The Falaise pocket or battle of the Falaise pocket was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War. Allied forces formed a pocket around Falaise, Calvados, in which German Army Group B, consisting of the 7th Army and the Fifth Panzer Army, were encircled by the Western Allies. 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.
A Cromwell tank and Willys MB 'jeep' passing an abandoned German 8.8 cm PaK 43 anti-tank gun during Totalize
Polish infantry moving towards cover on Hill 262, 20 August 1944
Germans surrendering in St. Lambert on 19 August 1944
German prisoners taken during the battle are given tea by their British captors.
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Normandy landings. A 1,200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August.
LSTs with barrage balloons deployed, unloading supplies on Omaha Beach for the breakout from Normandy
US Army M4 Sherman tanks loaded in a landing craft tank (LCT), ready for the invasion of France, c. late May or early June 1944
D-day assault routes into Normandy
Air plan for the Allied landing in Normandy
