Pocket Of Destruction: Closing The Falaise Gap

Commander of LXXXIV Armeekorps Generalleutnant Otto Elfeldt

Waffen-SS officers of 1.SS-Panzerdivision Leibstandarte SS

Pz.Kpfw. Tiger n°332 of s.SS-Pz.Abt.101

When all German battle-worthy units were ordered to break out of the Falaise Pocket on the night of 19 – 20 August 1944, Generalleutnant Otto Elfeldt (delegated with the leadership of LXXXIV Army Corps) and his corps served as a rearguard to cover the withdrawal of several individual battle groups. In the early morning hours of August 20 1944, Elfeldt led a small group of stragglers in an attempt to bypass the enemy-held town of Saint Lambert. However, Generalleutnant Elfeldt and his group were captured and he was transferred to Island Farm Special Camp 11 Camp 1. By the evening of August 21 1944, the pocket was closed for the last time, with around 50,000 Germans trapped inside. Although it is estimated that significant numbers managed to escape, German losses in both men and material were huge. Credit: Islandfarm. Top image: Generalleutnant Otto Elfeldt being questioned by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Credit: Richard White. PD. Bottom clips: shots showing officers from 1.SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte SS, which broke out of Falaise encirclement en masse the days before, at Elbeuf town situated by the banks of the Seine at the end of August 1944. Also seen is Tiger n°332 from schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 101, commanded in Normandy by SS-Unterscharführer Albert Leinecke. The Normandy campaign is over with the general withdrawal from Normandy, crossing the Seine and retreating eastward towards Belgium and Germany. The German Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS in Normandy spent the better part of the summer 1944 containing an Allied beach-head not only bulging with men and material but also supported by massive offshore and air-delivered firepower. Footage from Die Deutsche Wochenschau. Fair use.