Closing the Pocket - The Matrix Games version of West Front

Chambois, 25km SE of Falaise, France: [Best played as Allied] Having broken out of Normandy through Avranches and fended off a counterattack at Mortain, the bulk of the US First and Third Armies swung east to bring pressure on the Germans facing the British south of Caen. Meanwhile the Commonwealth forces began to move south squeezing the German Fifth Panzer and Seventh Armies into a pocket south of Falaise. The only chance of escape was to the east through a narrow passage between Falaise and Argentan. Determined to close the pocket, the 1st Polish Armoured Division drove through increasing resistance to link up with American units advancing from the south. On 19 August, elements of the 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade fought their way along the ridges of Mt. Ormel towards Chambois through portions of the battered German 272nd and 116th Panzer Divisions. The fighting was intense but by the end of the day the highways leading east had been cut and the pocket was closed. The fate of nearly 50,000 Germans had been sealed!