Of the approximately 20 German infantry and armoured divisions trapped in the Falaise pocket around 12 were still operating with a degree of combat-effectiveness.[nb 8] As these formations retreated eastwards they fought desperately to keep the jaws of the encirclement—formed by the Canadians in Trun and St. Lambert, and the Poles and Americans in Chambois—from closing. German movement out of the pocket throughout the night of 19 August cut off the Polish battlegroups on the Mont Ormel ridge.[34] On discovering this Stefanowicz conferred with Koszutski. Lacking sufficient means to either seal the pocket or fight their way clear, the two decided that the only chance of survival for their force was to hold fast until relieved.[39] Although the Polish soldiers on Point 262N could hear movement from the valley below, other than some mortar rounds that landed among the positions of the 8th Infantry Battalion the night passed uneventfully.[41] Without possession of Point 262S the Poles were unable to interfere with the large numbers of German troops slipping past the southern slopes of the ridge.[43] The uneven, wooded terrain, interspersed with thick hedgerows, made control of the ground to the west and southwest difficult by day and impossible by night.[40] As it grew light on 20 August Szydłowski prepared to fulfil his orders of the previous day and organised two companies of his 9th Infantry Battalion, supported by the 1st Armoured Regiment, for an attack across the road towards Point 262S. However, hampered by the wreckage littering the pass the attack soon bogged down in the face of fierce German resistance.[41]
The Poles' possession of around 2 square kilometres (0.77 sq mi) of commanding terrain overlooking the Seventh Army's only route out of Normandy was a serious impediment to the German retreat.[43] Field Marshal Walther Model, who on succeeding von Kluge two days earlier had authorised a general withdrawal,[4] was well aware of the need to remove the "cork"[39] from the bottle containing the Seventh Army. He ordered elements of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich and the 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen—located outside the pocket—to attack Hill 262.[27][28] At 09:00 the 8th Infantry Battalion's positions around the Zameczek to the north and northeast of point 262N were assaulted, and it was not until 10:30 that the Germans were driven back. In the heavy fighting a number of the 1st Armoured Regiment's supply lorries were destroyed.[44]
Having spotted German tank movements towards a nearby height, Point 239 (roughly 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) north of the ridge[6]), an attack was planned to take this feature and provide a buffer for the Poles' northern positions around the Zameczek. However, the 2nd Armoured Regiment's 2nd Squadron, tasked with capturing Point 239, was unable to release its tanks from their defensive duties.[44] At one point during the day[nb 10] a Panther tank of the 2nd SS Panzer Division worked its way onto the height and, at a range of 1,400 metres (1,500 yd), picked off five Shermans of the 1st Armoured Regiment's 3rd Squadron.[3][45][46] The survivors were forced to change position although they later lost another tank to fire from the north.[45]
Around midday the Germans opened up an artillery and mortar barrage that caused casualties among the ridge's defenders and lasted for the entire afternoon.[45] At about the same time, Kampfgruppe Weidinger seized an important road junction northeast of Coudehard.[3] Several units of the 10th SS, 12th SS, and 116th Panzer Divisions managed to clear a corridor past Point 262N, and by mid afternoon about 10,000 German troops had passed out of the pocket.[47]
A battalion of the 3rd Parachute Division, along with an armoured regiment of the 1st SS Panzer Division, now joined the assault on the ridge.[47] At 14:00 the 8th Infantry Battalion on the ridge's northern slopes once more came under attack. Although the infantry and armour closing in on the Polish positions were eventually repulsed, with a large number of prisoners being taken and artillery again causing significant casualties,[45][47] the Poles were being gradually pushed back.[48] However, they managed to retain their grip on Point 262N and with well-coordinated artillery fire continued to exact a toll on German units traversing the corridor.[48] Another attempt was made to organise an attack towards Point 239 but the Germans were ready and the 9th Infantry Battalion's 3rd Company was driven back with heavy losses.[49]
Earlier in the day, Simonds had ordered his troops to "make every effort" to reach the Poles isolated on Hill 262,[53] but at "sacrificial" cost the remnants of the 9th SS Panzer and 3rd Parachute Divisions had succeeded in preventing the Canadians from intervening.[11][54] Dangerously low on supplies and unable to evacuate their prisoners or the wounded of both sides—many of whom received further injuries from the unremitting hail of mortar bombs—the Poles had hoped to see the Canadian 4th Armoured Division coming to their rescue by evening. However, as night fell it became clear that no Allied relief force would reach the ridge that day.[55] Lacking the means to interfere, the exhausted Poles were forced to watch as the remnants of the XLVII Panzer Corps left the pocket. Fighting died down and was sporadic throughout the hours of darkness; after the brutality of the day's combat both sides avoided contact although frequent Polish artillery strikes continued to harass German forces retreating from the sector.[48] Stefanowicz, himself wounded during the day's fighting,[52] struck a fatalistic note as he addressed his men:
Gentlemen. Everything is lost. I do not believe [the] Canadians will manage to help us. We have only 110 men left, with 50 rounds per gun and 5 rounds per tank... Fight to the end! To surrender to the SS is senseless, you know it well. Gentlemen! Good luck – tonight, we will die for Poland and civilization. We will fight to the last platoon, to the last tank, then to the last man.[56]
21 August
Further German attacks were launched during the morning, both from inside the pocket along the Chambois–Vimoutiers road, and from the east. Raids from the direction of Coudehard managed to penetrate the Polish defences and take captives. The final German effort came at around 11:00—SS remnants had infiltrated through the wooded hills to the rear of the 1st Armoured Regiment's dressing station. This "suicidal" assault was defeated at point-blank range by the 9th Infantry Battalion with the 1st Armoured Regiment's tanks using their anti-aircraft machine guns in support.[6][58] The machine guns' tracer ammunition set fire to the grass, killing wounded men on the slope.[59] As the final infantry assaults melted away, the German artillery and mortar fire targeting the hill subsided as well.[59]
Moving up from Chambois, the Polish 1st Armoured Division's reconnaissance regiment made an attempt to reach their comrades on Point 262N but was mistakenly fired upon by the ridge's defenders. The regiment withdrew after losing two Cromwell tanks.[7] At 12:00 a Polish forward patrol from the ridge encountered the Canadian vanguard near Point 239.[6] The Canadian Grenadier Guards reached the ridge just over an hour later, having fought for more than five hours and accounted for two Panthers, a Panzer IV, and two self-propelled guns along their route.[7] By 14:00, with the arrival of the first supply convoy, the position was relieved.[6
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