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21 unusual facts about Falaise


1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade

The formation continued to train in the UK until the summer of 1944 when, with some 4,000 troops under command, it moved to Normandy, joining 21st Army Group at Falaise on 30 August.

4th Canadian Armoured Brigade

Arriving in Normandy in July 1944, the brigade saw service in the battles that took the Canadians from Caen to Falaise.

Alain Ferté

Alain Ferté (born 8 October 1955 in Falaise, Calvados) is a professional racing driver.

Brian Dickson

In August 1944, during a battle near Falaise, Dickson's right leg was hit by friendly fire and had to be amputated.

Falaise, Calvados

Also, the Treaty of Falaise was signed at the castle in December 1174 between the captive William I, King of Scots, and the King of England Henry II Plantagenet.

Frédéric de Lafresnaye

Lafresnaye was born into an aristocratic family at Chateau de La Fresnaye in Falaise, Normandy.

Gille Brigte, Earl of Strathearn

When William was captured at Alnwick in 1174, Gille Brigte too became a hostage, and shared William's fate as a prisoner at Falaise.

Günther von Kluge

Two weeks later, Rommel was wounded and Kluge took over as commander of Army Group B as well, where Von Kluge's forces around the town of Falaise were encircled by combined U.S., Canadian, British, and Polish armies.

Guy Lefèvre de la Boderie

Guy Lefèvre de la Boderie (b. near Falaise, Calvados in Normandy, 9 August 1541; d. in 1598 in the house in which he was born) was a French Orientalist, Bible scholar and poet.

Harelle

Amiens, Dieppe, Falaise, Caen, Orléans, and Rheims were all seized by rebels who followed the pattern established by Rouen and Paris.

II Canadian Corps

During the Battle of Normandy, the Corps was used to spearhead the British-Canadian advance from Caen to Falaise.

Louis Alphonse de Brébisson

Louis Alphonse de Brébisson (1798–1888) was a French botanist and photographer born in Falaise, Calvados.

Michel Ferté

Michel Ferté (born December 8, 1958 in Falaise, Calvados) is a professional racing driver.

Otto Paetsch

From June 1944 he led his regiment in Normandy, and distinguished himself in the fighting in the Avranches area and the breakout from Falaise (Falaise Pocket) for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross.

Richard de Luci

An early reference to the de Luci family refers to the render by Henry I of the Lordship of Dice, Norfolk to Richard de Luci, Governor of Falaise, Normandy, after defending it with great valour and heroic conduct when besieged by Geoffrey, Earl of Anjou.

Robert Fitzhamon

Fitzhamon was freed, and joined Henry's campaign, which proceeded to besiege Falaise.

Roger de La Fresnaye

The La Fresnayes were an aristocratic family whose ancestral home, the Château de La Fresnaye, is in Falaise.

Samson ben Abraham of Sens

He was probably born in Falaise, Calvados, where his grandfather, the tosafist Samson ben Joseph, called "the Elder", lived.

Walter Mauclerk

He is first recorded as a financial clerk in Normandy in 1202, and then later that same year as holding a church in Falaise.

Willem Sassen

On 6 June 1944 (D-Day), Kriegsberichter Sassen was at the front in Normandy reporting the battles around Caen, Bayeux, Saint-Lô, Avranches, Falaise and Lisieux.

William de Falaise

William de Falaise (11th century), also called William of Falaise, was a Norman from Falaise, Normandy, today in the Calvados department in the Lower Normandy region of north-western France.


Anjou

In June 1138, with the aid of Robert of Gloucester, Geoffrey obtained the submission of Bayeux and Caen; in October he devastated the neighbourhood of Falaise; and finally, in March 1141, on hearing of his wife's success in England, he again entered Normandy, when he made a triumphal procession through the country.

Chambois

In the video game Call of Duty 3 the player is involved in a series of missions as the Allies move in the Falaise gap toward Chambois.

Constance Bennett

Bennett and de la Falaise founded Bennett Pictures Corp. and co-produced two films which were the last filmed in Hollywood in the two-strip Technicolor process, Legong: Dance of the Virgins (1935) filmed in Bali, and Kilou the Killer Tiger (1936), filmed in Indochina.

Falaise pocket

Although Montgomery acknowledged the possibilities, both he and Patton had misgivings; if the Allies did not take Argentan, Alençon, and Falaise quickly, a large proportion of von Kluge's force might escape.

Fritz Bayerlein

The remnants of Panzer Lehr Division slipped out of the Falaise pocket and moved east toward Vire in August 1944.

Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal

The Second World War: Dieppe, L'Escaut, Bourgebus Ridge, Saint-André-sur-Orne, Verrières Ridge—Tilly-la-Campagne, Falaise, Falaise Road, The Liaison, Forêt de la Londe, Dunkirk 1944, Antwerp-Turnhout Canal, The Scheldt, Woensdrecht, South Beveland, The Rhineland, The Hochwald, Xanten, The Rhine, Groningen, Oldenburg, North-West Europe 1942 '44-45

Loulou de la Falaise

Her niece, Lucie Le Bailly de La Falaise (born 19 February 1973), a model, is the wife of Marlon Richards, son of Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg.

Operation Totalize

The intention was to break through the German defences south of Caen on the eastern flank of the Allied positions in Normandy and exploit success by driving south to capture the high ground north of the city of Falaise.

Pascal Humbert

The resulting 17-track album Chœurs of Greek choir renditions for the play was credited to Cantat, Humbbert, guitarist Bernard Falaise and drummer Alexander MacSween.

Priory of St. Andrews of the Ards

To preserve the Falaise family's association with Normandy the priory was donated as a cell to the Benedictine Abbey of St Mary at Lonlay.

South Alberta Regiment

Major David Vivian Currie of the SAR received the Victoria Cross for his actions near Saint-Lambert-sur-Dives, as the allies attempted to seal off the Falaise pocket.