LE BOURG-SAINT-LÉONARD Orne - 8 km east of Argentan The Allied Forces closed the Falaise pocket by the south Whereas the Allied Forces were reaching Le Mans on 8 August 1944, Hitler still ordered a new offensive; in vain, after two days of offensive the Operation Lüttich was already a failure. The German reinforcements arrived sparingly from the South or the North of France, and could only temporarily clog the breaches. On 12 August, the Americans of the 5th Armoured Division and the French of the 2nd Armoured Division entered Argentan. But General Bradley's order compelled them to stop their advance, while Montgomery on the north was not yet in Falaise. On 13 August, at midday, an American spearhead reached Le Bourg-Saint-Léonard, a strategic crossroads, straightaway the flags blossomed at the windows; but the Germans counter-attacked on 16 August and pushed back the Americans. The next morning the Germans were repelled from the town, but this crossroads was of most importance, and a German Kampfgruppe entered again in the town with Panzer. The population suffered badly in this tragic events. The fighting lasted until 19 August when Le Bourg-Saint-Léonard was definitively liberated by the Americans.
Liberation stele Stele remembering the fighting between the German and the Allied troops, from 16 to 19 August 1944. Situation : in the town center, at the edge of the the N26 road
ROAD MAP			INTERESTING WEB SITES Web site about tanks – download Michael Wittmann military file http://www.panzermuseum.com/downloads/doc_details.html Personal web site about the Second World War Generals http://www.generals.dk/ Personal web site about the Normandy battle - articles and photographs http://www.warchronicle.com/dday/contents.htm US Army official web site - US Army divisions structure http://www.army.mil/cmh/lineage/cc/comp.htm Personal web site about the German Army structure http://web.telia.com/~u18313395/normandy/index.html   All rights of photos, texts, maps and graphics design are reserved