Operation Tractable

Operation Tractable was the final offensive conducted by Canadian and Polish Army troops, supported by one brigade of British tanks, as part of the Battle of Normandy. The goal of this operation was to capture the strategically important French town of Falaise, and following that, the smaller towns of Trun and Chambois. This operation was undertaken by the Polish 1st Armoured Division and the Canadian 1st Army against the Wehrmacht′s Army Group B, and it was a part of the largest encirclement on the German Western Front during the Second World War. Despite a slow start to the offensive that was marked by limited gains north of Falaise, novel tactics by Polish 1st Armoured Division—under the command of Generał brygady Stanisław Maczek during the drive for Chambois—enabled the Falaise Gap to be partially closed by 19 August 1944, trapping about 150,000 German soldiers in the Falaise Pocket.

Although the Falaise Gap had been narrowed to a distance of several hundred yards, a protracted series of fierce assaults and defenses between two battle groups of the Polish 1st Armoured Division and the II SS Panzer Corps on Mont Ormel (Hill 262) prevented the quick closing of the Falaise Gap, allowing thousands of German troops to escape from Normandy. During two days of nearly continuous fighting, Polish forces using artillery barrages and close-quarter fighting managed to hold off counterattacks by seven German divisions. On 21 August, elements of the Canadian 1st Army relieved the surviving remnants of Polish units and were able to finally seal the Falaise Pocket by linking up with the troops of the U.S. 3rd Army. This led to the surrender and capture of the remaining units of the German 7th Army which were trapped in the Falaise Pocket.