Stanley LeRoy Olson - Argentan Gap halt

On the Allied side there was also some confusion. On 14 August Bradley decided to sent Haislip and half of his 15th Corps east towards Dreux. On 15 August the Canadians finally captured Falaise, and Montgomery suggested a two pronged assault, with the Canadians attacking from the north and the Americans from the south, both aiming for the villages of Trun and Chambois, to the north-east of Argentan. This caused a command problem on the American side, as Haislip had accompanied the half of his corps moving east. Patton created a provisional corps under the command of his chief of staff Hugh Gaffey, while Bradley sent Gerow’s 5th Corps HQ around the pocket to take command on the southern flank. Gaffey planned an attack for the morning of 17 August, but after Gerow arrived he postponed it to give his corps artillery time to arrive.

By the end of 16 August the Germans had seven corps inside the pocket. Dietrich commanded on the northern side of the gap and Eberbach on the southern side. The westernmost troops were at Flers, while the exit from the pocket was at Trun, 40 miles to the east. The Germans estimated that they would need four days to escape fully from the pocket. The full scale evacuation of the pocket began late on 16 August, and that night the troops from the westernmost part of the pocket successfully moved across the Orne. In order to secure the southern flanks of the pockets elements from the 2nd SS and 116th Panzer Divisions attacked the 90th Division at a village east of Argentan, temporarily pushing the Americans off a key ridge.

On 17 August Crerer increased the intensity of his attack from the north. This forced to Germans to speed up the evacuation and on the night of August 17-18 Hausser was able to get all of his troops across the Orne. However he was forced to abandon some of his tanks and self propelled guns as fuel ran out. On the same day the Germans recaptured the ridge east of Argentan.