Trun fell to the Canadians on August 18, leaving the Germans with a 10-mile-wide escape corridor. At midnight, Field Marshal Walther Model relieved Kluge of command. Kluge wrote a letter to Hitler, explaining that the ‘failure of the armored units in their push to Avranches and the consequent impossibility of closing the gap to the sea’ had been preordained by the American and British ‘wealth in matériel,’ and urged the Führer to end the war. He then departed for Germany, but near Metz Kluge committed suicide by swallowing potassium cyanide.

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To secure his shrinking escape route, Model ordered two vital areas to be held. The first was the high ground at Mont Ormel. The other objective was Hill 240 at Ecorches and the Chambois crossroads. At that point, the weather suddenly changed in the Germans’ favor: A low cloud ceiling limited Allied aerial activity. Just as the Polish eastern battle group reached Mont Ormel, units of the II SS Panzer Corps arrived, counterattacked and secured Hill 262 South, on which its tanks then took up positions to cover the flow of retreating troops. Other German units secured the bridge at St. Lambert, northwest of Chambois, and managed, in spite of heavy losses, to keep that river crossing open.

There were two other gaps at the Germans’ disposal-one between Champosoult and Vimoutiers, and another between Chambois and Le Bourg St. Leonard. The American 90th Infantry Division was poised to advance from Le Bourg St. Leonard, but due to a misunderstanding in the directives issued by the U.S. Army headquarters and the weakening of the pincer effort to reinforce Patton’s thrust toward the Seine, it was not until August 19 that the 90th Division’s 359th Infantry Regiment got its orders to move on Chambois. During that two-day delay, elements of the German Seventh and Fifteenth armies and Kampfgruppe (battle group) Eberbach poured through Chambois.

Such was the situation as the Polish 1st Armored Division drove a wedge into the German line of retreat from the north. The II SS Panzer Corps responded by debouching from its assembly area east of Mont Ormel, hoping to cut off the exposed arm of the Polish pincer. The result was a chaotic series of attacks, counterattacks, ambushes and surprise encounters, with the opposing forces often outflanking each other or becoming intermixed. The Polish supply lines became overextended and vulnerable to attack by Panther or Tiger tanks of the SS Panzer units.

Early on August 19, troops of the Polish western battle group were alerted and resupplied with ammunition and gasoline. They ate breakfast and moved on Chambois at 11 a.m. The ground was unsuitable for tanks, so the 10th Dragoons went first, with their anti-tank guns and Universal carriers well to the front. Sounds of battle were coming from all directions. Major Stefanowicz’s eastern battle group surprised the Germans and captured Hill 262 North around noon. From there, the Poles opened fire on a large German column heading from Chambois to Vimoutiers and destroyed it.

Another German column was moving parallel to the Polish route of advance, but the terrain limited visibility, and neither force sent out reconnaissance patrols. The Germans were avoiding any unnecessary contact in their haste to escape from the trap, while the Poles wanted to avoid any delay in reaching Chambois. By sheer luck, another German column had just passed through Chambois before the Poles arrived, enabling the latter to enter the town without opposition or delay.

‘Our patrols began meeting enemy infantry who, in a state of complete exhaustion, were giving themselves up in great and increasing numbers, thus causing us considerable administrative problems and waste of time,’ Zgorzelski reported. Meanwhile, Hawker Typhoons strafed Chambois and set it on fire, raising clouds of black smoke.

‘We reached Hill 124, which was being held by the 10th Mounted Rifles and the Divisional Reconnaissance Regiment,’ Zgorzelski continued. ‘The ground to the south of that hill was unsuitable for tanks. Their commander decided to hold the hill, from which he could support our attack along the Vimoutiers-Chambois road. The regiment took a two-up formation for the attack-1st Squadron, under Captain Zbigniew Giera, to the left; 2nd Squadron, under Lieutenant Zbigniew Kintzi, to the right of the road; the 3rd Squadron, under Major Zgorzelski, behind the 2nd Squadron. The 4th Squadron and the regimental headquarters were to follow on the road. The 24th Lancers were to cover the 1-kilometer gap to the west between us and the 10th Mounted Rifles. Anti-tank guns were left on Hill 124.

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