TRACTABLE Plus 80

Vincent J. Curtis

23 Apr 24

TOTALIZE, despite Simonds’ best efforts, ended in failure; and he launched Op TRACTABLE on August 14.  It opened with eight hundred Lancasters bombing targets along the road from Hill 195 to Falaise.  Then, the 3^rd Infantry and 4^th Canadian Armoured Divisions struck southwards cross-country two miles east of the road.  They crossed the Laison River, and bore down on Points 184, 115, and 159 north-east of Falaise.  Simonds added a heavy smoke screen to impair the effectiveness of long range German anti-tank and machine gun fire.

TRACTABLE was another heavy slog; the Germans had been tipped off by captured documents; and it wasn’t until the 18^th that Falaise was cleared.  But taking Falaise was not enough to close the gap.

The places of real tactical significance were two small villages seven miles south east of Falaise: Trun and Chambois.  These were to be taken by 4^th Div and the 1^st Polish Armoured.  These two armoured divisions thrust south on August 16^th. The Poles swung east and outflanked German defenses; they then split into three battle groups, sending one in rear of Trun, one to Hill 262 (Mount Ormel), and one to Chambois, all in the German rear; meanwhile, 4^th Div captured Trun on the 18^th.

The final drama was to occur at St. Lambert-sur-Dives and Hill 262, where the Canadians and the Poles would choke the gap closed.

The gap was spanned by the Dives River, which formed an impassable barrier to vehicular traffic except at two points, Moissy and St. Lambert-sur-Dives. Moissy had a ford, reached by a single lane dirt track; and next to it was a narrow foot bridge.

St. Lambert had a two-lane bridge that was strong enough to support a Panther tank.  The terrain was flat, wide-open, and easily observed from the heights around Trun, ideal killing ground for artillery and Typhoons.

4^th Div sent forward a battle group, comprised of B and C Coys of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (about 50 men each) and C squadron of the South Alberta Regiment, to seize St. Lambert.  In overall command was Major David Currie of the SAR.  The task of Currie Force was to stop the passage of 100,000 Germans.

Backstopping the Dives position were two Polish battlegroups on Hill 262.  They had with them Capt Pierre Sevigny, an artillery FOO for the 58^th Bty, 4^th Medium Regiment.  After crossing the Dives, escaping Germans had to pass around Hill 262..  Over the 36 hours from the 20^th to 21^st August, Capt Sevigny was to win Poland’s highest military decoration, the Virtuti Militari.  His work inflicted thousands of casualties on the Germans, and enabled the Poles to hold out against German attacks.  Four depleted SS Panzer divisions east of the Dives repeatedly attacked the Poles, who fought them until they ran out of ammunition - and then fought them hand-to-hand. 

Currie Force approached St. Lambert at dusk on the 19^th, and was repulsed with the loss of two of its fifteen Shermans.  Pulling back 1,000 yards, Currie used the night to personally recce the defenses.  Attacking again at dawn, Currie Force gained half the village by noon, forming another gauntlet escaping Germans had to pass.  Currie Force repulsed repeated counterattacks, and near dusk surged ahead to capture the rest of the village.

Columns of death sprouted from the choke points. The corpses of men, of horses, wrecked vehicles, artillery pieces, trucks and tanks piled up along the roads. Prisoners were being taken first by the dozen, then fifty and then a hundred at a time.  The famous picture of David Currie winning his VC shows a German officer surrendering to Argyll George Mitchell, CSM of C Coy, with Pte John Evans to the right.

Over 50,000 were trapped, and the German 7^th Army surrendered.

For several feats of personal military prowess, his skillful and determined attacks and defense, and for demonstrating an epic coolness under fire for 36 hours, Major David Vivian Currie was awarded the Victoria Cross.

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