Day Five: A super busy day today. We followed Operations Totalise and Tractable in their entirety. That is the closing of the Falaise Pocket and ultimate defeat of the German armies in Normandy. Amongst the things we saw today were…. The spot where Michael Wittman was killed, the area where Worthington Force were lost and made their last stand. We drove through Argentan where Patton’s 3rd. army paused, Moissy where the German army tried to cross the ford over the river Dives, St Lambert sur Dives where the Canadians held the Germans trying to escape. and Mont Ormel where the Poles held back forces trying to rescue those caught in the pocket. Finally, we saw where the armies all met in Chambois and where the German surrender was taken in Tournai. Then on our way home we saw the rather sorry Tiger I at Vimoutiers…..a full-on day!😃
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| Sherman tank track marks on a wall from the Battle for Le Mesnil Patry, 11 June 1944 |
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| 49th Division Memorial |
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| Noyer-Bocage - RAF Typhoon Pilot Memorial |
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| Hill 112 Memorial to Operation EPSOM |
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| Wittman's Tiger I was knocked out just to the right of the White building. His buried remains weren't found until 1983 |
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| Bretteville Canadian Cemetery near Cintheaux |
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| Polish Cemetery at Urville |
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| Polish Memorial |
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| The Worthington Force Memorial |
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| Falaise Cathedral |
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| St. Lambert sur Dives 1944 |
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| St. Lambert sur Dives 2024 - where the Canadians held up the German withdrawal and helped close the Falaise Pocket. The war-time picture above show two Panthers abandoned in the ditch on the right |
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| Memorial to the Canadians and their commander, Major David Currie VC |
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| Moissy Ford 1944 |
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| The ford at Moissy today, where the German army had to pass to cross the river Dives. War-time pictures show the area strewn with destroyed vehicles and horses |
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| M8 Armoured Car |
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| 76mm armed M4 Sherman |
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| Polish Commander - Lieutenant General Stanisław Maczek |
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| Mont Ormel Polish Memorial |
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| Chambois - Memorial to US & Commonwealth Forces meeting and closing the Falaise Gap |
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| French Priest who negotiated the German Surrender - Abbe Marcel L'Aunay |
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| Memorial to German Surrender |
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| Plaque in Farmyard marking where surrender took place |
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| Tiger I at Vimoutiers |
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