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Summary: As the struggle to close the Falaise 'gap' draws to an end, elements of the 11th Armoured Division drive eastwards from Argentan in the wake of the fleeing remnants of the German 5th Panzer Army and 7th Army.
Description: On the outskirts of Argentan, 30th Corps vehicles pass makeshift German direction signs scrawled on a wall pointing the way out of the Falaise 'gap'. Nine kilometres further each along the N24 bis, motorised infantry belonging to the 8th Battalion the Rifle Brigade drive in the rain through the village of Le Bourg St Leonard where units from the 2nd French Armoured Division and the 15/19th Hussars have met up.
Production Details: Directorate of Public Relations, War Office (Production sponsor)
Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production company)
Covey (Sergeant) (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Free French Forces, Div, Armoured, French, 2 (regiment/service)
British Army, Bde, Armoured, 29 Gp (regiment/service)
British Army, Hussars, 15/19 (regiment/service)
British Army, Bde 159 Gp (regiment/service)
British Army, Div, Armoured, 11 (regiment/service)
British Army, Corps 30 (regiment/service)
British Army, Rifle Brigade, 8th Battalion (regiment/service)
Keywords: armour, United States - halftrack: M5 & [British] (object name)
signs, military and civilian (object name)
Argentan, Orne, France (geography)
Orne (River), France (geography)
Notes: Note: Le Bourg St Leonard was the scene of heavy fighting on the 17th-18th August 1944 between Germans fleeing from the Falaise 'Gap' along the N24 bis and 90th US Infantry Division and elements of the 2nd French Armoured Division. See with A70 124-4, 126-2, 127-1 and 2, 129-1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 16, 130-1, 3 and 6 and 132-3, 4, 5, 6 and 7
Remarks: Good footage. Best seen with A70 130-6.
Documentation/associated material: read 'La Charge du Taureau' by Jean Brisset (in French), 'Taurus Pursuant - The History of the 11th Armoured Division' by BAOR, 'The Rifle Brigade in the 2nd World War 1939-1945' by Major Hastings and 'The History of the 2nd World War : Victory in the West : Volume 1' by L F Ellis.
