Visual Air Reconnaissance over the Falaise Pocket, 17 August 1944

The following account comes from a wartime publication, Air Recce, recording the activities of 35 Reconnaissance Wing RAF during the campaign to liberate Northwest Europe. It provides an interesting insight into the difficulties of closing the German escape route. The situation on the ground was confused, to say the least. The first two photographs were actually taken near Clinchamps, between Falaise and Argentan, but the vehicles passing through the village were heading for Trun.

All 'No. 1' aircraft in Tac R sections were fitted with oblique cameras except when the mission took place either before first, or after last, photographic light. Photographic confirmation of visual reports was thus assured. One outstanding example of such confirmation will best serve to illustrate this point. On August 17th, 1944, the steady stream of German transport escaping along the few roads leading eastwards out of the Falaise pocket suddenly became a torrent, as the gap between the jaws of the trap grew inexorably smaller. Only one main road now lay open to them, that which ran through the small town of Trun to Vimoutiers and eastwards towards the Seine. Allied armour was probing dangerously close to this road and during the morning the news came back to Army that leading elements of its armour had entered Trun and thus might be assumed to have cut the vital road. Tac/R, which had been maintaining an unbroken watch over this area since first light, had consistently reported dense columns of enemy transport jamming the roads on either side of Trun, and passing slowly through it to the east. These reports continued to come in, and the strange contradiction in the news at once aroused interest. The immediate reaction was, generally speaking, to give credence to the ground report, for from that source there was less chance of an error in judgement or map reading. But, in the afternoon, a Tac R, pilot, seeing the same phenomenon observed by his predecessors, made a note on his map: 'Dense columns of MT and HDT, estimated 1000 plus, east through Trun.' And then, distrustful of his estimate of numbers, he took a series of photographs [some are shown below] The full count showed upwards of 1200 vehicles, and the time and location of this movement was indisputably established.