The Battle of Normandy began on June 7, 1944 and lasted 88 days. We will count appalling losses on both sides.
Several operations will be launched in the sector of Caen for the capture of the city which was the objective of June 6. It will be released a month and a half later.
In the American sector, the Cotentin peninsula will be liberated quickly. The objective is Cherbourg, a deep-water port, important for the Allies. There will of course be Operation Cobra near St-Lo which will open the German lines. The Americans will then continue their progression towards Brittany.
Finally, the Anglo-Canadian forces will break through the front, in the south of Caen, in late July-early August 1944 to finish in front of Falaise on August 18. They will push as far as Trun-Chambois on August 18-21 to form the famous « pocket » and which will definitively encircle the 5th Panzer Army and the 7th German Army, about 100,000 men. This pocket will be closed by the Polish, Canadians, British, Americans and finally the French.
From the D-Day landings to the end of the Battle of Normandy, the Allies lost 209,000 men out of the two million landed. The losses amounted to 200,000 men on the German side.
Norman civilians will also pay a heavy tribe with the loss of 13,632 civilians.
…..Let us never forg
