History - War at a Glance

Trapped in the Pocket The Allies push the weakened German forces back at Villers-Bocage, Potigny, and Falaise. On August 13, the U.S. XV Corps reaches Argentan; on August 15, the Canadian First Army captures Falaise. By then virtually all the German troops in Normandy are trapped between converging Allied armies in the ever-shrinking Falaise “pocket” - a 24-kilometer-wide salient along the River Orne. Within five days the pocket is closed. Ten thousand German soldiers die there, and 50,000 are taken prisoner. Perhaps 20,000 manage to escape across the Seine, alone or in small groups, leaving much of their equipment, especially vehicles, behind them. With these events, the first phase of the invasion is over - and the race to the Rhine is on. See Next Racing Toward the Rhine