page_title: Battle for Brest
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Battle for Brest / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: A Churchill tank in the Fort Montbarey Brest
context_page_description: The Battle for Brest was fought on the Western Front during World War II. Part of the Allied plan for the invasion of mainland Europe called for the capture of port facilities, in order to ensure the timely delivery of the enormous amount of war materiel required to supply the invading Allied forces. It was estimated that the 37 Allied divisions to be on the continent by September 1944 would need 26,000 tons of supplies each day. The main port the Allied forces hoped to seize and put into their service was Brest, in northwestern France.
context_section_description: The whole Overlord campaign developed somewhat differently than originally planned. Patton's US Third Army's quick advance allowed the Liberation of Paris to occur earlier than expected, but by September 1944 supplies were beginning to run short.
  Cherbourg was the only port that was repaired in time to be used and therefore by the end of the war in Europe despite the U.S. Army committing 75,000 troops to the capture of Brest of which 10,000 would become casualties, not a single Allied troop ship or supply vessel had docked in Brest . The harbor's capacity was approximately 2,000 tons a day in mid-July and 12,000 tons by August 1944.
  A decision was made to favor the British forces under Sir Bernard Montgomery by reducing the supplies to other forces, including Patton's. The unsuccessful Operation Market Garden launched by Montgomery soon after, however, did not allow the Allies to resume their rapid advance which was being stalled at Antwerp in Belgium. The Germans were able to reorganize and even counterattack (e.g. the Battle of the Bulge). By then, however, Antwerp was secured, its port operating and supplying the Allies.
  After the war, the West German government paid reparations to civilians in Brest who had been killed, starved, or left homeless.
caption: Fort Montbary today with a Churchill 'Crocodile'
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