US 2nd Armored Division
▶ Explore on the mapThe 2nd Armored Division, nicknamed 'Hell on Wheels', landed in Normandy in mid-June 1944 and fought in the hedgerow country during the battles around Saint-Lô. When Operation Cobra opened on 25 July, the division formed part of the armoured mass that drove through the broken German line towards Avranches. It then took part in the exploitation southwards and westwards, thrusting into Brittany and, in August, helping to close the Falaise pocket and pursue the retreating German forces towards the Seine. Its mobility became a model of the fast armoured warfare the Allies sought once they had escaped the confined Norman terrain. The positions shown here are schematic and trace the division's general axis of advance, not exact unit locations. It later continued the pursuit across France, and its dash through the country became a hallmark of the mobility the Allied armies achieved once they were clear of the bocage. Its tanks were among the first Allied armour to reach the Seine.
Sources
- Wikimedia Commons — Charnwood (SVG, by EyeSerene)
- Wikimedia Commons — Operations Greenwood and Pomegranate, Normandy, July 1944 (EN.svg)
- Wikimedia Commons — Operation Tractable (SVG, by EyeSerene)
- Wikipedia — 352nd Infantry Division (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikipedia — Falaise pocket (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikipedia — Normandy landings (CC BY-SA 3.0)
- Wikipedia — Operation Overlord (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Related
Reuse this data: open dataset (GeoJSON / CSV, CC BY 4.0)