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PentoKatsuwa β€” Falaise Pocket

#british #canadian #commonwealth #military #worldwar2 #ww2 #militaryfur #falaisegap #73anniversary #falaisepocket
Published: 2017-08-21 14:51:16 +0000 UTC; Views: 11797; Favourites: 230; Downloads: 64
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Description "Every soldier must know, before he goes into battle, how the little battle he is to fight fits into the larger picture, and how the success of his fighting will influence the battle as a whole."

- Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery

The gap was closed and the only way out to escape was to force a breakthrough. An obstacle was a small stream, the Dives. In small groups, some Germans managed to escape to the east. Others were in fierce battles with allied tanks and infantry. The nightly sky was lit up by a constant stream of bullets, flares, and explosions. It must have been hell on earth, a nightmare lit in ghostly light. At daybreak of the 20th of August, the Germans desperately tried to attack the Polish troops on 'Hill 262'. In a bloody fight, the Poles were forced to make a retreat and the gap was opened a little wider, enough for more troops to escape. That day a remarkable thing happened. General Meindl wanted to protect his wounded men and ordered the retreating vehicles to a halt for fifteen minutes and put together a makeshift column. He placed red crosses on every vehicle and drove these through the lines of the allies. The allied troops witnessed the whole process and held their fire. But as soon as the last vehicle had left the vicinity the fighting continued. In the night of 21 August, the last Germans alive escaped the small gap before the 'Falaise Pocket' was finally closed off.

The 'Falaise Pocket' was the biggest defeat so far after Stalingrad. 50.000 Germans were made prisoners of war and 10.000 lost their life. Despite the losses, between the 20.000 and 40.000 managed to escape. But the Germans had to leave an enormous amount of tanks and other vehicles. Those losses could never be replaced by the German industry. The Germans were on the run and on 25 August Paris falls in allied hands. The next month the allies were ready for their next giant operation. Montgomery's wish was to capture Berlin before the winter set in. He came with the plan, to capture all the bridges from the Belgium border to Arnhem, then turn east and head deep into Germany. Operation Market Garden was scheduled for 17 September 1944.

"If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery as a quality which knows no fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened. "

- General George Smith Patton Jr.

Hello everyone, I'm back(Kind of) after a month-long hiatus you might be wondering where I went and what I was doing and to be honest. I have Artblock, as simple as that. Hopefully that next month I'll be more productive. This artwork took me 4 days to complete, with minor complication(Damn you Microsoft). It featured one of my World War II characters that I will announce officially one day.

Next up is probably for them gopniks and commies in the east out there. Consider that one a fan-service. The battle is for you to guess what it is, but I think you know what it is.

Special thanks to Frostbite, Sparta T. Wolfinson and Monte the Fox who are actual service men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces. and brave British and Canadian volunteers such as Remi, LEON THE WOLF, Bandit, Dreamii, Kaiyotie, Crimson643, RedDeadWulf. You have done a great service for your King and Country!(As they used to say it in 1944) and finally especially thank you to SimonSeville1500 for helping me writing this post.

I use CLIP Studio Paint EX for all of my artwork.

"The generation which lived through the Second World War is disappearing. Post-war generations see Europe's great achievements - liberty, peace, and prosperity - as a given."

- Jan Peter Balkenende
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Comments: 13

Moonlattes [2018-10-08 01:47:48 +0000 UTC]

Good to see some of the Recognition For Canadians like us in WW2. Maybe you could do a "Storming Juno Beach" Drawing from D-DAY? Still a really nice picture, Keep it up.

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PentoKatsuwa In reply to Moonlattes [2018-10-08 07:35:07 +0000 UTC]

I had plans to draw something really big for the pass on June 6th but the project was too large to be completed on time. Maybe next time when I figured out how my work schedule works

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Pak009 [2018-03-19 04:58:32 +0000 UTC]

Awesome! Reminds me of the first time I got the Tiger I in World of Tanks. Maybe do another pic for the Germans' side of the war?

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drochunafurrey [2018-02-01 13:12:49 +0000 UTC]

Falaise pocket...Β  I remember this hard times... I have no PC... And Call of Duty 3 on Play Station 2 had very bad graphics)

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HYPPthe [2017-09-14 18:14:06 +0000 UTC]

The sheer amounts of detail in this is simply mind-blowing! Amazing work!

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Estorianarmy321 [2017-09-11 18:22:28 +0000 UTC]

I'm guessing the lead Allied tank is a Firefly right? Also great homage to the (I'm assuming) Free Polish forces. The Falaise Pocket is a key point in the Allied Normandy Campaign. The detail is remarkable. The vehicles look amazing! Great work!

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PentoKatsuwa In reply to Estorianarmy321 [2017-09-12 06:14:41 +0000 UTC]

Yes, that is a Firefly VC. The Poles did a lot of things in World War 2 but they seem to always get the bad end of the deal after the war. Too bad I can't put them in here because I don't know where to, next year perhaps.

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Estorianarmy321 In reply to PentoKatsuwa [2017-09-12 14:43:00 +0000 UTC]

One cool subject to look at for a piece would be operation Market Garden. I've always had a particular interest in that operation and how it played out. The British Airborne doesn't get as much press in studying the war, particularly here in the USA. I've always tried to look at the efforts and contributions of all the Allied nations and there are some great stories to tell.

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adamthewolf55 [2017-08-23 23:03:14 +0000 UTC]

very cool details right here 10/10Β 
Welldone!!

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WFTC141 [2017-08-21 21:36:34 +0000 UTC]

Nice

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CmndrWolfnumbuh60 [2017-08-21 19:59:33 +0000 UTC]

Awesome work and wise words indeed.

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RealVirus86 [2017-08-21 15:20:58 +0000 UTC]

Β 

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Bayrain [2017-08-21 15:16:50 +0000 UTC]

Awesome work.
It's really nice that at least some people know about forgotten battles and the soldiers who fought in themΒ 

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