A quiet street in Chambois, Normandy

Otherwise known as the 'Corridor of Death'. In August of 1944, many thousands of German soldiers were killed or injured in the 10 km corridor that runs from Trun to Chambois, as their retreating army became trapped in what is known as the Falaise Gap or Falaise Pocket. This had been the escape route that the German commanders had been relying on in the event of a withdrawal but when it was closed off by a pincer movement of Polish, Canadian and USA troops it became a 'killing field'. Eye witnesses still alive in Chambois still find August a difficult month every year.

When US General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrived at the site he said: “The battlefield at Falaise was unquestionably one of the greatest ‘killing fields’ of any of the war areas. Forty-eight hours after the closing of the Gap I was conducted through it on foot, to encounter scenes that could be described only by Dante.”