Falaise: The Flawed Victory - The Destruction of Panzergruppe West, August 1944

By Anthony Tucker-Jones

The destruction of the trapped German forces in the Falaise pocket in August 1944 is one of the most famous episodes of the Normandy campaign. But myths have grown up around accounts of the battle, and its impact on the course of the war is sometimes misunderstood. In this meticulously researched and perceptive study Anthony Tucker-Jones dispels misconceptions about the battle, describes the combat in graphic detail and reassesses the outcome in the context of the campaign to liberate Europe.

He takes a broad view of the sequence of operations that culminated in the battle at Falaise, tracing the course of the campaign mainly from the German viewpoint. For two bloody months the Germans held the Allies at bay following the D-Day landings, but then they were blocked in at Falaise and the area became a killing ground.

Some liken the event to Hitler’s defeat at Stalingrad, while others argue the victory was flawed because so many German troops escaped.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Release date: Sep 22, 2008
• ISBN: 9781848849242

Anthony Tucker-Jones

ANTHONY TUCKER-JONES spent nearly twenty years in the British Intelligence Community before establishing himself as a defence writer and military historian. He has written extensively on aspects of Second World War warfare, including Hitler’s Great Panzer Heist and Stalin’s Revenge: Operation Bagration.

Reviews for Falaise

[robpalmer-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I must declare an interest in that I know the author of this book, and meet with him to discuss subjects of mutual interest. It was also interesting that I have two books about Falaise to review at the same time, so I read one after the other. I found two different viewpoints about this one battle in Normandy. The author of this book takes a different line to most others I have read, in that he looks at the German armoured formations that were deployed to Normandy, their origin, involvement in the Normandy campaign, and their subsequent deployments.There are eighteen chapters, commencing with two general chapters about Panzergruppe West, and the early stages of the Normandy campaign. The next twelve chapters examine individual German armoured formations and their particular activity during the period under review. The last four chapters provide a summary of the outcome at Falaise, and the deployment of these formations from September 1944 until the end of the war.I found this book very enlightening about the German perspective of the Normandy campaign. Many authors have examined the American, British and Canadian aspects, but I have found few books looking at the other side. It highlighted for me the fear that Allied air power generated amongst German commanders and soldiers, yet the actual number of German tanks destroyed by air power was relatively small. A more significant problem was the lack of fuel at the front line, and the breakdowns suffered by the German tanks. Again, the claims and counter claims about the number of tanks destroyed leads one to be sceptical about the numbers quoted by various authors, and to question the definition of ‘destroyed’.I noticed a couple of errors that have slipped through the proofing process: Page 85 referring to the second armoured brigade of the 7th Armoured Division (it only had one) and on Page 180 referring to the 3rd Canadian Armoured Division (it was an infantry formation), but this should not detract from the quality of the writing overall. There are some informative appendices at the end, and some maps at the beginning of the book. In conclusion, my view is that this book is a valuable asset to anyone having an interest in German armoured formations in the West, and the Normandy campaign in particular.