On August 18, 1944, Major David Vivian Currie of the Canadian South Alberta Regiment led 200 men and a dozen M4 Sherman tanks into the town of St. Lambert-sur-Dives, in order to block the escape route of the German 7th Army out of the Falaise Pocket.
Currie and his men had less than two weeks of combat experience on that day and they were up against battle-hardened Germans, their powerful 88 millimeter PaK-43 anti-tank guns, and Tiger tanks.
Despite being vastly outnumbered by a detachment of the German 2nd Panzer Division, the actions that Currie and his men took effectively sealed off the only escape route for the Germans.
Currie was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military gallantry decoration in the British Commonwealth for his efforts.
