The battle of the Falaise Pocket, fought during the Second World War from 12–21 August 1944, was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy. Taking its name from the pocket around the town of Falaise within which Army Group B, consisting of the German Seventh and Fifth Panzer Armies became encircled by the advancing Western Allies, the battle is also referred to as the Falaise Gap after the corridor which the Germans sought to maintain to allow their escape. The battle resulted in the destruction of the bulk of Germany's forces west of the River Seine and opened the way to Paris and the German border. Following Operation Cobra, the American breakout from the Normandy beachhead, rapid advances were made to the south and south-east by General George Patton's Third Army. Despite lacking the resources to cope with both the U.S. penetration and simultaneous British and Canadian offensives south of Caen, Field Marshal Günther von Kluge—in overall command of Army Group B on the Western Front—was not permitted by Adolf Hitler to withdraw; instead, he was ordered to counterattack the Americans around Mortain. The remnants of four panzer divisions—which was all that von Kluge could scrape together—were not strong enough to make any impression on the U.S. First Army, and Operation Lüttich was a disaster that merely served to drive the Germans deeper into the Allied lines, leaving them in a highly dangerous position. Wikipedia [ - ]

The battle of the Falaise Pocket, fought during the Second World War from 12–21 August 1944, was... [ + ]