemorated by a panorama in the nearby museum at Laigle, including two wax models — one of the priest and one of the unknown Canadian soldier.
Then, almost 17 years after the incident, the story became known in Canada. And in Kitchener, Ont., reporter pave Green, of the Kitchener-Waterloo News Record, came up with the answer Father Launay was looking for.
Maj. Gordon Sim, a Kitchener school teacher who went to war with the famed Highland Light Infantry, seemed to be the man in question. Sgt. Harvey Knipfel, C. D. Campbell (H.LL adjutant at that time), and other Kitchener veterans recalled that it was Maj. Sim (Susie Sim to his men) who had taken part in the single-handed capture.
But Father Launay and the village of Tournai-sur-Dive will never be able to express their thanks to this Canadian soldier. Two weeks later, as the fighting rolled over the city of Rouen and burst out on to the fields and wooded hills beyond, Maj. Sim, 30, was killed in action."
God rest all their souls.
The plaque on the church wall listing the names of the civilian casualties during the fighting.
It was in this courtyard behind the church that the negotiations took place.
And finally, the memorial where the surrender took place...
After this last stop it was time to mount up and head back to our hotel for our last night in Normandy.
At the hotel parking we said goodbye to our guide, Gary, for the last time. (or so we thought)
I'm not sure if we were just customers or "tourists" to him but to us he became a friend, someone we'll never forget.
We offered that if he were ever in the States that he was to look us up and he was welcome in our homes or, if wanted, we take him on a tour.
If anything, we would certainly buy him a beer or three!
Cheers Gary!
6 Days, 10 hours a day, from 9am to 7pm, 89 stops, from the American Drop Zone through to the closing of the Falaise Pocket and the end of the Battle for Normandy.
Truly an adventure.
I've said it before and I'll say it many times again…..
This….was a trip of a lifetime.
Post Script:
There is no official casualty figure for D-Day. It is estimated that more than 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded, or went missing during the battle. That figure includes more than 209,000 Allied casualties. In addition to roughly 200,000 German troops killed or wounded, the Allies also captured 200,000 soldiers. Captured Germans were sent to American prisoner-of-war camps at the rate of 30,000 per month, from D-Day until Christmas 1944. Between 15,000 and 20,000 French civilians were killed during the battle.
In the end, the invasion of Normandy succeeded in its objective by sheer force of numbers. By July 1944, some one million Allied troops, mostly American, British, and Canadian, were entrenched in Normandy. During the great invasion, the Allies assembled nearly three million men and stored 16 million tons of arms, munitions, and supplies in Britain.
From
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/Canada/CA/Victory/Victory-11.html
Normandy: The Balance Sheet
WITH the final closing of the Falaise Gap a definite and most significant phase of the campaign in North-West Europe came to an end. This is a good point, then, to pause and attempt a brief commentary upon the two and a half months of bloody fighting since D Day.
The Losses
The Germans had lost a great battle, and in losing it had suffered casualties in men and equipment on a tremendous scale. It is difficult to find absolutely precise figures. But the statement in General Eisenhower's report, covering the whole period since 6 June, is certainly generally accurate:
By 25 August the enemy had lost, in round numbers, 400,000 killed, wounded, or captured, of which total 200,000 were prisoners of war. One hundred and thirty-five thousand of these prisoners had been taken since the beginning of our breakthrough on 25 July. Thirteen hundred tanks, 20,000 vehicles, 500 assault guns, and 1500 field guns and heavier artillery pieces had been captured or destroyed, apart from the destruction inflicted upon the Normandy coast defenses.
Completely satisfactory statistics are not available from the German records. Army Group "B" reported that its casualties from 6 June until 13 August were 158,930 in all categories. The next weekly report, that for the week ending 20 August, remarks, not surprisingly, "Figures not yet computed"; and the reports for the succeeding period are not to be found. However, on 29 September the Commander-in-Chief West stated that army casualties for the period since 6 June had risen to 371,400, while naval and air force losses increased the grand total to 460,900.
An indication of the desperate state to which the Germans in the west were reduced after Normandy is given by the fighting strength of the Fifth Panzer Army on 25 August. It then had under command all the fighting troops that remained in the theatre both of its formations and Seventh Army's, and the latter are probably, though not certainly, included. It reported its fighting strength as 17,980 infantry, 314 artillery pieces, and 42 tanks and assault guns.2 On 22 and 23 August Army Group "B" reported3 the state of its eight* armoured divisions as follows:
*The Panzer Lehr Division had been virtually destroyed in the St. LĂ´ area at the end of July. The 9th Panzer Division had suffered a similar fate in the Mortain counter-offensive.
2nd Panzer Division--one infantry battalion, no tanks, no artillery;
21st Panzer Division--four weak infantry battalions, 10 tanks, artillery unknown;
116th Panzer Division--one infantry battalion, 12 tanks, approximately two batteries;
1st S.S. Panzer Division--weak infantry elements, no tanks, no artillery;
2nd S.S. Panzer Division--450 men, 15 tanks, six guns;
9th S.S. Panzer Division--460 men, 20-25 tanks, 20 guns;
10th S.S. Panzer Division--four weak infantry battalions, no tanks, no artillery;
12th S.S. Panzer Division--300 men, 10 tanks, no artillery.
The scale of the German disaster can be judged by recalling that on D Day the 12th S.S. Panzer Division had had a strength of over 20,000 men and 150 tanks.
By comparison, the Allies' losses, though heavy, had been much less. As of the end of August, they had suffered 206,703 casualties, of which the United States forces had had 124,394 and the British and Canadians 82,309.
There is no official casualty figure for D-Day. It is estimated that more than 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded, or went missing during the battle. That figure includes more than 209,000 Allied casualties. In addition to roughly 200,000 German troops killed or wounded, the Allies also captured 200,000 soldiers. Captured Germans were sent to American prisoner-of-war camps at the rate of 30,000 per month, from D-Day until Christmas 1944. Between 15,000 and 20,000 French civilians were killed during the battle.
In the end, the invasion of Normandy succeeded in its objective by sheer force of numbers. By July 1944, some one million Allied troops, mostly American, British, and Canadian, were entrenched in Normandy. During the great invasion, the Allies assembled nearly three million men and stored 16 million tons of arms, munitions, and supplies in Britain.
From
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/Canada/CA/Victory/Victory-11.html
Normandy: The Balance Sheet
WITH the final closing of the Falaise Gap a definite and most significant phase of the campaign in North-West Europe came to an end. This is a good point, then, to pause and attempt a brief commentary upon the two and a half months of bloody fighting since D Day.
The Losses
The Germans had lost a great battle, and in losing it had suffered casualties in men and equipment on a tremendous scale. It is difficult to find absolutely precise figures. But the statement in General Eisenhower's report, covering the whole period since 6 June, is certainly generally accurate:
By 25 August the enemy had lost, in round numbers, 400,000 killed, wounded, or captured, of which total 200,000 were prisoners of war. One hundred and thirty-five thousand of these prisoners had been taken since the beginning of our breakthrough on 25 July. Thirteen hundred tanks, 20,000 vehicles, 500 assault guns, and 1500 field guns and heavier artillery pieces had been captured or destroyed, apart from the destruction inflicted upon the Normandy coast defenses.
Completely satisfactory statistics are not available from the German records. Army Group "B" reported that its casualties from 6 June until 13 August were 158,930 in all categories. The next weekly report, that for the week ending 20 August, remarks, not surprisingly, "Figures not yet computed"; and the reports for the succeeding period are not to be found. However, on 29 September the Commander-in-Chief West stated that army casualties for the period since 6 June had risen to 371,400, while naval and air force losses increased the grand total to 460,900.
An indication of the desperate state to which the Germans in the west were reduced after Normandy is given by the fighting strength of the Fifth Panzer Army on 25 August. It then had under command all the fighting troops that remained in the theatre both of its formations and Seventh Army's, and the latter are probably, though not certainly, included. It reported its fighting strength as 17,980 infantry, 314 artillery pieces, and 42 tanks and assault guns.2 On 22 and 23 August Army Group "B" reported3 the state of its eight* armoured divisions as follows:
*The Panzer Lehr Division had been virtually destroyed in the St. LĂ´ area at the end of July. The 9th Panzer Division had suffered a similar fate in the Mortain counter-offensive.
2nd Panzer Division--one infantry battalion, no tanks, no artillery;
21st Panzer Division--four weak infantry battalions, 10 tanks, artillery unknown;
116th Panzer Division--one infantry battalion, 12 tanks, approximately two batteries;
1st S.S. Panzer Division--weak infantry elements, no tanks, no artillery;
2nd S.S. Panzer Division--450 men, 15 tanks, six guns;
9th S.S. Panzer Division--460 men, 20-25 tanks, 20 guns;
10th S.S. Panzer Division--four weak infantry battalions, no tanks, no artillery;
12th S.S. Panzer Division--300 men, 10 tanks, no artillery.
The scale of the German disaster can be judged by recalling that on D Day the 12th S.S. Panzer Division had had a strength of over 20,000 men and 150 tanks.
By comparison, the Allies' losses, though heavy, had been much less. As of the end of August, they had suffered 206,703 casualties, of which the United States forces had had 124,394 and the British and Canadians 82,309.
Bump
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Just read this right the way through - tremendous stuff!!
Have been to some of these places myself and there's nothing like standing in these fellows footsteps to gain an understanding of just how much we owe them all.
Particularly poignant on a day such as this.
Steve
Have been to some of these places myself and there's nothing like standing in these fellows footsteps to gain an understanding of just how much we owe them all.
Particularly poignant on a day such as this.
Steve
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Thanks Steve and Louis.
It certainly was a trip of a lifetime.
But I'm ready to do it again!
It certainly was a trip of a lifetime.
But I'm ready to do it again!
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2016
- Messages
- 3,018
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- 2,770
- Age
- 61
I showed this to the history teacher at the school where I work.......he has an encyclopedic memory and even he was very impressed.
Looking forward to the next one!!
Steve