DESTROYED RAILROAD EQUIPMENT. So greatly had the French railroads suffered that over 900 locomotives and a third of the rolling stock used had to be supplied from Allied sources in England. In addition to replacing locomotives and cars, bridges had to be constructed, wrecked trains had to be cleared, and tracks had to be replaced. Damage by Allied bombings at every major junction and marshalling yard had to be repaired. These tasks fell to men of the Corps of Engineers and the Transportation Corps.] [Illustration] [Illustration: FRANCE AN INFANTRYMAN ARMED WITH AN M 1 RIFLE looks at two German rocket launchers left behind by the enemy (8.8-cm. Racketenpanzerbuchse). The German weapon was of larger caliber and was heavier than the U. S. rocket launcher but similar in appearance and operation.] [Illustration: FRANCE SIGNAL CORPS MAN OPERATING A SWITCHBOARD BD71. This small switchboard weighed approximately fifty pounds, had six lines, and was used with headset HS30, ear plugs, and chest set microphone. The set was generally used by regiments and smaller units. When the break-through came at the end of July 1944 the speed of the advances imposed a heavy strain on the communications personnel. Spearhead units relied mostly on radio communications, but a line net of great complexity was required in the rear areas to cope with the amount of traffic involved. Civilian communications were of limited value because of the lack of maintenance during the years of war destruction, and within four months of D Day the Allies laid over 100,000 circuit miles of telephone line.] [Illustration: FRANCE A PORTION OF THE CITY OF FALAISE which was occupied on 17 August by Canadian First Army troops who had pushed down the Caen-Falaise road. This city on the northeast corner of the Falaise pocket was on the north corner of the encirclement in which the German troops were trapped.] [Illustration: FRANCE A PORTION OF THE CITY OF ARGENTAN, the southeast corner of the Falaise pocket. On 12 August the Third Army armored divisions were at Argentan and Ecouché with infantry divisions in support. The enemy struggled to escape from the pocket through the gap between Falaise and Argentan and concentrated on removing his armored units, leaving the infantry to hold off the Allies. A considerable part of eight armored divisions managed to escape from the closing Allied pincers but left behind a great proportion of their equipment. On 20 August the trap was closed on more than seven infantry divisions and parts of two armored divisions. By 22 August the enemy in the pocket had been eliminated.] [Illustration: FRANCE