THE BOCAGE BREAKOUT Volume 3 – 5–20 August 1944

5–20 August 1944: Vassy – Tinchebray – Flers – Putanges

Following the success of the first two volumes, which minutely detailed the breakout of the XXX and VIII British Corps through the bocage in the second half of July 1944, here is the final instalment of this series, describing day by day, hour by hour, the advance of British troops towards Argentan and their contribution to the closing of the Chambois-Falaise Pocket, from 5 to 20 August 1944.

In early August, the German forces' primary objective was to establish a defensive line from Vire to Aunay-sur-Odon, pivoting on the village of Estry, in order above all to prevent annihilation within the northern edge of the encirclement pocket then taking shape — what would become the celebrated Falaise Kessel.

In sweltering heat, the Battle of Estry began — it would last eight days! — Operation Grouse allowed the British to liberate Vassy and Tinchebray, then Flers, Aubusson, Putanges, Briouze…

On 14 August 1944, Eisenhower ordered every Allied soldier to commit body and soul to exploiting the situation (by then more than favourable), with a view to achieving a decisive victory in France. As the German army now fell back towards the Seine, the "Tommies" of the 15th Scottish Infantry Division, 11th Armoured Division and 3rd Infantry Division pressed their bocage breakout relentlessly, locked in bitter engagements… Facing them, though heavily outnumbered, Fallschirmjäger and Panzer crews clung tenaciously to the ground.

Like its predecessors, this essential volume for students of the Battle of Normandy draws on numerous photographs, maps, unit war diaries and testimonies — the latter largely unpublished.

The authors: Stéphane Jacquet is curator of the Tilly-sur-Seulles battle museum and vice-president of the Bocage Breakout museum at Saint-Martin-des-Entrées. Historian Marc Henri Barrabé is a specialist in the Second World War in the canton of Tinchebray and a member of the Revue du Pays Bas-Normand.