This key title in the acclaimed Battle Zone Normandy series explores Operations Totalize and Tractable.

Originally published: Stroud: Sutton, 2004.

Operation Totalize I was arguably the finest feat of Allied armoured action in two world wars; at the same time it is arguably the least studied and publicised. On 7 August 1944, the Canadian Army, reinforced with British Army units, sent four armoured columns south of Caen to close the Falaise gap. Driving through the night, the British tanks reached their objectives behind German lines and linked up with their Canadian compatriots. In the German counter-attack that followed, the British smashed the elite Tiger-equipped Wittman Troop. Operation Totalize I was a complete success and sealed the fate of the German forces now trapped in the Falaise Pocket. Using eyewitness accounts from tank crews and infantry, Ken Tout reveals how Totalize was the finest feat of Allied armoured action.

The twin armoured advances of aGoodwood' and aCobra', unleashed six weeks after the Allied landings in Normandy in June 1944, were intended to trap a German army within a wider pincer movement. Myths that have grown up since the end of the Second World War suggested that aGoodwood', a British initiative, foundered while aCobra', undertaken by the Americans, prospered. The author contends, however, that together these operations provided the impetus for a series of advances, culminating in the encirclement and ultimate destruction or capture of many German formations within the notorious Falaise Pocket in August 1944. Combining narrative with eyewitness accounts of those who were at athe sharp end', Ken Tout explodes the myths surrounding these operations and claims aGoodwood' made an important advance without heavy loss. Credit is given to soldiers on both sides, American, British, Canadian and German, for their resolute efforts in almost impossible situations. The author gives particular attention to headquarters' aspin doctors' and the dissemination of information within the Allied armies, which helped to obscure the true objectives of Operation aGoodwood'.

A fast-paced account by a soldier who was twice decorated. Charlie Martin, company sergeant-major in the Queen’s Own, was with his beloved A Company in all of the significant Normandy actions.

On 7 August 1944, the Canadian Army, reinforced with British Army units, sent four armored columns south of Caen to close the Falaise Gap. Driving through the night, the British tanks reached their objectives behind German lines and linked up with their Canadian compatriots. In the German counter-attack that followed, the British smashed the elite Tiger-equipped Wittman Troop. Using eyewitness accounts from tank crews and infantry, Ken Tout reveals how Totalize was a resounding Allied success.