The 745th Tank Battalion supported the 1st Infantry Division in the breakout from Normandy during Operation Cobra. The tankers observed the initial aerial bombardment on 25 July and began their assault to the south and west on the following day. The German lines began to crumble and, by 30 July, the battalion was pushing southeast. In the first week of August, near Mortain, with the 745th Tank battalion providing direct fire support, the 1st Infantry Division held the mouth of a narrow breach through which the now active Third Army of General George S. Patton began to pour eastward. After aiding in the encirclement of the Falaise Pocket, in which some 50,000 Germans were taken prisoner and another 10,000 were killed, the battalion raced northeast across France, at one point covering in just over 24 hours.