Operation Totalize
7 August 1944 — Falaise
- Date
- 7 August 1944
- Target
- Falaise, France
Narrative
On the night of 7/8 August 1944 Bomber Command opened Operation Totalize, the Canadian drive south from Caen towards Falaise, with a night attack on the German positions flanking the advance. The bombing helped the armoured columns make good early progress in the dark, though the offensive later stalled — an early use of heavy bombers to blast a corridor for a ground attack at night.
Sortie details (which aircraft from which squadron, which crew flew, the outcome) will populate this page once the TNA AIR 27 squadron-diary importer arrives.
The fallen
82 airmen in this archive died on 7 August 1944 or the day that followed. For a raid of this kind these are overwhelmingly the night's losses, though a death-date match is not by itself proof an individual flew this operation.
- Lieutenant Anderson (27)
- Flight Sergeant John James Bales (21)
- Flight Lieutenant John Potter Ball (24)
- Flight Lieutenant Francis Reginald Barker (23)
- Air Mechanic John Belton
- Pilot Officer William Arthur James Bennet (21)
- Flying Officer George Chahoon Brown (20)
- Sergeant William Irvin Bruce (20)
- Pilot Officer Earl Stanley Cary (27)
- Flight Sergeant Vernon Edward Clark (23)
- Flight Sergeant Maurice George Cleave (31)
- Flight Sergeant Gerald Royce Clemens (30)
- Sergeant John Corless (24)
- Leading Aircraftman Peter William Crees (21)
- Pilot Officer Henri Edouard Dube
- Flight Lieutenant Warren Alvin Duffy (21)
- Pilot Officer John Chetwynd Durrant (30)
- Flight Lieutenant Frederick Charles Eldred (51)
- Sergeant John William Ellis (20)
- Flying Officer William Dawson Fairney (20)
- Flying Officer Robert Samuel Forestell (24)
- Flying Officer Edward Clason Gates (21)
- Warrant Officer Wilfred Gaughran
- Lieutenant Colonel Ginn (44)
See all 82 who died on 7 August →
Source: Wikipedia — Operation Totalize →