Operation Tractable - Aftermath

Aftermath

By the evening of 21 August 1944, the vast majority of the German forces remaining in the Falaise Pocket had surrendered. Nearly all of the strong German formations that had caused significant damage to the Canadian 1st Army throughout the Normandy campaign had been destroyed. Two panzer divisions—the Panzer Lehr and 9th SS—now existed in name only. The formidable 12th SS Panzer Division had lost 94% of its armour, nearly all of its field-guns and 70% of its vehicles. Several German units, notably the 2nd and the 12th SS Panzer Divisions had managed to escape east toward the Seine River, albeit without most of their motorised equipment. Conservative estimates for the number of German soldiers captured in the Falaise Pocket approach 50,000, although some estimates put total German losses (killed and captured) in the Pocket as high as 200,000.

By 23 August, the remainder of the Wehrmacht's Seventh Army had entrenched itself along the Seine River, in preparation for the defense of Paris. Simultaneously, elements of Army Group G—including the German 15th Army and the 5th Panzer Army—moved to engage American forces in the south. In the following week, elements of the Canadian 1st Army repeatedly attacked these German units on the Seine in attempts to break through to the Channel Ports. On the evening of 23 August, French and American Army units entered Paris.