Escape is Everything

After the Allied breakout forced by Operation Cobra, the German army was caught between two pincer movements with most of the Seventh Army trapped in the rapidly closing "Falaise Pocket". The retreating army desperately sought to escape along its last …

1944-08-19

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After the Allied breakout forced by Operation Cobra, the German army was caught between two pincer movements with most of the Seventh Army trapped in the rapidly closing "Falaise Pocket". The retreating army desperately sought to escape along its last remaining route, the Chambois-Vimoutiers road, which passed before Hill 262. The 1st Polish Armoured Division attached to the 1st Canadian Army was ordered to take the hill (which had previously been invested by the Germans with strong defensive positions) to somehow "close the door". On August 19th, the retreating German units marched in tightly packed order along roads which came to an intersection, leading to a major traffic jam causing nearly total disorganization. The Polish forces, hidden in the former German entrenchments, unleashed a devastating ambush. Surviving German units retreated (but not out of the pocket). The following night, there would be a desperate assault on the Polish position, which would become known as one of the greatest Polish defensive actions of the war, for they formed the mace that hammered the door shut. Hill 262 became known as Maczuga, "The Mace".

Hill 262, The Falaise Pocket, France

Hill 262, or the Mont Ormel ridge, is an area of high ground above the village of Coudehard in Normandy that was the location of a bloody engagement in the final stages of the Battle of Falaise in the Normandy Campaign during the Second World War. By late summer 1944, the bulk of two German armies had become surrounded by the Allies near the town of Falaise. The Mont Ormel ridge, with its commanding view of the area, sat astride the only escape route still open to the Germans. Polish forces seized the northern height of the ridge on 19 August and held it until noon on 21 August, despite determined attempts by German units to overrun the position, contributing greatly to the Allied victory.

Wikipedia: Hill 262

German

Polish