The Outcome  (source : Historical area of the Battle of Normandy)

Starting out from Caen, this Itinerary corresponds to the phase during which the Allied offensives converged on what was to be the most decisive battlefield of the Battle of Normandy - The Falaise-Chambois pocket - before going on to l'Aigle, whose liberation opened up the road to the River Seine for the Allied armies.

The itinerary follows in the footsteps of the British, Canadian and Polish armies heading towards Falaise in Operation Totalize, to join up with the American and French armies. It shows how the trap laid for the German army closed round it in the Dives valley, at the foot of Mont Ormel, at the end of a merciless battle.

On 19th August the Americans and the Poles joined up at Chambois and after two days of fierce fighting, the Battle of Normandy was finally won in the afternoon of 21st August. The battle cost Germany about 400 000 men (killed, wounded or imprisoned) and 1 500 tanks. The German army suffered its worst defeat since Stalingrad in the Falaise pocket.