 At this point , the Allied offensive plan called for additional bombardment by the Eighth Air Force , before the 4th Canadian Armoured Division and the 1st Polish Armoured Division pushed south towards Falaise on either side of the Caen – Falaise Road . The counter @-@ attack by the 12th SS Panzer Division failed but placed Meyer 's tanks north of the target area that the Eighth Air Force bombarded in preparation for the second phase of the Allied attack . <unk> the effects of the bombing , the tanks slowed the advance of the 1st Polish Armoured Division , preventing a breakthrough east of the road . West of the road , the German infantry at Cintheaux held up the Canadian armoured formations . Neither division ( both in combat for the first time ) pressed their attacks as hard as Simonds demanded and " laagered " ( went into a defensive formation while vehicles and troops were supplied and rested ) when darkness fell . 
