Operation Totalize 7–11 August 1944

The Canadians and Polish led the push towards Falaise in Operation Totalize. The idea behind the attack was to use modified self-propelled guns, from which the guns had been removed, to allow infantry to keep pace with the main armour. Previous battles had suffered from the delay in infantry support for tanks leading an attack, and the idea of armoured personnel carriers, which have been used so widely since, stemmed directly from their success in this battle. During the night of 7 August the tanks marked out positions for a bombing raid and pushed through the German defences after they had been weakened. The infantry then followed close behind and cleared any remaining Germans. This first phase of the attack was a great success, however Allied bombing raids the next day disrupted the supply lines of the advancing formations. German counterattacks over the next few days were damaging and eventually stopped the Allied advance.