Chapter 550 Bottle Master (Medium)

A communications officer, Walter Kruger, Captain of the 2nd Commando Group (equivalent to a Wehrmacht major), also had confidence in the 12th SS Panzer Division:

"Not only are they well trained, they are also disciplined and have a strong fighting will. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Like most officers, Walter Kruger realized that the tide of the war in northern France depended heavily on the performance of several armoured divisions, including the 12th SS Panzer Division.

On the evening of June 5, when the telephone rang, the commander of the 12th Armored Division, the commander of the Frieze-Witte Brigade, and the officers of his staff were sitting by the fireplace in a house in the town of Tyrilles.

Witte learned by phone that paratroopers from the Anglo-American coalition had appeared in the rear of the Normandy coastal line, while the report also stated:

"The enemy's air force is active, but the sea is calm."

At about 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 25, Kurt Mayer was woken up. The Anglo-American coalition may have really begun to attack. Less than an hour later, units of the 12th SS Panzer Division were alerted. The leader of the 26th Regiment, Oswald Beck, described:

In the early hours of the 25th, Cliff Squad Leader II (equivalent to the Wehrmacht Corporal II) burst into our room and shouted: "Follow me, boys, get out, get out!" The enemy landed. ”

The messenger on duty ran in front of us, shouting as he went, the Americans and the British had landed, and by 3 we had everything ready, but then the order came, let's go back to the barracks and wait for further instructions. ”

Just a few days before the landing of the Anglo-American forces, the General Command of the Western Front assigned the 12th SS Panzer Division to the command of Army Group B.

Although each unit of the 12th SS Panzer Division was ready for battle in its own alert area, the General Headquarters of the Western Front did not give the 12th SS Panzer Division and its instructors the right to move freely in the face of various chaotic and contradictory alarms.

How could Rommel let them go out in broad daylight to be bombed by the Anglo-American coalition, it was absolutely impossible, an armored division without air force cover was a dish, Rommel's intentions were certainly not something that these children could understand, as long as they could faithfully carry out their orders.

Even when the Anglo-American forces began to land at 6:30, the General Headquarters of the Western Front refused to allow the Panzer Division to take free action, but took a tacit attitude towards their approach to the battlefield, according to the recollections of the 12SS soldiers at that time:

"All day on August 25, the 12SS Panzer Division was in place, without moving a single step, and in the evening, the order came, and the order of the General Headquarters of the Western Front was to let them attack the Anglo-American paratroopers in front of them.

The tank columns of the 12th SS Panzer Division had to make their way through the crowded and narrow roads of the Normandy area, under the cover of night.

Then the forward troops exchanged fire with the British and American paratroopers, and the tanks of the 12SS quickly went up to support, but fortunately, the night was good at night, and the visibility was okay, after all, it was a full moon state!

The British and American paratroopers were indeed very elite, but they lacked heavy weapons, and under the joint attack of our armored divisions and infantry, the British and American paratroopers suffered heavy casualties, and many British and American paratroopers were either killed or taken prisoner, and some took advantage of the chaos to escape to the beachhead.

Since the troops defending the beachhead were also flanking the British and American paratroopers, the entire Anglo-American airborne area was full of gunfire, explosions and shouts, and the night gave us good protection and did not let those damn British and American planes come to make trouble.

As a result, several of our divisions wiped out three elite paratrooper divisions of the British and American forces in one night, and only a few of them escaped the net. ”

Before dawn the next day, the 12SS Panzer Division received an order to retreat to Caen, and they first reached the southwest direction of Caen.

During the afternoon march, the 12th SS Panzer Division was constantly attacked by Anglo-American aircraft, which disrupted their marching columns and thus significantly slowed down the advance.

Captain III Martin Bessel (equivalent to Wehrmacht First Class Cortical) of the 1st Platoon, 13th Company, 25th Regiment, said: "We have encountered great obstacles in our advance, and the Anglo-American air attacks have brought death, terror and chaos everywhere."

Their regimental commander, "Panzer Meyer", jumped out just in time before a bomb blew up his command car, and Meyer himself described:

"The march to Caen was nothing short of a journey to death, with a group of 'Spitfires' diving from the back of our column, their rockets and machine guns cutting down many of us like scythes.

A soldier was lying on the road, a bullet broke his artery, blood spurted out of his throat like mist, and it wasn't long before he died in my arms. At the same time, the ammunition truck was also detonated, and for a time the flames soared into the sky and debris was scattered.

But within a few minutes of the air raids, the roads were cleared, and we couldn't stop, we had to move forward!"

The regiment's Helmertz-Bauck squad leader II (equivalent to a Wehrmacht sergeant) also considered it an unusually dangerous march:

"The meadows and fields were as if they had been ploughed over, and within a few kilometres there were bombed everywhere, with grenades, shells and all sorts of ordnance blown up everywhere, and dead and wounded brothers could be seen on both sides of the road from time to time."

On the morning of 26 August, most of the 12th Panzer Division finally reached the area north of Caen, exhausted by more than a day's continuous march.

At this time, it was reported that the British and Canadian forces that had landed had broken through the coastal defences in some sections and had begun to attack inland.

Meyer had a hunch that the Allied tanks were coming straight for Caen, which was attacked by Allied heavy bombers.

Many streets were blocked by the wreckage of buildings, making it impassable for vehicles at all, and the 12th SS Panzer Division had decided not to engage in urban warfare, their goal was to hold the perimeter of the city at all costs and buy more time for the retreating German troops.

That morning, the fanatical German Panzergrenadiers went into battle, and Meyer described the Panzergrenadier Battalion before it took part in the battle:

"The commander of the 1st Battalion of the 25th Regiment came to report to me, and he only gave me a quick and brief briefing, a brief and powerful handshake that said everything that we all knew was a difficult task ahead.

The grenadiers of the battalion quickly dismounted, and then the trucks disappeared into the darkness, leaving no vehicles to move through the city, and they had to make a detour to the south.

The grenadiers stayed behind and listened to my command, and they were calm and composed, with unwavering faith, and they were about to be baptized in battle!"

At about 9 o'clock in the morning, Meyer gave the order to attack at the temporary command post Adenas Monastery, and an hour later the first tank was launched.

……

[Falling leaves thank the brothers for their support, let the fallen leaves be grateful! ] Thanks to those brothers who gave deciduous monthly passes, recommendations, and rewards. 】

A good day to reward 1000 starting coins[2016-11-3018:18]

Rewarded 100 starting coins[2016-11-3017:42]

Painstaking Wood Rewarded 500 Starting Coins[2016-11-3016:03]

Baiyun Mountain book fans rewarded 100 starting coins[2016-11-3010:25]

Banna Empire rewarded 1000 starting coins [2016-11-3001:20 (To be continued.) )