The bitter fighting in the so-called Falaise-Argentan Pocket in August 1944, during which the Allies encircled and destroyed a substantial part of Hitler-s forces in northern France following the D-Day landings, marked the last major battle of the Normandy campaign. Despite this, tens of thousands of German soldiers managed to escape through the infamous Falaise Gap. It was as the Allies continued to pursue the retreating enemy forces that the planners considered or drew-up a number of further airborne operations. As James Daly reveals, three operations, namely _Lucky Strike_, _Transfigure_ and _Axehead_, might well have been part of the last of the fighting in the breakout from, Normandy itself. The first of these, _Lucky Strike_, was intended to see General Montgomery-s 21st Army Group strike to the north-east in the direction of the River Seine, where bridges near Rouen were to be taken by the British 1st Airborne Division. _Transfigure_ was to be a major operation with the aim of u
