 By mid afternoon , reinforcements from an armoured battlegroup under Major David Vivian Currie managed to reach St. Lambert @-@ sur @-@ Dives , denying two German armies evacuation of the pocket . Over the next 36 hours , the battlegroup repulsed almost continual attacks by German forces , destroying seven German tanks , twelve 88 mm ( 3 @.@ 46 in ) anti @-@ tank guns and 40 vehicles . In the brutal fighting around Lambert @-@ sur @-@ Dives , Currie 's battlegroup was able to inflict nearly 2 @,@ 000 casualties on attacking German forces , including 300 killed and 1 @,@ 100 captured . By the evening of 20 August , the Germans had exhausted their attack against St. Lambert @-@ sur @-@ Dives ; the surviving members of the 84th Corps — commanded by General Elfeld — surrendered to Canadian and American forces near Chambois . For his actions at St. Lambert @-@ sur @-@ Dives , Currie was awarded the Victoria Cross , the only Canadian so honoured for service in the Normandy Campaign . 
