THE BATTLE OF FRANCE

(July 19 to August 29, 1944)

N our last issue's review of the invasion battle 31. This breakthrough decided the entire cam­ we pointed out two remarkable facts. viz.• paign. Another wave of US troop. advanoe!l I (1) that only one major landing operation had east from Granville to Villedieu to CO-2nd Army from the region of Caumont threatened be sure of that and had therefore to maintain con· the rear of the German divisioJlB. The fate of the siderable forces all along the far·Bung coasts of campaign in FTance was sealed: what was at stake Europe. a factor which limited the forces opposing now was no longer tbe fat.e of French territory the Normandy invaders and gave the Allies a vast but that of the German armiCl in France. superiority in the bridgehead area. The two Through the breach at AvranchCl the mobile German armies. the 5th and ith, under the supreme wing of the US forces poured like a flood via Dinan, command first of :Jo'ield Marshal von Rundstedt RennCl, and Fougl!res toward the west and south· and since July 6 of Field Marshal von Kluge, wit·h west coasts of Brittany. toward the lower Loire. Field Marshal RQmmel as second-in-command. had and toward the upper reaches of the Mayenne to deal with four Allied armies: the Canadian 1st River. acro88 which a spearhead was driven to Army under Lieutenant General Crear operating ~ Mans with the obvious intention of enveloping from the easternmost wing of the Normandy and destroying the German formatioJlB in Nor. bridgehead: the British 2nd Army under Lieut.enant mandy. Thence powerful spearheads were driven General Dempsey slightly further west: l.he US 1st toward OrIeaJlB, Chart.res. and Dreux to protec\ Army under Lieut~nant General Bradley. which the southern flank of the first operation 88 well .. maintained contact with the British 2nd Army; to outfiank the German armies in northern France. and Lieutenant General Patton's US 3rd Army, consisting of armored and mechanized divisions At the end of the t~nth week of the invasion, and forming the mobile western wing, The when t.he Canadian 1st Army succeeded in fighting strongest reinforcements were sent to this latter its way to the area north and northeaat of Falai8e, army. the Germ8JlB found their westernmost divisiona While the British and Canadian armies. forming the 21st Army Group. remained under the command of General Montgomery. who has since been pro· moted to the rank of field marshal. Lieutenant General Bradley later took over the oommand of the US 1st and 3rd Armies, which formed the 12th Army Group, being succeeded in the com· mand of the US 1st Army by Lieutenant General Hodgee. On July 24, following upon a violent artillery and air oombardment. the Amer. icans began their offensive southwest of Carentan and northwest of St. 1.6. In the course of heavy fighting the in. vaders succeeded in gaining ground in a loutherly and lOuthwest~rly direction. The German troops in the Lessay and Periers sector were temporarily cut off, but managed to break through toward the south and establish themselves in new positioJlB. However, US pre88ure did not subside. The coastal area in front of the Allied west wing aa far as AvranchCl was bare of natural obstacles and covered by a network of excellent roads. thus fa,-oring mobile warfare. Af· ter an attack from Coutances along the highway to Avranches and along the coastal road to Granville the Americans broke through the German lines im. The Battle of France. The red lines show the mediately south of Avranches on July approximate course of the front for each week Tl:IE MARCH OF WAR 229 eaoght in a pocket formed by the triangle Fala.iseJ garrisons of St. Malo and Ctlzembre, they withstood llers/Argent.IUl, a pocket sWI open to the east heavy Allied attacks. So did the garrison of Le bet.ween FaJaiBe LIJld Argentan. In a grim st.ruggle Havre. the defenders defeated aU Allied hopes of closing ,the pocket, frust.rating successive outflanking The breakthrough at Avranches made it impera­ tive for the Germans to wit.hdraw t heir forces P!IJleuvcrs. When the Falaise/Argent.au gap WllB stationed in western and southern France. es· J!&ITOwed from the north, it was widened again pecially after the large·scale landing along the by a countcmttack toward tho southeast.. While Riviera coast and further west begun by tho US 'lie German detaching movements continued toward 7th Armv under Lieutenant, General Pat.ch on the eost, blurier positions protected the southern August 15. This landing was supported by live lank lUi far 08 the lower Seine. US bridgeheads bat,tleships. 26 cruiilers, 9 aircraft earriers, nearly IDrOSS thl\t river were either eliminated or kept in ~. 100 destroyers, and hosts of other craft, Advancing north and northwest from tho Mediterranean In the melUltime American spearheads advanced coast, t,he Allies immediately cut the main railway born the area of Chartres and Dreux in the direction line linking France and Italy and threat,ened the of t.he middle Seine and Paris, co-ordinated with a only remaining line by way of tho Mont Cenis. dri\'O from Orleans toward Pithiviers and Sens. The German 10th Army under Field Marshal On August 24 they reached the western city limits B1askowitz, which had boon stationed on the ~ the capital. Wishing to spare Paris the fat.e of French l'IfediterrlUlean coast, fought delaying being turned into a battleground, the Germans actions in order to enable the German forees in ii1taJded eVllCuating the eit,y without defenrling it. south and sOllthwestenl France to be withdrawn ut, following upon Allied appeals 1.,0 the French before t,hey could be cut off by an outflanking Populat.ion to take up arms against, t.he Germans, drive on the part of tho US 7th Army or by 1111 ,franc·tireur groups wit,hin the capital--

[J{erbs and tJIledicine During the war the cultivation and gathering of medicinal herbs have increaeed considerably in Germany. By this means more than 2 million kilo. grams of dried herbs can be obtained annuall:r. representing the equiva. lent of more than 12 million kilograms of fresh plants. The gathering was carried out chiefly by school children and youth organizations under expert direction.