How Operation Cobra Signalled The End Of Nazi Germany DD

he operation Cobra the American breakout at Avon on the 25th of July 1944 lifted the

lid off the can in which the Germans sought to confine the Allies after the D-Day Landings in Normandy 7 weeks earlier until then the German defense Savage hard fought and extremely costly had managed to hold the line against all Allied attempts to progress very far beyond the be heads and move on into the rest of France this was accomplished despite critical shortages of men and material and the impossible demands of Adolf Hitler whose basic and only strategy was never Retreat Never Surrender and fight to the last

man after several failed attempts made at tremendous cost the British and Canadians had at last established control over the northern districts by the 10th of of July but the Germans were still holding out in the South and Southeast and operation Goodwood the attempt to dislodge them had failed disastrously on the 18th of July this failure caused hot controversy within the Allied High command there was Heavy criticism of General Bernard Montgomery the British commander of the 21st Army group who had initiated

Goodwood us General Omar Bradley believed that Montgomery was going to be sacked Montgomery remained but at the height of the arguments operation Cobra completely changed the picture it success negated all the advantages the Germans still retained in France and made further defense Irrelevant for the Germans the imperative now was to escape and preserve what they could of their hardpressed forces for the defense of the Fatherland the situation after the success of operation Cobra was symptomatic of the axis war effort as a whole neither

Germany nor Japan could match the industrial might of the allies and their losses which the Allies could absorb were slowly strangling their War efforts after 5 years of a war that had seen their early spectacular victories both Germans and Japanese were on the Run fighting desperately to prevent the enemy from closing in on their home territories the Japanese were being chased from one Pacific island to the next and fought with Manic desperation often they reacted to defeat by committing sabuku ritual suicide the

finishing line for the Americans island hopping campaigns was the islands of Japan themselves which to the Japanese were sacred soil for them the fate of their Divine Emperor Hirohito was also at stake but by mid 1944 The Noose was tightening fast as the Americans reached Guam in the Mariana Islands in the West Pacific Guam was about 1100 mil from the nearest Japanese territory the Bonin islands and the Americans had those vital advantages command of the air and of the seas in Europe the Germans were being assailed in the East and the South as

well as the west by 1944 the Russians had Advanced beyond their own borders to force the surrender of Germany’s Ally Romania and enter the Bulgarian capital sofhia in southern Europe despite the masterly defense put up by Field Marshal Albert kessing the Allies had captured Rome riny and Florence and were pressurizing the Germans Gothic defense [Music] line under these immense pressures Hitler’s ideas for staving off disaster had turned and bizarre his Vengeance weapons the V1 pilotless flying bomb and the V2 rocket with the stuff of fantasy

science fiction the Vengeance was Hitler’s answer to the Allied bombing of Germany but the notion that the V weapons might turn the course of the war in German’s favor was also present in England the first V1 which was powered by a pulsejet engine and carried a one ton Warhead fell on London on the 13th of June 1944 the throaty Roar of its engine then the sudden silence as it cut out and the V1 plunged to Earth was a terrifying moment for everyone who heard [Music] it the V2 liquid fueled rocket 46 ft long and weighing 13 tons was able to

fall out of the sky with only a whisper of sound as a last minute warning that always came too late the sheer craziness of the V weapon campaign doubtless played its part in a plot to kill Hitler that had been brewing since 1942 on the 20th of July 1944 a one-armed veteran count Claus shank Von staenberg placed a briefcase containing a time bomb beneath a heavy Oak map table in a hut at Hitler’s rastenberg headquarters the bomb blew up at 1242 hours during a high level conference but Adolf Hitler was not among the dead he had it seems

been saved by the thickness of the tabletop the fur’s Revenge was terrible around 200 people were put on trial and executed some of them had been only on the periphery of the plot but implication was enough several high-ranking suspects were obliged to kill themselves including cluding Irvin RL who was in hospital after suffering a fractured skull when his staff car was strafed on the 17th of July General ludvig Beck former Chief of the general staff and field Marshal gun Von clug who took over rl’s command after he was injured clu was sacked

within a month for failing to warn Hitler of the bomb plot Hitler had always entertained deep hatred and jealousy of the Prussian officer class to which Von stafen ber and other high ranked conspirators belonged and came to believe that the entire vermar was riddled with them he wasn’t wrong either the German Army had been the focus of several plots to assassinate the fura since before the War army officers for their part had contempt for Hitler and his fanciful ideas of military strategy which had already brought disaster and shame on

the German Army in Russia fear suspicion and the dread that Hitler’s Vengeance might fall on anyone at any time was a corrosive factor in the plight of German commanders in France all the more so when their task was to save what they could of their remaining forces and extricate them from the Allied trap that began to close after operation [Music] cobra us General George Smith Patton Jr was a hot-headed egotistical Commander but one whose capacity for aggression made it impossible for General Eisenhower to dismiss

him Patton’s Behavior gave Eisenhower plenty of opportunity the incident in Sicily when he slapped the face of a young soldier suffering from battle fatigue made Patton notorious he did it again a week later though he apologized Patton was relegated and spent almost a year kicking his heels before he was given command of the US third Army in January [Music] 1944 but Patton’s Stern War face and his mask of insensitivity and swaggering self-confidence hid a man of too much emotion and too much self-doubt to justify his own concept of an effective

military commander War said Patton is very simple direct and ruthless it takes a simple direct and ruthless man to wage [Music] war in this context Patton’s performance as a hard-nosed bully was impeccable not surprisingly he aroused opposing reactions he was hated and admired in equal measure the contrast between the pugnacious Patton and the self-facing General Omar Nelson Bradley could hardly have been more complete whereas Patton was always hot news for war correspond Bradley’s understated style of command

afforded little copy Bradley failed to distinguish himself at West Point and the first 28 years of his military career were frustrating his assignments kept him at home in the United States and he once remarked that he spent the years between the first and second world wars apologizing for his lack of combat [Music] experience but those years were far from wasted as a tutor at West Point Fort Benning and lenworth infantry School Bradley developed his tactical skills and his own sympathetic style for the handling of

troops in 1943 Bradley transferred to the North African front where he served as Eisenhower’s adviser and at last Saw action when he led the second core of Patton’s seventh Army in Sicily the following year in Normandy Bradley commanded the first Army on D-Day and later saw them through the long laborious struggle to overcome German resistance in the Kenan Peninsula at last the war correspondents had something to write about noting how greatly Bradley was admired by his troops the journalists labeled him the

soldiers General field Marshall Gunter Hans vonu was one of the Elder Statesmen among German military commanders in the Second World War his career had begun as long ago as 191 later clu was in command of army group Center which challenged but failed to overcome the Russian Defenders of Moscow in the winter of 1941 in July 1944 when Hitler dismissed Field Marshal Von runed clu replaced him as overall commander of the German forces defending France but by this time clu had realized that Hitler’s strategy meant the destruction of the

army clu became extremely pessimistic about Germany’s chances in the war but he never discovered if his prognosis was correct Hitler suspected that he was implicated in the bomb plot of the 20th of July he was relieved of his command on the 17th of August and ordered back to Germany 2 days later while on the way clu killed himself at Mets in northeastern France late in June 1944 Colonel General Paul Hower was given command of the seventh Army despite the protests of Irvin Romel like clu Hower came from a long-established military family he was

64 years old and a convinced Nazi which ruml was not Hower had seen service in the first world war but defeat in 1918 left him anxious for a chance to restore Germany’s military reputation how’s command of the seventh Army was a poisoned chalice it was already in a parlor state after a month of desperate defense in Normandy and in the subsequent Retreat through the fet aanan Gap suffered more losses in men and material Hower was one of those who managed to get away riding to safety on a panther tank but he was badly wounded

and had to relinquish his command Hower who appeared as a witness for the defense at the nurenberg trials was a long-term survivor of the second World War he was 92 when he died in 1972 treat yourself to the best gift in history this holiday season enjoy unlimited access to award-winning podcasts and thousands of hours of original history documentaries released weekly exclusively on History hit there are topics for all history lovers from Pompei to D-Day sign up via the link in the description for exclusive discount

don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to explore the past like never before with history hit the strategy of the Allies after the breakout from Normandy was complete on the 31st of July 1944 was to converge on the Germans as they attempted to escape from France through the gap between aenta and FES if the Allies could eliminate the main German armies in France it would serve as a virtual death blow removing them from the scene as the Allies Advanced towards the German border and invaded the Fatherland

itself the Allied Forces certainly seemed capable of such a feat by the first of August the US third Army had been unveiled General George Patton commanding the Third Army formed part of the new US 12th Army group commanded by General Omar Bradley which also included the first Army led by the taciturn Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges Patton’s Force took up position on the right of the Allied line the British were on the left comprising the 21st Army Group which had been expanded to include Lieutenant General Henry kera’s Canadian first Army

to the Canadians right was the British second Army commanded by liutenant General s miles Dem M with military power of these proportions against a critically decimated German Army there was talk that the second world war in Europe could be over before 1944 came to an end the gap between aenta and FES was the obvious exit from France and the German 7eventh and Fifth Army formerly paner Group West headed for it hoping to elude the Allied pinsa movement that was about to build up against them the best the Germans could do now

was somehow fight their way through before the Allies closed the Gap top German commanders were pessimistic about their Prospect but among the lower ranks who probably knew less about their real situation Hope was not yet lost some faint Hearts had deserted more than 1600 were executed in 1944 but others still had faith in the Brilliance of their leaders and their own fighting spirit it was not impossible either that the Germans could count on further Mistakes by the Allies the same mistakes that had already plagued their assaults on K

allied strategy around K had proved both faulty and costly and there was too a strange torper afflicting some of their units which reduced their battle effectiveness on paper therefore it seemed as if the decimated German defense had little chance on the ground the picture was not quite so dark as this might [Music] suggest even before the D-Day Landings in Normandy on the 6th of June 1944 the Allied commanders had come to believe that wherever Allied Forces met the Germans in anything like equal strength the Germans were going to Prevail it

followed from this that to Tri iph in Normandy the Allies must create the most favorable conditions possible for their forces these conditions depended in the main on the overwhelming size of the invading armies and the vastly superior numbers of their weapons in this rather nervous scenario the Allies would have to swamp their way to success or not succeed at all however by July 1944 the steady if slow buildup of Allied capability in France was creating the mammoth military strength the scenario required already by the end of June

875,000 Allied troops 150,000 vehicles and 570,000 tons of stores had arrived in Normandy and Replacements exceeded casualties by over 177,000 fresh troops there was now no question that the allies and the Germans would meet on the basis of equality even if Allied dominants of the air were not included in the equation [Music] the American Boeing B17 Flying Fortress wingspan 13 ft was a giant among the Allied aircraft of the second world war when first introduced to in June 1939 the B17 was the world’s most advanced

heavy bomber and became the most predominant used by the United States between 1942 and 1945 the 1939 model had to be upgunned several times and fitted with extra armor to become equal to the challenge of the German LT buffer this requirement produced the final Flying Fortress variant the b17g and 8,630 were delivered to the United States Army Air Force in Europe by April 1945 when production ceased the b17g Flying Fortress was manned by between six and 10 air crew powered by four 1200 horsepower right Cyclone engines the bomber could reach a

maximum speed of 287 mph and had a ceiling of 35,000 ft with a full bomb load of 12,800 the flying fortress’s range was 1100 M for defense the bomber carried 13 halfin machine guns some of them sighted in the front turret the flamethrower was one of the horror weapons of the war capable of engulfing and incinerating an enemy his position and everything else within a range of about 50 yards or more by their very nature flamethrowers rarely inflicted the sort of light injury that would enable an enemy to continue fighting under flamethrower

fire the enemy was more likely to be severely disabled by Burns and too agonized to fight back initially flamethrowers served different uses for the British and Americans the Germans had already used these weapons in their Blitz creen campaigns of 1939 and 1940 and the British expeditionary force in Western Europe was well aware of their puning potential The Americans on the other hand realized very early what fanatical enemies the Japanese were in the Pacific always willing to die rather than surrender and fighting in a fashion

tantamount to suicide in the Pacific Theater the flamethrower was used against Japanese pill boxes and blockhouses in this context the flamethrower was less of a direct fighting weapon more of a shortcut to avoid the slaughter that would ensue if the Japanese were allowed to deploy their full strength in more conventional Warfare most flamethrowers used in the second world war were portable one-man weapons their range was of course limited but the recompense was the flamethrowers awesome effectiveness the British 3-in mortar and the American

81 mm mortar were basically the same thing the mortar was a fairly simple 3-in caliber weapon requiring a three-man team one to carry the short stubby Barrel another to carry the base plate the third carrying the bipod which was adjustable all in addition to several three round ammunition carriers the more water which had a characteristic thud when in action was percussion fired and had to be reloaded for each [Music] shot after 7 weeks of near suicidal defense German military capability in France was on the brink of Collapse by

mid July 1944 the Germans had lost over 96,000 men but had received only 5,200 to replace them they’ lost 225 tanks with only 17 received whole regiments had virtually ceased to exist the remnants of four of them made up a battle group within the second parachute core whose Manpower stood at no more than 3,000 ,400 Riflemen the elite Panza division was reduced to 40 tanks and just over 2,000 men this poultry strength was weakened still further after 1500 bombers of the 8th US Army Air Force bombed the Panzera’s

positions The Raid took place on the 24th of July in bad visibility and several bombs fell on American Frontline troops even so the Panza Lair was virtually wiped off the face of the battlefield almost all its remaining tanks were lost and barely 700 of its men survived essentially the German seventh Army in France had been reduced to scratch formations and all they had to back them up were four battalions of the 275th division all of them weak and hardly capable of holding back the onslaught of the the [Music]

Allies the yed panther tank destroyer was an amalgam of two extremely powerful weapons the mighty pack 43 88 mm gun was mounted on the basic chassis of a Panther Tank complete with its original power train and lower Hull the yaged panther which had an mg34 machine gun at the front weighed more than £1,000 and was capable of a maximum 28 mph armor was up to 4 in thick the yaged panther was a late development in German Weaponry of the second world war it became available only just in time for the Germans to oppose the D-Day Landings in June

1944 by that time the German armaments industry was already so hardpressed that it could produce only 382 yaged Panthers before the war came to an end in 1945 but although comparatively few in Number the yag Panther had a deadly effect on the Allied armor in Normandy the yag Panther could maneuver with ease across most types of terrain though the Normandy bage with its network of small Fields surrounded by thick hedge RS considerably reduced its Effectiveness but then that applied to all tanks and self-propelled artillery

that ventured in this tortuous maze but in favorable terrain the yed panther could stand off beyond the reach of most Allied tank guns firing from close to 1100 yard distance the yaged panther was able to destroy Allied tanks virtually at leisure [Music] German hand grenades were mainly designed to kill by exploding on or close to their targets unlike Allied grenades there was only minimal fragmentation so that hot and deadly fragments were not expelled by the blast when the grenade blew up the style hlat 24 the s24 was a

grenade of this type it was primed by unscrewing the base and pulling on the detonation cord attached to a wooden stick it was relatively simple to use and had a particularly effective pin mechanism the s24 measured around 16 in in length it weighed around 14 oz and contained just under 6 oz of explosive this grenade was an adaptation of the stick hand grenade 23 called the potato masher by the Allied troops the furtive nature of anti-personnel mines has always made them a much feared weapon and minefields were extensively

swn by the Germans during the Battle of Normandy when the British and Canadians captured Northern K they found it was alive with mines and the area remained dangerous for some time before they were cleared away the S mine 35 was one of the German smaller mines 5 in in height and 4 in in diameter within its hidden casing the S35 concealed up to 18 o of TNT with a firing load of 360 steel balls it could be activated in several ways either by a pressure Trigger or by trip wires or by firing it electrically before blowing up the S35

would jump between 3 and 5 ft into the air by means of a propellant charge in order to render the S35 harmless the trip wires had to be cut and the igniters neutralized then the plugs were removed so that the mine could be disarmed by removing the [Music] [Music] Detonator on the 15th of July 1944 win RL warned Hitler that the moment was fast approaching when the hardpressed German defenses would crack the moment arrived 10 days later on the 25th of July delayed by rain low cloud and bad visibility operation Cobra at last got

off the ground although it stuttered rather than leapt into life with a preliminary raid that hit the American forward positions over 100 GIS were killed and nearly 500 others were injured nevertheless the prestigious panel division was all but destroyed and the way was open for a fullscale Allied Advance The Raid provoked the customary blaze of artillery from the German Defenders who gave their performance more credit than it was due when the friendly fire from their own air force made the Americans hastily vacate their

positions the Germans presumed that they were withdrawing in the face of their guns meanwhile there had been another distraction another attack was launched on the 25th of July operation spring a British and Canadian effort against the German forces south of K the Germans responded quickly and forcefully the first and Ninth SS Panza divisions hit back so hard that within 24 hours the attack had to be called off operation spring was of course a sideshow but the Germans got the impression that it was the main Allied

Onslaught this was not surprising considering the Parlor state of their intelligence and their poor Communications but while the Germans were occupied with spring Cobra gained unexpected time to get going before they realized their mistake the delay proved invaluable clearing the ground of appreciable opposition on the 25th of July the US 7th Corp had pushed more than 2 miles into the German positions on the 26th us 8th Core had joined in and the Germans were pushed back a further four miles these successes set up the conditions

for the US second Armored Division known as The Hell on Wheels division to break through into Open Country on the 27th of July the next day the US 7th Corps reached couton by then the Germans had at last realized what was happening and switched the second and 17th SS divisions to to POS a threat to the Americans flank but it was too late the Germans succeeded in blocking the way into couton for a few hours but by the evening they’d been driven off and the Americans were in possession on the 30th of July General

Patton’s thirdd Army seized the important Road Junction at Avon and the southern extent of the kantan peninsula by this time Allied Forces had Advanced 37 miles covering more ground in 6 days than in the whole of the previous 7 weeks the Normandy Countryside that now lay before the Americans was a very welcome sight at last they were out of the bokage that obstructive maze where even their Rhino tanks tanks equipped with blades for cutting through the Hedge RS had managed only minimal progress by the second of August the

Americans were also presented with a sweep of Open Country five miles wide at Avon where a gap was being held open for them by Allied Air Forces and armor four divisions of Patton’s third Army passed through Avon on the 3rd of August cleared the bokage and emerged onto the plains of Normandy they encountered no serious resistance the German defenses had broken just as RL predicted they would more than that the seventh Army was disintegrating into small scattered battle groups some no bigger than Battalion size Columns of men were wandering the

countryside looking for a way out most of the Germans were short of ammunition especially for their anti-tank guns tanks ran out of fuel and were abandoned by the roadside the Germans were constantly hammered from the air and sustained enormous casualties by the 6th of August 1944 they’ lost more than 144,000 men and Replacements when they managed to get through numbered less than 20,000 it was a scene of chaos and despair but as so often happened with the Germans it was not the whole story where they were able to regroup

and mount a defense even where they could mobilize only a few tanks they could still impede the Allied Advance it seemed impossible that they could turn it back and the Allies tended to take that for granted but it was unwise just as it was 4 months later in the Arden when the Americans were surprised by a last ditch armored defensive the furer still hop to transform German Fortunes in Normandy with a brilliant last minute strike and however pessimistic their own views his commanders were still Duty bound to try

to make Hitler’s dreams come true on the 3rd of August Hitler ordered a Counterattack operation luik to take place at Avon 3 days later the purpose of lutic was to isolate the US third Army turn north and crush the Normandy Beach head this was of course unduly even criminally ambitious the Germans had to scrape together the required forces from what remained of five paner [Music] divisions between them they had only 185 tanks and their mobile armored attack would inevitably attract attention from Allied planes Irvin RL who knew about such

things would never have approved but at the time he was out of action and out of favor he was Under Suspicion for complicity in the July bomb plot to kill Adolf Hitler Hitler’s acquaintance with military realities had always been shaky and no one else seriously believed in the success of the Counterattack but it was Danger dangerous to gainsay the fura LK went ahead the German assault would begin at MTA which had been captured by the US 7th Corp and the positions to be targeted with those of the 30th us division Hitler’s purpose was to split

the American forces in two seize control of the road Network around morta and then drive on to the coast however the ultra code Breakers were intercepting the German ra a transmissions and warned the Allied commanders of the German plans the panzas managed to capture morta but it was of no use to them without control of the road Junctions to the north which were blocked by the Americans at La blanch the Strategic Hill 314 cited on The High Ground east of malar also eluded the Germans the hill remained in the hands of the US 30th division who

used it to plaster the Germans with artillery fire but the Germans were undeterred by difficulties they kept on attacking Hill 314 and at one point an SS officer presented the Americans with a surrender ultimatum the Americans declined to accept this refusal was answered by even more vigorous attacks in which several American foxholes were overrun in the bitter fighting that followed the Americans on Hill 314 had to call on their artillery for rescue but but the Sound and Fury of the German assaults were Hollow and their

successes were shortlived the Americans sent out tanks to hunt down their infantry and early on the 7th of August Allied fighter bombers arrived and pounded them so heavily that half their tanks were destroyed next a 5 Mile Advance by the panzas into the American lines came to an ignominious end when they ran out of fuel the German armor took so much punishment that they had only eight of their 88 mm tank guns left Field Marshal CL and Colonel General Hower were so appalled at the wastage that they dared to protest when Hitler

ordered the panzas to remain in position on the 9th of August as usual protest proved useless Hitler issued orders for a further attack on the 11th of August in the direction of avange 20 mi west of mortan for this purpose all available German armor was to be concentrated on a new formation Panza group abak General Hans eak commanding the new group comprised the scratchings of those forces that had been able to survive but the German attack at morar had valuable uses for the Allies the doomed German attack at mortar fitted

very neatly into General Montgomery’s plan to envelop and trap the enemy between arenta and fet the Germans had been ordered not to retreat from MTA and this placed them just where Montgomery wanted them on the 6th of August Montgomery issued a directive that required the Canadian first Army to attack towards FES and then turn East towards the river s meanwhile the British second Army would move towards aanta and also turn East the American 12th Army was ordered to continue its Eastward advance and then head for

Paris the German Counterattack at morta and their subsequent failure to Retreat while there was still time meant that the whole of their army Group B the remnants of the force assigned to defend Normandy stood between the jaws of Montgomery’s trap the encirclement was amended on the 8th of August when Patton’s 15th core was ordered to allenon to cover the southern sector of the Trap 3 days later the Canadians received new orders to capture both FES and arenton while the 12th US Army group completed the the entrapment by

advancing to arenton on paper it all appeared straightforward but as so often happened with the Germans the reality on the ground was different instead of enclosing and mopping up a depleted and dispirited enemy the Allies found themselves fiercely resisted one of the Germans great strengths was their ability to switch armor Guns And Men from one place in immediate danger to the next and to do it quickly this strategy had succeeded several times already and now it was going to succeed again operation totalize the Canadian

Advance on fet began on the 7th of August but became bogged down 4 days later the Canadians reserves and the first polish armor division were fighting their first battle and they proved unequal to the task of either capturing fet or driving through to arenton to meet up with the Americans by the 11th of August when the Canadians came to a halt they were only halfway to filet after an advance of 9 miles the American 15th core which included the second French armor division had little difficulty in reaching arenton where they waited

impatiently for the Canadians to catch up the Canadian’s next attempt operation tractable went in on the morning of the 14th of August and this time they managed to break through to Fales to take up positions 12 Mi north of the Americans however valuable time had been lost now a huge pocket was formed with the German seventh Army the fifth Panzer Army and paner group eak inside it the only exit was at fet and on the 13th of August in a typically aggressive gesture General Patton had tried to persuade General Bradley to let him close the gap

by driving his 15th core north of arenton Bradley refused the Allied line was too thinly stretched for him to risk a German strike against both ends Bradley preferred to wait until troops of the first US Army arrived at aranton to take over the position of the 15th core Bradley was not alone in his caution most of the Allied commanders except for the fiery pattern were somewhat AED by German military tactics which were admittedly Superior this was particularly true when their skills were likely to be exercised in as tight a

corner as the filet’s Gap the Allies also went in dread of inflicting an unacceptable casualty rate on their own forces add to that a lack of experience in conducting a large encirclement and these inhibitions were going to limit the success the Allies were able to achieve at fet there was of course no question that the Germans were going to hold the fet’s pocket the point was how much of their decimated exhausted Army and remaining armor would be able to escape all the Germans could do before the inevitable

collapse was to hold on to every yard of [Music] ground on the 15th of August a German tank screen brought an advance by Canadian armor to a Hal the third Canadian division was forced to withdraw from the village of solangi by a spirited German Counterattack the second Canadian division had better luck near fet the Germans pulled back allowing them to reach positions about a mile away from there the Canadians drove into the town where the last ditch style of the German defense was once again typified by a handful of Hitler Youth from the 12th SS

Panza Hitler Yogen division outside there were about a 100 men of the Mount Royal fusers with anti-tank guns mortars and Bren carriers at the end the fusiliers took only four Prisoners the rest were all dead F itself was a sea of Ruin and Rubble so extens ensive that it was impossible to make out where the streets had been bulldozers set to work clearing up the mess several hours passed before bulldozers were able to clear paths for the Canadian Vehicles the previous day field Marshal Von clug informed Army Headquarters that

holding the Gap at fet was impossible this time and at long last Adolf Hitler saw sense and agreed to a retreat but he dismissed Von clug whom he suspected ected not only of complicity in the July bomb plot but of negotiating with the Allies behind his back Von clu was replaced by Field Marshal valter modal who found himself in charge not of an army but of a Rabel Avid to get away from The Killing Fields of [Music] Normandy time for escape was now running very short on the 17th of August the second Canadian Corp and the US fifth

core made advances that reduced the exit from the fet’s pocket to just a few thousand yards the Germans fought desperately to prevent it shrinking further at the Village of s Lamb on the 19th of August Canadian infantry dueled all morning with the German Defenders who forced them to dig in the Germans mounted successive counterattacks so the Canadians would not prevent them keeping open the route for their escape eastwards the Germans were being helped from an unusual quarter elsewhere the advance by Canadian and polish troops

was agonizingly inexplicably slow despite frantic urgings from Montgomery and Lieutenant General guy Simmons commander of the Canadian second Corps the Allied Air Forces hammered the German infantry and tanks now pouring through the still open Gap Allied fighter bombers flew up to 3,000 sorties a day and the slaughter and destruction were immense but still the Gap remained open and still the fleeing Germans surged through despite the deadly Gauntlet they had to run the poles had seized The High Ground at Monto and set up machine gun

positions from which they blasted down fire on the Germans passing below they called up artillery to pound Columns of German vehicles as they drove by the Canadians meanwhile fired at every group of Germans they could see the Germans were scattered running in ones and twos from the shelter of one wood to the next some were picked off quickly some fell to the ground but managed to run on some lay injured unable to continue some simply gave up and hoisted White Flags but by then the ground was littered with corpses and the hulks of smoking ruined

tanks and vehicles the the gap between arent and fet was finally closed on the 21st of August when the Canadians and the poles linked up at cudar the third and fourth Canadian division managed to capture s lamb after 2 days of ferocious combat and the US 9th division secured Shambo 4 days later Paris was liberated by the second French Armored Division all of it should have happened earlier and the reasons why it didn’t have been subject to dispute ever since the nature of the fighting in Normandy between the 25th of July and the 21st of

August 1944 seemed inexplicable the German forces were in a state of collapse they were outnumbered and out gunned they had no air cover and were constantly hammered by the Allied air forces their intelligence was poor and their Communications were faulty Adolf Hitler their Supreme Commander issued orders no responsible military man would ever have contemplated by rights the Allies should have been able to flick away their resistance and surge on into Germany with little or no difficulty yet it did not happen how was this possible the

depressing fact was that in all the essentials of war the German forces were Superior when it came to tactics German commanders were more skilled and more Adept at making the most of their resources their men were better motivated better LED better trained much more determined and far more willing to sacrifice themselves for their cause among the Allied Forces only the Russians displayed the same urge to fight to the death by the time the battle for Normandy ended at fet the Germans were being hunted down all over France the

remnants of the German 7eventh Army were in full Retreat heading for the bridges across the river s following the invasion of Southern France on the 15th of August the German ninth Army was withdrawing in disorder up the Valley of the river ran in a bold pattern style initiative troops of the American sixth Corps under General Lucian trusat managed to overtake take the Germans and trap them at montelimar on the East Bank of the ran on the 22nd of August but trusat was thwarted 6 days later the second panzas counterattacked and did better than

their counterparts at fet they kept the Escape Route open long enough for most of the German forces to get away however they did leave behind 15,000 prisoners and some 4,000 of their tanks and other vehicles were destroyed this though was not an escape to safety the French Resistance AVID for Revenge after four years of brutal occupation sought and savored every opportunity to kill torture or mutilate all the Bosch they could find whole units of German soldiers wandered around looking for Allied troops to whom they could surrender Only

The Haven of captivity could protect them from the fury of the [Music] French meanwhile in the west far from any chances of getting out of France isolated German garrisons held out at breast lauron sanaz l r roelle and in the estery of the girand breast surrendered after a long Siege on the 18th of September 1944 and the rest a few months later except for lauron which remained in German hands until the end of the war the garrisons had stayed in place on Hitler’s order ERS but it was a futile gesture they were nothing but specks

left over from a once Mighty force that had overrun and occupied France since 1940 and the zest of that Triumph had long since faded the major Pursuit Of course was in northeastern France where the Allies were chasing their Quarry towards the West Wall the fortifications popularly known as the SE freed line that protected the Western border of Germany the British and Americans were still in Pursuit well into September but this was creating its own problems the further the Allied Forces were from the Normandy

Coast the longer their supply lines became and a fresh campaign would be needed to shift the Germans from more convenient ports on the Belgian Coast meanwhile the German forces that managed to elude the Allies clutches had a chance to dig themselves in behind the West Wall the fortifications popularly known as the Sig freed line were 3 miles deep and had been built after 1938 to protect the Western border of Germany in 1944 reserves were rushed to the West Wall as the survivors of Normandy dug themselves in they were in a similar

state to the wall itself battered dilapidated feeble but their discipline and their will to fight was still intact and their leadership headed by Field Marshal Von rad was of high quality if Normandy were anything to go by the Allies were in for yet another costly struggle and the war was still a long way from its [Music] end