Falaise pocket 1944
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 12 August 1944 – 21 August 1944 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1944 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | France | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Operation Overlord | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Canada, French Liberation Army, Nazi Germany, Polish Armed Forces in the West, United Kingdom, United States | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 48.8928, -0.1919 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Falaise pocket or battle of the Falaise pocket (German: Kessel von Falaise; 12–21 August 1944) was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War. Allied forces formed a pocket around Falaise, Calvados, in which German Army Group B, consisting of the 7th Army and the Fifth Panzer Army (formerly Panzergruppe West), were encircled by the Western Allies. The battle resulted in the destruction of most of Army Group B west of the Seine, which opened the way to Paris and the Franco-German border.
Six weeks after the 6 June 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy, German forces were in turmoil, having expended irreplaceable resources defending the frontline and with Allied air superiority threatening the availability of food and ammunition. However, on the Allied side, British forces had expected to liberate Caen immediately after the invasion, an operation which ended up taking nearly two months, and US forces had expected to control Saint-Lô by 7 June, yet German resistance delayed this until after Caen's liberation.
The Allied armies developed a multi-stage operation, beginning with Operation Goodwood on 18 July, and continuing with Operation Cobra on 25 July, which saw American forces pushing into a gap around Saint-Lô and overwhelming the defending German…
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Falaise pocket (revision 1370617646), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle for Hill 140 1944 · 13 km
- Battle of Val-ès-Dunes 1047 · 22 km
- Battle of Chambois 1944 · 24 km
- Battle of Verrières Ridge 1944 · 26 km
- Second Battle of the Odon 1944 · 29 km
- Siege of Caen (1417) 1417 · 35 km
Other battles of the Operation Overlord
- Battle for Brest 1944
- Battle for Caen 1944
- Battle of Bréville 1944
- Battle of Carentan 1944
- Battle of Cherbourg 1944
- Battle of La Haye-du-Puits 1944
- Liberation of Paris 1944
All 8 battles of the Operation Overlord →
Browse more: battles in France · Europe · World War II era battles