03x04 - Falaise Trap

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR:

August 1944.

Normandy, France.

When a German machine-g*n team

tries to carve an escape route

for soldiers fleeing the Falaise pocket

(g*nf*re)

a Canadian officer calls for someone

to take out the MG 42.

I need a volunteer!

No one volunteers.

O'KEEFE: He knows that he could order

his men to do it,

but that's not gonna play well.

(g*nf*re)

So he decides he's gonna do the job

himself.

(expl*si*n)

On June 6, 1944, Allied forces

finally land troops in Normandy

to open the Western Front.

♪♪

(shouting in German)

But n*zi fanatics and diehards continue

to fight ferociously for survival.

♪♪

D-Day was a battle.

♪♪

They still need to win the w*r.

♪♪

♪♪

August 18, 1944.

Normandy, France.

♪♪

Canadian tanks

of the South Alberta Regiment

rumble toward the small French village

of Saint-Lambert-sur-Dives.

♪♪

C Squadron, led by Major David Currie,

cautiously approaches the outskirts

of the village

♪♪

♪♪

when an armor-piercing round hits

his lead tank.

(man screaming)

♪♪

But before he can locate the source

(g*nf*re)

g*nf*re also peppers

the Canadian tank convoy from above.

(engines humming)

Not far behind,

at regimental headquarters,

Currie's commander,

Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Wotherspoon,

also comes under fire

from similar forces --

Spitfires of the British Royal Air Force.

(engines humming)

(g*nf*re)

♪♪

♪♪

Wotherspoon's men hurry to display

the army's signal for friendly forces --

Yellow smoke.

O'KEEFE:

The use of smoke on the b*ttlefield

was done to denote friend from foe

for Allied fliers that were whipping by

at hundreds of miles an hour.

Undeterred by the yellow smoke,

the Spitfires circle back

to strafe the convoy again.

(g*nf*re)

The men dive for cover.

O'KEEFE:

But it doesn't seem like the left hand

knew what the right hand was doing,

and they chose the same color.

This meant that every time

they fired the smoke,

Wotherspoon was actually calling down fire

on his own positions

and he didn't realize it.

(dramatic music plays)

(g*nf*re)

The regiment is now under attack

by friendly planes

- for the second time in four days.

- Get the .50 caliber!

O'KEEFE: Wotherspoon's anger

completely boils over at this point.

In this case, you open fire

on anything that is trying to k*ll you.

However, it's a bit of a vicious Catch-22

because the more you fire,

the more they believe you are the enemy.

But before Wotherspoon gives the order

to fire,

a subordinate disrupts his plan.

(engines humming)

O'KEEFE:

The regimental padre, Albert Silcox,

grabs a Union Jack -- the same one

that he used for burial services --

And then makes his way out into the field

while the planes are diving.

♪♪

He stands in the open

with only a flag for protection.

♪♪

♪♪

In mid-August 1944,

the Allies enjoy near complete control

of the skies over Normandy.

(g*nf*re, explosions)

♪♪

On the ground, as they push in

from Brittany and the beaches,

Allied forces begin to squeeze

the remnants of the German 7th Army

and the 5th Panzer Army --

About 100,000 enemy soldiers,

their tanks, and weapons.

(dramatic music plays)

BORYS:

You have the British and the Canadians

coming down from the north and northwest,

and you have the Americans sweeping

underneath the Germans

from the west and the south.

And effectively, that creates a pocket

that begins to close

on the German army group.

♪♪

Allied aircraft launch constant strikes

against the trapped Germans.

♪♪

But sometimes, the Allied pilots mistake

friendly ground troops for the enemy.

♪♪

The regimental chaplain hopes to show

the British airmen

they are on the same side.

♪♪

The Spitfires start their dive.

(g*nf*re)

But he is too late.

The first plane fires

into the convoy again.

The padre holds his ground.

♪♪

His bravery pays off.

♪♪

O'KEEFE: As the leader of

the second flight coming in for his run

realizes the error and pulls off,

looking for other prey.

(engines humming in distance)

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

A Canadian regiment, the South Albertas,

have been assigned a key role

in the elimination of the Falaise pocket.

BORYS:

As the pocket continues to shrink,

more and more Germans are rushing out

eastwards.

And it's the job of the Poles

and the Canadians to shut that gap,

to close it down for good.

As the Poles move to take Chambois,

the South Alberta Regiment moves

to capture Saint-Lambert-sur-Dives,

where two sturdy bridges remain able

to support the weight of enemy armor.

This would completely trap German tanks

and tens of thousands of German infantry

inside the pocket.

As the men of the South Alberta Regiment

regroup and darkness falls

♪♪

Canadian Major David Currie

enters the German-occupied village

of Saint-Lambert-sur-Dives alone.

A German 88-millimeter g*n attacked them

from within the village

earlier in the day.

Currie hopes to find a way around it

with his tanks.

O'KEEFE: Traditionally,

a unit commander does not take point

or carry out reconnaissance himself.

But given the fluid situation,

Currie decides he was the man for the job.

He's now operating as a human trip wire.

It's better that one man light up

the enemy defenses and expose a trap

than to risk losing all of the men

following him behind.

But as he walks the length

of the small village,

he discovers that the Dives River

to the south limits his options.

♪♪

With things mostly quiet

in Saint-Lambert, he returns to base

and asks his commander,

Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Wotherspoon,

for permission to launch

a nighttime attack,

with most of his men on foot.

At the South Alberta Regiment

headquarters,

Wotherspoon decides that Currie should

wait until morning to take the village.

You wait until morning. Hold tight.

Hold position.

- Yes, sir.

- BORYS: Closing the gap at night

is a very difficult maneuver,

and there is fear that Currie

and his men will suffer from friendly fire

if they move too quickly.

This delay, at this crucial moment

when the Allies need to close the gap,

keeps the back door open for the Germans.

♪♪

As the Falaise pocket was forming

in early August,

Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge,

commander in chief in the west,

recognizes the danger.

Von Kluge believes the best way

to protect Germany's fighting capacity

is to withdraw the remnants of his armies

to the east side of the river Seine

in order to escape from this pocket.

Hitler disagrees.

He insists they counterattack

to break out of the pocket

and make it back to the beaches.

LIEB: Suddenly, the effect

that the armored formations

are in the west part

not only being encircled

but also that their best troops

are totally at the wrong spot.

By August 16th,

without permission from Berlin,

von Kluge orders the withdrawal to begin.

On August 17th, von Kluge is replaced

with the more fanatical

Feldmarschall Walter Model.

LIEB: Model, he had saved the

Eastern Front several times from collapse.

Model is considered to be

the big crisis manager

in the later parts

of the Second World w*r.

But by then, even Hitler acknowledges

that the remainder of the 100,000-man

German 7th Army

must withdraw or be wiped out.

(g*nf*re)

For two days, Germans have coordinated

a fighting retreat out of the pocket.

(dramatic music plays)

(g*nf*re, b*llet thuds)

♪♪

(explosions)

But as the Allies squeeze,

the only escape route is a gap.

BORYS: The gap is about one to two miles

wide, but it's shrinking by the minute.

And as it shrinks,

the Germans are becoming

more and more desperate to escape.

The next morning, Currie prepares

a new attack on Saint-Lambert-sur-Dives.

In addition to the tanks

of the South Alberta Regiment,

he is joined by 55 infantry soldiers

from the Canadian Argyll

and Sutherland Regiment,

led by acting Major Ivan Martin.

As they enter the village,

Currie leads the Argylls on foot

to scout the German defenses.

♪♪

A solo Canadian tank creeps behind them.

♪♪

But not more than 300 yards

into Saint-Lambert,

a German g*n opens fire.

♪♪

♪♪

August 19, 1944.

As the Allies try to close

the infamous Falaise pocket,

Canadian troops move

into the German-held town

of Saint-Lambert-sur-Dives, France.

♪♪

The lead tank,

which accompanies infantry troops

led by Major David Currie,

is struck by enemy fire.

♪♪

♪♪

The crew in it bails out.

But before the drivers can escape

they are struck by a second round.

♪♪

O'KEEFE: Currie now realizes

the potentially perilous situation

and continues down the road on foot

only to find a Mark IV and a Tiger tank

laying in wait at the southern end

of the village.

But he has advanced on foot

without a radio.

Currie has no way to communicate

with his reserve units

of the South Alberta Regiment.

Fortunately, Captain John Redden,

Currie's second in command,

monitors the situation as the battle

unfurls in the village below.

Redden leaves behind his tank

and commandeers Currie's lead Sherman.

As they roll towards town,

he sees a German tank

turning onto the road in front of him.

(man speaking German)

O'KEEFE: The gunner only has

a high-expl*sive round loaded.

So they fire it anyway

(dramatic music plays)

hoping to startle the crew

or blow off the tracks.

The German tank is damaged

but forges ahead.

Redden continues his attack.

O'KEEFE: It gives them time to get off

six unanswered armored-piercing shots

at the Panzer.

The last one strikes home

(expl*si*n, man shouts)

and brews it up immediately.

♪♪

With one Panzer now neutralized,

the Argylls go into action.

The idea is that the infantry

are now gonna cooperate with the tanks

to clear the flanks

and clear the lane of advance

so there are no nasty surprises.

(dramatic music plays)

Move up!

Move up!

(g*nf*re)

As they make their way,

Lieutenant Gil Armour

discovers a German Panther tank

hiding in an alley.

He asks for volunteers to provide cover

while he climbs up with a grenade.

(man speaking German)

But before he can drop it

into an open hatch,

a German officer emerges with a p*stol.

♪♪

(g*nf*re)

The two men wrestle

♪♪

until Armour throws the German

to the ground

where the fight continues.

♪♪

♪♪

(g*nsh*t)

Finally, the German is wounded

by one of Armour's men.

Armour climbs up again to drop in

a grenade to immobilize the tank.

(expl*si*n)

And a piat is brought forward

to finish the job.

♪♪

♪♪

O'KEEFE:

At this point, a news-camera team

from the Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit

have actually caught up

with the South Albertans,

as they mistakenly heard that the gap

has been closed around Chambois.

The Argyll and Sutherlands continue

to spread through the village.

O'KEEFE: They start clearing buildings

on both sides of the streets

to root out German infantry.

You have to go from room to room

and house to house.

Currie himself gets into the action.

He personally accepts the weapons

of surrendering Germans

and escorts them to the collection point.

♪♪

By mid-morning,

Currie can report to Wotherspoon

that the village is clear

of German defenders.

Wotherspoon instructs him to dig in.

BORYS: Miscommunication during the final

phase of the battle is a major problem.

There are reports

of friendly-fire incidences.

There are reports that the gap

has been closed.

So Wotherspoon does not

send Currie forward.

Instead, he has him secure Saint-Lambert,

short of closing the gap.

♪♪

In the meantime,

Currie and his men continue to intercept

a stream of German soldiers

trying to escape

through Saint-Lambert-sur-Dives.

There are a few big captures.

But many are scruffy soldiers

happy to be out of the w*r

♪♪

with at least a few who appear to have

been captured on the Eastern Front

and transported to France as workers.

♪♪

There are literally hundreds

of German soldiers

surrendering to a few dozen Canadians.

♪♪

Currie has barely enough manpower

to properly hold the village,

let alone guard the prisoners of w*r.

(engine idling)

When Captain John Redden emerges

from his tank

to oversee the surrender

of yet another group

(dramatic music plays)

♪♪

he is shot.

♪♪

Redden survives the attack

but has to be replaced.

It reduces Currie's supply of officers

just as the action in Saint-Lambert

increases.

(g*nf*re)

German a*tillery begins to land

on the Canadian positions.

♪♪

The Germans inside the village

target the Canadian tanks.

(g*nf*re)

One bold soldier takes matters

into his own hands

and fires an armor-piercing round

at a Canadian Sherman

(expl*si*n)

which puts it out of action.

Elsewhere, German soldiers get in

so close,

they begin to swarm the tanks

(dramatic music plays)

climbing up to sabotage

the Canadian armor.

O'KEEFE: The reason that you have infantry

operating with tanks

is because when you get into

close quarters,

kind of like what you have

in the town here,

tanks become extremely vulnerable

to enemy infantry,

particularly tank-hunting teams.

(man shouting in German, g*n clanging)

In this case, the few soldiers Currie has

are occupied elsewhere.

The tankers have to deal with this threat

on their own.

♪♪

Let's shake these guys off.

Initially, the Canadians speed up

to shake them off.

♪♪

♪♪

That does not work.

O'KEEFE: In a frantic attempt to get

the German infantry off the tanks,

one Canadian tank enters

into what they call delousing

(g*nf*re)

in other words, turning its machine

g*ns on the other Canadian tanks,

basically trying to pick off

the German infantry

as if they were lice on clothing.

(g*nf*re, b*ll*ts ricocheting)

With his men and tanks nearly overrun

(dramatic music plays)

(g*nf*re)

Major David Currie must take action.

♪♪

August 19, 1944.

In Saint-Lambert-sur-Dives, France,

hundreds of German soldiers stumble

into the defensive line

of Canadian Major David Currie.

(dramatic music plays)

The Germans are trying to escape

an Allied encirclement

known as the Falaise pocket.

♪♪

O'KEEFE: It's quite clear to Currie

that his men are about to be overrun,

so he takes the most drastic step

and calls down fire

from the supporting 25-pounder g*ns,

right onto his own position.

Currie calls for his own men

to take cover.

(g*nf*re)

♪♪

O'KEEFE: To his terror,

it's not shrapnel shells that arrive --

These will do little damage

to his tanks --

But rather the high-expl*sive shells

from a medium regiment

that can take out a tank

with one direct hit.

(b*mb whistling, expl*si*n)

Rounds land close by

but do not strike the Canadians.

♪♪

The bombardment does take

a very heavy toll

on all the Germans caught out in the open.

The enemy advance is halted, which

buys Currie and his men time to regroup.

(down-tempo music plays)

Despite the lull,

at regimental headquarters,

Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Wotherspoon

anticipates further attacks.

As the gap closes,

more and more Germans flood into the area

to attempt to escape the pocket.

The stone bridge that can bear the weight

of heavy armor

proves irresistible.

Wotherspoon contacts his brigade commander

to request more troops

to defend their thinly held line.

Brigade command offers

only a small reinforcement.

Many of the senior officers

are already looking past the battle.

Generals like Montgomery, Crear,

even Guy Simonds,

they're thinking about tomorrow.

They're thinking about

beyond the Falaise pocket.

On August 18th, Montgomery radios London

with claims the pocket is sealed

and that no German can escape.

BORYS: And this creates a lot of problems

with command and control,

with bringing the appropriate

reinforcements into the area.

Wotherspoon must make do.

♪♪

He sends two companies of infantry

from his headquarters

down to defend Saint-Lambert.

He also dispatches trucks

to make sure Currie and his armor

have everything they need

for the coming fight.

♪♪

It is a tense time.

BORYS: It is extremely risky

to refill tanks while in battle.

They're no longer moving.

They're completely exposed to enemy fire.

Trucks and sometimes tanks deliver

hundreds of jerricans to the front.

They are handed up one at a time

during the 20 minutes it takes to refuel.

Sherman fuel tanks hold

an impressive 140 gallons of gasoline

to feed five Chrysler engines.

It is a race against time.

BORYS: On top of that, as you bring more

and more of that fuel up,

that becomes a hazard

in case any spark should set it off,

causing some sort of expl*si*n.

You are extremely vulnerable

when you are sitting there

refilling your tank,

preparing for the next move.

(down-tempo music plays)

Fueled up and supplied with ammunition,

Currie positions his meager troops

strategically throughout the village

to defend the tanks after dark.

♪♪

(insects chirping)

As the waves of German forces threw

themselves against the Canadian line,

some were captured.

Others made it past.

♪♪

Generalleutnant Eugen Meindl,

commander of the 2nd Parachute Corps

has been watching from the safety

of some nearby woods.

LIEB: General Eugen Meindl is a

personality we don't know too much about.

He's a brave and quite competent

military commander,

but we don't know anything

about his political beliefs

or his attitude towards

national socialism.

It is for certain that many

of the senior paratrooper commanders

are convinced and ardent Nazis.

Whether this was the case also for Meindl,

we just don't know it.

Meindl's elite troops have been fighting

rear-guard actions

within the Falaise pocket.

They must now escape.

Meindl is joined

by Oberstgruppenführer Paul Hausser,

commander of the 7th Army.

LIEB:

Hausser and Meindl meet at Saint-Lambert

in order to discuss how to save

the rest of their army.

How can they escape from this pocket?

Meindl points out the weak points he

has observed in the Canadian positions.

Hausser agrees,

and under cover of darkness,

the leader of an entire army

prepares to crawl alongside his men

toward enemy lines.

♪♪

Just after midnight on August 20, 1944,

two German generals,

Oberstgruppenführer Paul Hausser

of the German 7th Army

and Generalleutnant Eugen Meindl,

creep low

near Saint-Lambert-sur-Dives, France.

LIEB:

The fact that Meindl and Hausser

are both crawling through the mud

and through the bushes

shows in what a critical situation

the Germans are.

Normally, you would expect German generals

to travel by staff cars.

But now, they have to act

like ordinary soldiers.

The generals have a bold plan.

Two thousand paratroopers,

some of the best troops

of the German 7th Army,

will ford the Dives River

near Saint-Lambert

and sneak past the Allied defenders

in the darkness,

then link up with the 2nd SS Panzer Corps

near Coudehard.

LIEB:

The second part is to turn around

and attack the Allied positions

from the outside

in order to keep the gap open

so that the rest of the German army

can escape.

The plan will require stealth,

as the two generals lead their men

across the Dives River

as silently as possible.

♪♪

♪♪

A small group of Canadians occupy

the village to cut off any escape.

Major David Currie

of the South Alberta Regiment

has stationed his 12 remaining tanks

at key intersections

to thwart any further penetration

through Saint-Lambert.

It will be difficult.

Despite their heft, the tanks

are not an effective weapon in the dark

because of their small field of view,

and Currie has fewer than 200 soldiers

to defend them.

(dramatic music plays)

♪♪

♪♪

Meindl and his men manage to outflank

the first Canadian tanks.

But as they make their way past,

they discover a fourth, which opens fire.

♪♪

The shots pass over the heads

of the Germans

(g*nf*re)

but they are pinned.

(g*nf*re stops)

♪♪

Even as they inch forward

♪♪

they are forced to the ground again

as the Canadians launch star shells

to improve visibility.

♪♪

A key destination for the German forces

is the stone bridge

at the south end of the village.

LIEB:

The Dives River is quite shallow,

so it's not a major obstacle

for individual soldiers to escape,

but it's a major barrier for any tank.

This bridge is crucial

for any German tanks and armored vehicles

to escape from the pocket.

Currie has positioned a tank here,

at the nearest intersection.

During the night,

its Canadian crew hears sounds outside.

♪♪

(g*nf*re, b*ll*ts ricocheting)

♪♪

The tank commander fires high-expl*sive

rounds into the darkness

- Fire!

- (expl*si*n)

hoping to find a target

and manage a direct hit.

A massive expl*si*n illuminates

the nearby field

and exposes the German troops

in the darkness.

In response, other Canadian tanks turn

their fire toward the burning vehicle.

♪♪

The original tank commander

calls for his weapon.

(g*nf*re, expl*si*n in distance)

He emerges from his hatch and begins

to fire, adding to the cacophony.

♪♪

With a rash of g*nf*re and explosions

from around the village

(g*nf*re in distance)

Meindl seizes the distraction

and waves for his men to move

as quickly as possible.

♪♪

The German troops creep within a few feet

of the Canadian position

and can hear English voices,

but they continue on.

LIEB: Meindl's plan is not to attack

the Canadian tanks.

Meindl's plan is to bypass them

and to escape.

So any noise must be avoided by all means.

And the tanks prove to be

the final obstacle.

♪♪

Meindl and his men approach the riverbank,

where they need to attempt

a second crossing to make their getaway.

♪♪

Now they must prepare to launch

their counterattack

against the Falaise pocket --

From the outside.

After the long night, day finally breaks.

Visibility remains poor, as a misty fog

hangs over the countryside.

Canadian Lieutenant Gil Armour

and his 10th Platoon

of the Argyll and Sutherland Regiment

remain on high alert.

♪♪

At around 0800 hours,

a clanking, rumbling noise builds.

(tank rumbling)

(men shouting in distance)

Suddenly, a mass of screaming

German soldiers run into view.

(dramatic music plays)

(g*nf*re)

And behind them, a Tiger tank.

♪♪

Lieutenant Armour and his soldiers

are in their way.

August 20, 1944.

Hordes of n*zi soldiers run screaming

toward a tiny village in Normandy, France.

It is part of an epic plan

to extract them from the Falaise pocket.

(dramatic music plays)

German Panzer troops outside the pocket

launch an attack simultaneously

to keep a tiny gap in the Allied line open

and allow tens of thousands more

of their countrymen to escape.

In Saint-Lambert-sur-Dives,

a German Tiger tank follows the soldiers

and rolls onto the only bridge

in the village

which can safely bear the weight of armor

and equipment.

It is determined to break through

the Allied line

that tries to hold the soldiers in.

♪♪

Until now, the bridge has been held

and protected

by a small group of Canadians

(g*nf*re)

including infantry

from the Argyll and Sutherland Regiment.

(man speaking German)

♪♪

- Get down!

- MAN: Fire!

The tank fires armor-piercing

and high-expl*sive rounds

into the house that contains

the platoon's headquarters.

As the Argylls flee

the burning building

(expl*si*n)

they fire into the charging mass

of German soldiers.

♪♪

O'KEEFE:

One of Currie's Shermans responds

and makes a courageous attempt

to take the Tiger on head-to-head.

Unfortunately, the Tiger fires first.

The Canadian tank bursts into flames.

(explosions)

With the Germans now in control

of the bridge,

Major David Currie

of the South Alberta Regiment

dispatches the last of his men

and five tanks.

♪♪

Quickly, two more are knocked out

of action.

They begin a desperate fight

to hold the rest of the village.

(g*nf*re)

O'KEEFE: Even though the Canadians

are mowing down Germans in bunches,

they are spread so thin

that it's impossible

to completely stem this tidal wave.

The Germans are coming from

what seems like every direction,

trying desperately to get out

of the closing gap.

Right flank!

Currie instructs his men

to focus their fire

on the German vehicles and tanks

headed for the bridge.

O'KEEFE:

Currie is trying to create the conditions

where he can actually effectively hold

Saint-Lambert-sur-Dives.

But he's thoroughly undermanned,

so he's trying to make the best out of

what really is a horrible situation.

At his headquarters

overlooking the fighting,

Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Wotherspoon,

Currie's commander,

orders tank and machine-g*n fire

into the approaching Germans

from his vantage point on the hill.

♪♪

(g*nf*re)

It is not enough.

He can see that Currie and his men

could soon be overrun

and his own position captured.

Wotherspoon calls again for reinforcement.

O'KEEFE:

At higher headquarters,

they already have their sights set firmly

on the next phase of this battle,

and they don't really realize

that Currie's chapter in Saint-Lambert

is still being written.

The South Albertans are on their own.

O'KEEFE:

Some reinforcements don't get off in time.

Some never move,

and others take the wrong road

and get lost en route.

♪♪

In the village, Currie watches as his men

are forced back, alley by alley,

towards his headquarters

in the northwest corner.

They occupy nearby houses

to provide covering fire.

German forces occupy the church,

with its tower at the south end of town,

to cover the bridge and protect the flow

of n*zi tanks and soldiers.

As more Germans move into the village,

a sn*per gets in too close.

(g*nsh*t)

Currie uses the hatch of his command tank

as a platform

to snipe the sn*per with his r*fle.

O'KEEFE: By this time, Currie's force

has dwindled down dramatically.

He does have Major Ivan Martin

from the Argylls

and some of his platoon officers,

but he has little more.

He's lost a lot of his own officers

and his NCOs.

As a result,

he decides to take personal command

and visits each one

of the depleted platoons.

That's exactly the type

of steady leadership you need

when everything is hitting the fan.

Soon, though, a German machine-g*n crew

sneaks into the Canadian lines

and sets up a short distance

from Major Martin's men.

(dramatic music plays)

They open up fire

on the Canadian defenders.

(g*nf*re, b*ll*ts ricocheting)

With his Argylls in danger,

Martin asks for a volunteer

to eliminate the enemy machine-g*n nest.

No one offers.

♪♪

O'KEEFE:

Martin is in a very difficult position,

because he knows that he could order

his men to do it,

but that's not gonna play well.

So he decides he's gonna do the job

himself.

Armed with a Sten g*n, Martin heads off.

♪♪

(g*nf*re)

♪♪

His men hear, rather than see,

what happens next.

♪♪

(g*nf*re continues)

♪♪

Minutes later,

Martin returns with a trophy --

A German MG 42.

♪♪

The constant Allied attacks

against the Germans in the Falaise pocket

continue to take their toll

on the fleeing soldiers.

And by the afternoon, there are countless

enemy wounded who need care.

A German medical officer

approaches Currie and Martin

to request assistance for his countrymen.

They discuss terms with the German doctor

using one of Martin's lieutenants

as a translator.

O'KEEFE:

As they're working out this deal,

Currie gets a call from Wotherspoon

and steps away from the discussion.

As Currie gets into his tank,

there is a massive expl*si*n.

(expl*si*n)

August 20, 1944,

at Saint-Lambert-sur-Dives, France.

As Canadian officers negotiate

the surrender

and care of wounded German soldiers,

a high-expl*sive shell lands nearby.

(expl*si*n, debris falling)

(down-tempo music plays)

It kills one officer

and mortally wounds another --

Acting Major Ivan Martin.

♪♪

It is yet another blow to the mission

to hold the village,

in the face of thousands

of German soldiers

frantic to escape capture

in the Falaise pocket.

(g*nf*re)

The South Alberta Regiment commander

of Squadron C, Major David Currie,

who had stepped away to take a call,

escapes injury.

O'KEEFE: There's no doubt that Currie

is one hell of a leader,

but he is also successful because he has

good officers and NCOs around him.

They're slowly slipping away, though,

and he's lost all his tank commanders.

And now Martin, who's helped him

hold together the Argylls, is k*lled.

The losses take a toll on Currie.

Still under heavy fire

and unsure if he can hold,

Currie calls his commander,

Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Wotherspoon,

and requests permission to withdraw.

O'KEEFE: Wotherspoon knows

it must have been really bad in the town

for him to ask to withdraw.

But orders are orders,

and you have to fulfill your objective.

So quite reluctantly, there's no doubt,

that Wotherspoon has to turn him down.

♪♪

Currie moves about the buildings

to visit the dwindling group of defenders

around their headquarters.

O'KEEFE:

This message was extremely sobering,

because now Currie realized

that there was no way out.

This was essentially

a hold-at-all-costs order,

which meant he had to fight to the finish.

And now it's up to him to prepare his men

for that final chapter.

All the while, German forces push closer

to the Canadian positions.

They set up another machine-g*n nest

in a nearby house.

(g*nf*re, expl*si*n)

♪♪

♪♪

Then, unexpectedly, help arrives.

Lieutenant J.R. Flowers and members

of the Canadian 6th Anti-Tank Regiment

have taken a wrong turn and stumble

into Saint-Lambert-sur-Dives by mistake.

(g*nf*re in distance)

Flowers' men immediately get to work

setting up eight anti-tank g*ns

at critical locations.

♪♪

They open fire with the 17-pounders

and begin to push back

the German counterattacks.

♪♪

Their targets include a German Tiger

menacing the village.

♪♪

They begin with an armor-piercing round,

which penetrates the tank.

♪♪

The next shot is a high-expl*sive,

or H.E., round into the same spot,

which creates a two-foot-wide hole

through the Tiger.

With Flowers' g*ns,

the tide begins to turn.

O'KEEFE:

This twist of fate is a huge gift,

pretty much deliverance for Currie.

A wrong turn had led Flowers

into the right place.

Sometimes when it all comes down to it,

you just need to have luck on your side.

Once again, large numbers of German troops

begin to turn themselves over

to the Canadians.

But n*zi diehards recoil

at the thought of surrender.

(man speaking German, g*nshots echoing)

LIEB: There are some instances

in the Normandy battle and also at Falaise

where German SS officers

sh**t their own men

if they make any signs of retreating

or surrendering.

The fact that some German SS officers

sh**t their own men

shows how fanatical they are.

(g*nf*re)

Despite their heroic efforts

over the past three days,

the Argyll and Sutherlands

and C Squadron of the South Albertas

are not immediately relieved

and stay in the line,

accepting the surrender of prisoners

and harassing the Germans

who continue to try and escape.

♪♪

♪♪

O'KEEFE: The exhaustion by this point

is overwhelming,

and Currie actually falls asleep

standing up

while he debriefs his relieving officer.

Luckily, one of the boys catches him.

He has been running with no sleep

for at least three days.

♪♪

Currie and Wotherspoon

have held their ground,

but many Germans flee

through the crack in the line.

Misunderstanding and miscommunication

allow them to regroup further north.

LIEB: There are varying numbers, how many

Germans were actually in this pocket

and how many escaped.

So my estimate is that there are

100,000 soldiers in the pocket

and about half of them escape.

And Hitler's pride also proves costly.

LIEB: They have to leave the armored

vehicles and their tanks behind.

80 percent were still intact

or destroyed by the Germans themselves

because they ran out of gas.

The carnage along the Dives River

is nearly incomprehensible.

BORYS: There were thousands of vehicles

and thousands of corpses

crammed into the very few roads left

for the Germans to escape.

Canadian pilots talked about how,

flying over the region,

they could smell the stench of death.

Military authorities have to truck

drinking water into the area

as all of the bodies contaminate

the water supply.

♪♪

Generalleutnant Eugen Meindl succeeds

in breaking out of the pocket

and turns back to attack the Allies

from the outside.

Afterwards

LIEB: Meindl is able to escape

to the Netherlands for refit and regroup,

and he survives the w*r.

He's been taken prisoner in 1945

by the British.

Oberstgruppenführer Paul Hausser

suffers further wounds

during his escape from the Falaise pocket.

LIEB: But later, he's given command again

of Army Group Upper Rhine in early 1945

and serves until the end of the w*r.

Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Wotherspoon

retains command of the South Alberta

Regiment until the w*r's end.

He earns the Distinguished Service Order

and returns to Canada to practice law.

Major David Currie remains commander

of C Squadron.

On November 30, 1944,

he is abruptly flown to London.

The king of England presents him

with the Victoria Cross

for his bravery at the Falaise gap.

Footage from that time

would prove unprecedented.

O'KEEFE: From what we understand,

this is the only film footage

of anyone ever actively earning

the Victoria Cross.

It is the highest honor

of the British Empire.

Currie humbly claims it belongs

to all the men serving alongside him

at Saint-Lambert.

Currie returns to Canada

and is later named sergeant at arms

of the Canadian parliament

by the prime minister,

a post he holds for 17 years.

The fight for Normandy is finished.

The Allies now push towards Paris

while the German army regroups

on the opposite banks of the Seine

and Marne rivers.

But Berlin is the ultimate goal,

and the w*r in Europe will continue

for another eight and a half months.