3:06 “let metal do it, rather than flesh” is such a hardcore thing to say. Sounds like something out of Warhammer

What people forget about the Normandy campaign is the allies still reached Paris on the planned day. So yeah mistakes were made but they adapted and kept pushing

I have read Canadian and Polish veteran accounts of their fighting  at the Mont Ormel ridge. The Polish defense of their position was extraordinary and really deserves to be better known.

My Dad was in the German army, in an armoured unit. He was captured in the Falaise Gap by the Canadians, he was one of the lucky ones. He became a POW in the UK and never went back to Germany after the war.

My Uncle was KIA July 27th 1944. He was in the US Army as a 2nd LT and Combat Engineer. I don't know all the details of his citation, but during combat leading his platoon, he was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor and Purple Heart posthumously. RIP Uncle Norman and thank you for your sacrifice.

finally a history video structured like an essay, instead of just a regurgitating of events, makes it easier to get a comprehensive understanding

It was Bradley who stopped Patton at Argentan. He wrote in his book A Soldiers Story:
"" In halting Patton at Argentan I did not consult Montgomery. The decision was mine alone. I much preferred a solid shoulder at Argentan to the possibility of a broken neck at Falaise"".

The Poles fought like lions keeping the pocket closed. True warriors

My father was in the battle of the bulge.  He was in a mortar unit and was overrun! His unit hid in giant trash cans as the Germans moved by in a small town. He saw his first tiger tank and he said it scared the hell out of him.  During the early night they slipped through the German line and they made it back to allied lines. He fought all the way to Germany and the end of the war.

5:25 good idea, try to win a war of attrition with the army that had the largest industrial base in history behind it.

It needs to be recognised that while the Germans managed to hold the Allies in a restricted beachhead for a while, while the Allies built up their forces, by D-Day plus 90 the Allies were ahead of schedule and racing across France towards the German border.

Everyone focuses on Montgomery, but General Miles Dempsey really was an unsung hero. Monty held him in the highest regard for a reason.

Thank you for this. My dad arrived in Normandy on July 6th 1944 - I long thought that this meant he didnt face much danger. How wrong I was. He was a driver in the Royal Engineers tasked to drive an Intelligence Officer around. he witnessed the massacre of Falaise from a distance and then accompanied the British infantry up into N. France, Belgium, Holland and eventually N Germany.

Call of Duty 3’s Campaign lets you play through the whole offensive to close the Falaise pocket. It’s done a bit like a documentary too, where they’ll give you almost like a news reel overview of what’s going on, with old pictures and videos and maps. Decent story, but has great characters, definitely the most underrated COD campaign out there.

Why Hill 262 never received the Hollywood treatment is beyond me. It's an unbelievable example of raw courage and tenacity triumphing against overwhelming odds. A lavish 1960s roadshow epic about 'The Mace' would've been something!

A few days before this video was posted, I was there. I drove through Villers-Bocage, found the exact spot where Michael Wittman's tank ground into a halt, and parked my car on the spot. I had lunch at a Bistrot nearby and exchanged a few words with the locals in my simple French vocabulary. Have to be a bit careful with what you say these days, even if you are by no means a Nazi.

I wish I was economically independent. I would have spent three months just cruising through Normandy, stopping at every family owned bed & breakfast, eating loads of local food, drinking biere blonde, calvados and even Normandy whisky. Outside all the souvenir shops and monuments, there is a world of discovery and a wonderful atmosphere. A shame that there are very few remains from the Great War though.

All my love to Normandy from a Scandinavian. But hey, we founded it over a millennia back. 🙂♥

No plan survives contact with the enemy

Germans could have been Trapped in the False Pocket But Bradley told Patton to stay away whilst thousands of Germans escaped

I recommend James Holland's book on this.  He uses personal accounts as well as the historical overview. It's not Hollywood.

My grandfather was an RAF pilot and most of his missions were during the Normandy campaign.  On D-Day itself they attacked gun emplacements early in the morning so was quite literally one of the first combatants on D-Day then later that day had a mission against a Luftwaffe base in Normandy. Afterwards they were mostly concentrated on destroying V weapon bases in Normandy but also had missions against the German Army at Villiers Bocage and Caen where they annihilated a German counter attack..  He always said that was the best day of the war for him.