On September 10, a message reached the German High Command on the Western Front that Rommel had decided that the 12th SS Panzer Division would be replaced first for recuperation. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

At the same time, all the German units defending Caen began to resist a retreat into the mountains of northern Italy, where twenty-three elite German divisions were still in full swing.

But the division commander Meier did not receive this order in time, and the soldiers of the Youth Division had already arrived on a new front, where they had reorganized the last defenses of Caen for the most difficult moment.

The final Anglo-American assault on Caen began, this time under the name "Telford", which began on 11 September, but preparations for fire on Caen began on the first day.

The first shot was fired by the famous battleship Rodney, which bombarded the northern part of Caen with its 406-mm guns, while the RAF also bombarded the city and its environs in a row.

In the early hours of September 11, the Anglo-American forces finally launched a fierce attack on Caen. Accompanied by intensive artillery fire, the British 3rd and 59th Infantry Divisions, the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division, the 105th Artillery Brigade, the 4th and 107th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiments, the 6th North Stafford Wing and the 2nd South Stafford Wing were joined by a large number of tanks and armored vehicles.

In the face of the superior strength and fierce attacks of the Anglo-American forces, Meyer's grenadiers remained at the heart of the defense and continued to fight in the ruins around Caen.

As the battle continued, the German defensive positions had been gradually divided, the battle had gradually lost its organization, and the tanks and anti-tank guns had become scrap metal because they ran out of ammunition.

The soldiers continued to fight in the instinct of survival, and the 12th SS Panzer Division's near-self-destructive operation once again dragged down the ferocious offensive momentum of the British and Canadian troops.

The British lost almost 45% of their infantry strength in two days of hard fighting, (poor boy, the soldiers of the 12SS Panzer Division are all 15-17 children!). So tenacious, so one hundred, can only be described as incredible. ）

But all the fighting around Caen continued, and the fire caused by the shelling and bombing was spreading everywhere, and the "whoosh" of German machine-gun fire could be heard everywhere on the battlefield.

The soldiers fought mercilessly through the ruins, and the battle turned into a war of human attrition that the British and American forces could not bear, with both sides suffering heavy casualties.

The fighting was particularly fierce near the village of Bulon, where the remaining units of the 3rd Battalion of the 25th Panzergrenadier Regiment were finally surrounded by Anglo-American forces.

Meyer realized that the situation was dire, that his Rommel Youth Division was soon to be annihilated, that there were no reserves left, that ammunition was running out, and that receiving reinforcements and supplies had become an unattainable luxury.

The only way out now was to retreat quickly before the Anglo-American forces surrounded them and establish a new line of defense in the rear.

At this moment, the commander of the 12th SS Division, Meyer, finally received an order from Rommel, "Immediately organize a retreat and go to northern Italy to replenish and recuperate, I am very proud to have such subordinates as you." ”

The exhausted 12th Panzer Division was finally able to retreat, and they abandoned the city of Caen that they had held out for 15 days.

On the way to retreat, they still could not escape the powerful aerial fire of the British and American forces, and the retreating troops of Caen once again withstood the test of blood and fire.

The Canadian troops broke through the line and advanced to the rear of Caen, where they opened heavy fire on the Germans with every weapon available to them, driving these stubborn enemies out of the city.

Sporadic resistance around Caen continued in the north and west of Caen, but by the evening of 9 July the fighting was over. In his memoirs, Meyer wrote:

"The soldiers of the 12th SS Panzer Division have reached their physical limits, they have been fighting on the front line for 2 weeks without receiving any reinforcements, while at the same time suffering huge losses in battle.

They went into battle with childish faces, but today they could only see the muddy steel helmets casting black shadows on their depressed faces, and their eyes often staring distractedly into the distance. ”

Rommel's youth division lost another 595 men in the final defensive battle of the city. On September 15, 1941, the remaining troops of the 12th SS Panzer Division arrived in northern Italy to begin to rest and replenish, and it was only after the occupation of Caen by the Anglo-American forces that the Anglo-American forces actually landed in France.

……

The Anglo-American forces were dragged in the Normandy area for half a month, which undoubtedly gave Rommel more opportunities, first of all, the replenishment of German aircraft, and the number of aircraft that Rommel could use has increased to six thousand.

Germany produced 3,500 planes this month, bringing the total number of German planes to more than 12,000, and Rommel had to deploy half of its planes in the Soviet Union for the encirclement of the Silver Fox Moscow and Stalin's counteroffensive.

Germany's production of various tanks also reached more than 2,800 per month, because the British and American coalition forces did not dare to send planes to bomb the German mainland for the time being, after all, Germany's huge air force was not vegetarian, so all industrial production in Germany was growing rapidly.

Now that the Anglo-American coalition has gained a foothold in the Normandy area, Rommel began to withdraw all the troops deployed in France in a planned way, and before the retreat, Rommel blew up all the large French ports, even the foundations were blown up, and it was impossible for the Anglo-American coalition to repair these ports in more than half a year.

The bridges and airfields that had not yet been blown up by the Anglo-American forces were ordered by Rommel to be blown up again, this time completely blown up, which would make it more difficult for the Anglo-American forces to repair anyway.

Although the Anglo-American coalition landed successfully in Normandy, it paid a heavy price of 250,000 casualties, and the German side also had quite a few, with a total of 120,000 casualties, which were mainly casualties caused by the Anglo-American coalition air force, and less than 50,000 people were actually killed in the field battle, which shows the importance of air supremacy.

As soon as the Anglo-American forces gained a foothold in Normandy, they organized their troops to attack several nearby ports, of which Sebao was one of them.

Although Cherbourg was occupied by the British and American forces, it was in ruins. As early as August 26, the day after the Anglo-American landing, Rommel expected that the Anglo-American forces would take Cherbourg.

Therefore, Rommel immediately defended the army with a plan to destroy the docks, breakwaters, cranes and other port equipment in Cherbourg, the port waters were full of mines, and the shipping channel was blocked with sunken ships. ”

…… (To be continued.) )