In the Battle of the Falaise Pocket (12–21 August 1944) in the Second World War, Allied forces encircled and destroyed most of the German Army Group B west of the Seine river in a pocket at Falaise in northwestern France. It was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy. The Americans had broken out from the Normandy beachhead, the Third U.S. Army under General George Patton was rapidly advancing, and British and Canadian forces were launching offensives south of Caumont and Caen. Adolf Hitler ordered Field Marshal Günther von Kluge, the commander of Army Group B, to conduct a counter-offensive at Mortain instead of withdrawing. Four depleted panzer divisions were not enough to stop the First U.S. Army, which converged with the British Second Army and the First Canadian Army on the Falaise–Chambois area, directed by the Allied ground forces commander, General Bernard Montgomery. German counter-attacks forced some gaps in the Allied lines, but by the evening of 21 August the pocket had been sealed, with around 50,000 Germans trapped inside. Many escaped, but losses in men and equipment were huge. A few days later, the Allies liberated Paris.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falaise_Pocket> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1877: American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered Deimos, the smaller of the two moons of Mars. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deimos_(moon)> 1883: The last known quagga (example pictured), a subspecies of the plains zebra, died at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quagga> 1914: World War I: Despite the Belgian victory in the Battle of Halen, they were ultimately unable to stop the German invasion of Belgium. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Halen> 1981: The IBM Personal Computer, the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform, was introduced. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer> 2000: The Oscar-class submarine K-141 Kursk of the Russian Navy suffered an on-board explosion and sank in the Barents Sea during a military exercise. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kursk_submarine_disaster> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: gunmetal: 1. (historical) A type of bronze used for making cannons. 2. An alloy of 88% copper, 10% tin and 2% zinc, originally used for making guns. 3. A dark grey or bluish-grey colour; gunmetal-grey. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gunmetal> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: I wish I could write a book that will be read for as long as our civilization lasts … would value it much more highly than any business success if I could contribute to an understanding of the world in which we live or, better yet, if I could help to preserve the economic and political system that has allowed me to flourish as a participant. --George Soros <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Soros> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedb...@wikimedia.org
