Strike Up the Band

By mid-summer, Third Army’s drive across northern France was moving so quickly that it outran its supply sources, and not enough trucks were available to transport supplies to every front line unit. On Patton’s orders, supplies were dumped at the side of the road and left under the guard …

1944-08-09

AP097

By mid-summer, Third Army’s drive across northern France was moving so quickly that it outran its supply sources, and not enough trucks were available to transport supplies to every front line unit. On Patton’s orders, supplies were dumped at the side of the road and left under the guard of whatever troops were available to care for them. When gasoline for the 6th Armored Division was dropped in the fields near Lesquern, the only GIs nearby were the Division Band and a few light tanks – with retreating German paratroops lurking about. Guided by a French traitor, a motley force of Fallschirmjager and fortress troops set upon the gasoline dumps.

Lesquern, France

The Falaise Pocket or Battle of the Falaise Pocket was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War. A pocket was formed around Falaise, Calvados, in which the German Army Group B, with the 7th Army and the Fifth Panzer Army were encircled by the Western Allies. The battle is also referred to as the Battle of the Falaise Gap. 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 for the Allied armies on the Western Front.

German

American

Scenario Type = Standard