page_title: Falaise Pocket
section_title: Operation Totalize
hierarchical_section_title: Falaise Pocket / Background / Operation Totalize
caption_attribution_description: A Cromwell tank and jeep pass an abandoned German PAK 43/41 gun during Operation 'Totalise',
context_page_description: The Falaise Pocket or Battle of the Falaise Pocket was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War. A pocket was formed around Falaise, Calvados, in which the German Army Group B, with the 7th Army and the Fifth Panzer Army were encircled by the Western Allies. The battle is also referred to as the Battle of the Falaise Gap. 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 for the Allied armies on the Western Front.
  Six weeks after D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, the German Army was in turmoil. The Allied Army had experienced great difficulty in breaking through the German lines; the city of Caen was supposed to have been captured on the first day of the invasion and was not taken until late in July, and the town of St Lo was to be taken by US forces on the second day, but was not taken until well after Caen had fallen. However, the German Army's defence of this area of Normandy was expending irreplaceable resources.
context_section_description: The First Canadian Army was ordered to capture high ground north of Falaise to trap Army Group B. The Canadians planned Operation Totalize, with attacks by strategic bombers and a novel night attack using Kangaroo armoured personnel carriers. Operation Totalize began on the night of 7/8 August; the leading infantry rode on the Kangaroos, guided by electronic aids and illuminants, against the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend, which held a 14 km (8.7 mi) front, supported by the 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion and remnants of the 89th Infantry Division. Verrières Ridge and Cintheaux were captured on 9 August, but the speed of the advance was slowed by German resistance and some poor Canadian unit leadership, which led to many casualties in the 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division and 1st Polish Armoured Division. By 10 August, Anglo-Canadian forces had reached Hill 195, north of Falaise. The following day, Canadian commander Guy Simonds relieved the armoured divisions with infantry divisions, ending the offensive.
caption: A Cromwell tank and Willys MB jeep passing an abandoned German 88 mm (3.46 in) PaK 43 anti-tank gun during Totalize
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