FRANCE
ARMORED VEHICLES FIRING ON ENEMY TROOPS during the advance southward (top). Tanks and trucks of a French armored division in the assembly area after landing and before starting south to join the U. S. forces (bottom). On 1 August 1944, as the U. S. forces poured around the crumpled German flank at Avranches, a major revision was effected in the organization of the Allied forces. The Third U. S. Army became operational and at the same time the 12th Army Group headquarters also became operational and assumed command of the First and Third U. S. Armies. The 21 Army Group was at this time made up of the British Second and the Canadian First Armies.
FRANCE
AVRANCHES AND THE SURROUNDING COUNTRY. After the fall of the city the Allied drive gained momentum and the advancing troops swept out of Normandy. Turning toward the east and the west in two attacks, the Allies drove to the German frontier and the tip of the Brittany Peninsula.
FRANCE
