German Armor in Normandy

130 Pages·2018·38.677 MB·English

by  Yves Buffetaut

GERMAN ARMOR IN NORMANDY
YVES BUFFETAUT
GERMAN ARMOR
IN NORMANDY
YVES BUFFETAUT
CIS0006
Print Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-6437
Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-6444
Th is book is published in cooperation with and under license from
Sophia Histoire & Collections. Originally published in French as
Militaria Hors-Serie No 53 (revised edition of No 1), © Histoire & Collections 2004
Typeset, design and additional material © Casemate Publishers 2018
Translation by Hannah McAdams
Design by Paul Hewitt, Battlefi eld Design
Color artwork by Jean Restayn
Photo retouching and separations by Remy Spezzano
Printed and bound by Megaprint
Additional text by Chris Cocks
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Title page: Two Jagdpanzer IVs from the 116th Panzer Division moving
toward the Normandy front. (Bundesarchiv)
Contents page: The Wespe, a self-propelled 10.5cm gun mounted on the
chassis of a Panzer II, was used by two batteries of the motorized and
armored battalions in the panzer division. Each battery had six of these
guns. (ECPAD)
Contents page map: Allied bomber offensive and German dispositions,
June 6, 1944. (Dept of History, U.S. Military Academy)
Note: vehicle illustrations and profi les are not to scale.
CCoonntteennttss
FTrimomel itnhee o Cf rEevaetniotsn . .o...f. .t..h..e.. .S..S.. .D....e.u...t.s..c..h..l..a..n..d... ..6
Regiment to Fall Weiss ...........................7
Th e “1944-Type” Panzer Division ...................8
Campaigns in France and Yugoslavia ...........15
Th e Panzers in Normandy ..............................17
1941 –1942: Th e Das Reich Division in the
Th e Panzers in the Battles of June and
Soviet Union ................................................23
July .................................................................70
Th e 1943 Russian Campaign: Kharkov,
Goodwood and Cobra: Th e Panzers Face
Kursk, the Mius ...........................................35
Th eir Destiny..............................................104
1944–1945: Th e Years of Defeat .....................47
Aft erword .......................................................124
Further Reading .............................................125
Index ...............................................................126
German Armor in Normandy
Timeline of Events
From the invasion of Operation Overlord on June 6, 1944, the battle
for Normandy raged for ten weeks until the Falaise Pocket was closed
late in August. With only one panzer division near the coast on D-Day,
the Germans found themselves rushing their armored divisions into
Normandy, often piecemeal, to plug the gaps, and conducting frantic
counteroffensives, often localized, as they desperately attempted to roll
the Allies back into the sea.
June 6, 1944: Operation Overlord. June 12, 1944: Allied June 29, 1944: 9th
192nd Panzergrenadier Regiment forces link up near SS Panzer Division
clashes with British paratroopers Carentan, forming a Hohenstaufen leads
east of the Orne. 50-mile front, with massive German
326,000 men and counterattack.
54,000 vehicles on
the beachhead.
June 8, 1944: Panzer
June 30, 1944: 10th
Lehr Division arrives
SS Panzer Division
at the front but
recaptures Hill
surrenders Bayeux to
June 28, 1944: British 112, but all panzer
the Canadians.
troops take Hill 112, near divisions then
Caen, but halted by II SS decimated by RAF
Panzer Corps. heavy bombers.
JUNE JULY
June 25, 1944: Montgomery
launches Operation Epsom
June 7, 1944: 12th SS Panzer Division with British Second Army in
Hitlerjugend counterattacks from Caumont sector, to pre-empt July 8, 1944: British
Caen but fails to reach the coast. German offensive. Operation Charnwood
opens, aiming to take
Caen. Against orders,
Meyer withdraws 12th
June 13, 1944: British XXX Corps drives wedge between
SS Panzer Division,
Panzer Lehr and 2nd SS Panzer (Das Reich) divisions in
saving it from certain
attempt to encircle Caen. 7th Armoured Division vanguard
annihilation.
stopped dead by Wittmann’s 101st SS Heavy Panzer
Battalion.
German counterattack at Carentan repulsed.
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A superb photograph of a Panzer IV
from 2nd Battalion, 12th SS Panzer
Regiment. As the numbers on the
turret indicate, it is the fifth tank of
2nd platoon of the 6th Company.
The architecture of the house in the
background is typical of Flanders,
and confirms the location of the
scene, photographed in early 1944.
The infantry hitching a ride are not
Waffen-SS. (Bundesarchiv)
July 19, 1944: July 25, 1944: July 28, 1944:
Hitler authorizes U.S. Operation American troops
116th Panzer Cobra is launched. capture Coutances. August 6, 1944:
Division to Panzergrenadier Elements of seven Operation Lüttich,
reinforce LSSAH Regiment “H” and panzer divisions launched to cut
and Hitlerjugend Hohenstaufen push trapped in the off Patton’s Third
at Caen. Canadians back at Roncey Pocket. Army. It fails.
the Orne but falter.
AUGUST
July 20, 1944: Caen falls.
21st Panzer Division reduced
to 1 battalion, 16th Luftwaffe August 12–21, 1944:
Field Division totally Battle of the Falaise
annihilated. Assassination July 31, 1944: British VIII Pocket.
Corps drives panzers
attempt on Hitler.
south toward Falaise–
Argentan. U.S. 4th
Armored Division captures
July 18, 1944: U.S. XIX Corps captures
Avranches. Panzer Group
Saint-Lô. 17th SS Panzergrenadier
West collapses.
Division Götz von Berlichingen and
Panzer Lehr in retreat. British Operation
Goodwood against Caen is launched.
7
German Armor in Normandy
The “1944-Type” Panzer
Division
Throughout World War II, the belligerents continuously modified the
composition of their armored units, and, as a general rule, with tanks
becoming more powerful, fewer troops were needed. Germany was no
exception—in fact, panzers, by necessity, were at the forefront of design
and modification—and the 1944 panzer division bore only a passing
resemblance to its predecessors in Poland, during Barbarossa and in
North Africa.
The Panzer Regiment
The first changes took place before the 1940 invasion of France, when light divisions were
“transformed” into armored divisions. The new units created were little more than tank
regiments, except each regiment comprised three battalions, in place of the old structure of
The Panther was usually the basic tank in the panzer regiment’s first battalion,
though there were exceptions. (Bundesarchiv)
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Das Reich Panzer IVs in Normandy. The lead tank carries two supplementary fuel
drums, in the Russian style. These were removed during operations. (Bundesarchiv)
two regiments with two battalions apiece. At the time of the invasion of France, therefore,
there were two types of panzer divisions in action. During the preparations for Operation
Barbarossa, the pre-1940 divisions were brought into line with the newer type, the second
regiment in each instance serving as a base upon which to build a new panzer division.
This is why, for example, the 4th Panzer Regiment was hived off from the 2nd Panzer
Division on September 28, 1940, to form the nucleus of the 13th Panzer Division, training
in Austria.
The three tank battalions each had three companies. From the end of 1941, as many
Panzer I and IIs as possible were replaced, the typical battalion composition thus became
one company of 22 Panzer IVs and two companies of 22 Panzer IIIs.
By the end of 1942, with increasing losses and the arrival of more up-to-date matériel,
the structure of the panzer regiment changed once again. The 1943 panzer regiment had one
battalion fewer, but the two that remained increased from three to four 22-tank companies.
The next year, the companies were reduced to 17 tanks. In general—though, as we will see,
this is somewhat arbitrary—the first battalion had four companies of Panthers, and the
second battalion four companies of Panzer IVs, with a service company per battalion.
At the head of each battalion was a headquarters company, composed in 1944 of two
Panthers (first battalion) and three Panzer IVs (second battalion), as well as three Flak
vehicles and five SdKfz 251 half-tracks.
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