Operations Totalize and Tractable

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 However, several German armoured units were withdrawn to counter the German menace and at last the Allies had a glimpse of possibly capturing Falaise, the last lynchpin in the enemy defences in Normandy.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.