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Osprey Campaign #149
Falaise 1944: Death of an army
The battle around Falaise in Normandy during August 1944 saw the destruction of the German Seventh army. This book details the chain of events which led to the German retreat and the ensuing liberation of France during World War II (1939-1945). The British and American breakout battles had released motorised units to wage a more mobile war against the German static defensive tactics. At Falaise, the armoured units of US Third Army encircled the German Seventh Army, squeezed them into an ever-smaller cauldron of chaos and crushed them against the advancing British Second Army. The results were devastating: those troops able to escape the disaster fled, those who remained were killed or captured and vast quantities of armour and equipment were lost.
96 pages, Paperback
First published March 20, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 27, 2017
Good overview of the pocket and the battles leading up to it. Answered a lot of questions I had about the pocket from a strategic standpoint as my interest in it has grown. Nice strategic view but left me wanting to find a book that covers more of the various things experienced by men on the ground. Something that I consider invaluable in this series is the last chapter in each book titled 'The Battlefield Today' this is an excellent resource for those traveling and for me personally as I plan my 3 month backpacking trip of Europe's battlefields.
February 11, 2022
This is a brief account of the battle of the Falaise Pocket, which crippled the German Army in France and forced their retreat northeast to the German border. It’s not bad, but the limitations of it being a very short book detracted from it a bit.
As with most Osprey’s, my complaints are the maps. They’re often beautiful, but don’t easily work in concert with the text to give an idea of the troop movements. They need more of them.
At one point one of the maps mentioned that French forces withdrew in violation of orders from an American commander. Nothing in the text explained that.
As with most Osprey’s, my complaints are the maps. They’re often beautiful, but don’t easily work in concert with the text to give an idea of the troop movements. They need more of them.
At one point one of the maps mentioned that French forces withdrew in violation of orders from an American commander. Nothing in the text explained that.
January 7, 2023
The author obviously knows a ton of information about it, I did find myself having to reread many sections and go back to the maps or google information as at times he just bombards you with dysentery levels of leaders and corps and divisions and army groups and hill numbers that someone who is not already well versed in the battle would be unable to follow. I found that frustrating but since it is a very short book and well illustrated I did rate up (3.5 stars), but not my favorite of the Osprey series.
February 5, 2016
The official description of the book
"At Falaise, the armoured units of US Third Army encircled the German Seventh Army, squeezed them into an ever-smaller cauldron of chaos and crushed them against the advancing British Second Army. The results were devastating: those troops able to escape the disaster fled, those who remained were killed or captured and vast quantities of armour and equipment were lost."
makes one wonder what the Germans went through at this point, which must have been a definite moment of transformation from a nation believing in their destiny as a superior race to rule the world to a nation bewildered into waking up as one being possibly defeated, and at any rate having suffered losses of their beloved sons, brothers, husbands, fathers who were supposed to have been superior to those that had now defeated and killed a great many of them as well.
Had the nation even wondered if this would come, not as a few open eyed silent people but as a nation, even when Russian defeats were painful? No, then they blamed Russia, as if somehow that nation, that land were responsible for the killing of Germans and defeat of Germany in the east, not the aggressors. But now this was far too definite and the nation could no longer be lulled into a somnolent trust in the leaders chanting of their superiority.
What a stunning shock they must have felt, how long did it take to get over, did they get over, did they ever really know they had been wrong or at least mistaken, or did they simply think they were merely defeated by very cruel but inferior nations?
"At Falaise, the armoured units of US Third Army encircled the German Seventh Army, squeezed them into an ever-smaller cauldron of chaos and crushed them against the advancing British Second Army. The results were devastating: those troops able to escape the disaster fled, those who remained were killed or captured and vast quantities of armour and equipment were lost."
makes one wonder what the Germans went through at this point, which must have been a definite moment of transformation from a nation believing in their destiny as a superior race to rule the world to a nation bewildered into waking up as one being possibly defeated, and at any rate having suffered losses of their beloved sons, brothers, husbands, fathers who were supposed to have been superior to those that had now defeated and killed a great many of them as well.
Had the nation even wondered if this would come, not as a few open eyed silent people but as a nation, even when Russian defeats were painful? No, then they blamed Russia, as if somehow that nation, that land were responsible for the killing of Germans and defeat of Germany in the east, not the aggressors. But now this was far too definite and the nation could no longer be lulled into a somnolent trust in the leaders chanting of their superiority.
What a stunning shock they must have felt, how long did it take to get over, did they get over, did they ever really know they had been wrong or at least mistaken, or did they simply think they were merely defeated by very cruel but inferior nations?
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews