Beginning of August 1944, while the Americans were throwing

their armies into Brittany following on their breakthrough

at Avranches, the Canadians and British were still stuck to

the south of Caen, confronting the elite of the Panzer divisions.

However, several German armoured units were withdrawn to

counter the German menace and at last the Allies had a glimpse

of possibly capturing Falaise, the last lynchpin in the enemy

defences in Normandy. Two operations launched in almost as

many days, Totalize and Tractable , got the Canadians, British and

Poles to the gates of that town. But those few miles were terribly

difficult to cover for the 2nd Canadian Corps which was given

the task. Despite ingenious planning, superior firepower and air

support the Allied units, either much weakened or still lacking

experience, paid the supreme price to get within sight of the walls

of William the Conqueror's birthplace.