Schwerpunkt: From D-Day to the Fall of the Third Reich (19 page)

The enemy’s air cover generally prevented daylight movement of our troops and the urgent progress we needed for reinforcements both at Caen and along the beaches was stalled. Once der Führer decided that more firepower was necessary to protect Caen, he ordered the 12
^th
SS Panzer Hitler Jugend and Panzer Lehr to fight alongside the 21
^st
Panzer Division already there. As each tank unit tried to reach Caen more quickly, the stakes became higher and higher. Skirmishes broke out along the way and in one case, we received a report that Panzer Meyer of the 12
^th
SS Panzer Division ordered that no more prisoners be taken! I can only think that this order was given in order to eliminate further delays, but this order seems to me to violate the Geneva Convention as it implies that potential prisoners are to be shot instead of being captured. Commander Fritz Witt ordered an investigation of Major General Kurt Meyer but so far, none has been implemented. And because General Meyer has served our beloved Führer since 1933, I doubt any will be.

It was during the late afternoon of 6. June, that Herr Hitler finally released General Bayerlein’s Panzer Lehr, which we considered to be one of the strongest of all of our armored divisions. But even Panzer Lehr didn’t arrive until 8. June, two full days after the invaders landed. General Bayerlein reported that as he was bringing his unit to the front, he was subjected to almost constant enemy air strikes. He said he lost many vehicles including five tanks which were destroyed before he was able to even engage the enemy. He said all this equipment was lost before he even fired a shot. What was most distressing, however, was the order we saw after der Führer decided that Panzer Lehr actually would be more useful in Normandy than in Chartres.

General Dollman had ordered General Bayerlein to move his Panzer Lehr Division towards Caen IN DAYLIGHT. With all the reported air craft bombing everything in sight, I was amazed that he would have done that. Here in France, we quickly learned that enemy planes were flying in even greater numbers as the days went by and that they strafed or bombed whatever they saw moving. We also quickly learned that our columns of tanks and infantry created a very tantalizing prize for the enemy bombers so this meant we could only move at night because if any concentrations of our men or equipment were observed, they would be destroyed.

General Dollman had been in charge of the Seventh Army in Normandy for several years now and unlike some of the other generals who issued such orders, General Dollman had not just come from the Russian Eastern Front where enemy air cover is of no concern. We’ve seen German generals from the Russian Front who did not have the knowledge or experience that the Western, Atlantic Front generals had of just how superior the number of enemy air support was. I do not think the Russian enemy flew anywhere near the number of aeroplanes that the British and American enemy flies. Since General Dollman has had firsthand experience of this and has seen the concentration of enemy aircraft over Normandy, I would have thought he would have known better. I know speed and courage are essential to defend the critical city of Caen but why such a risk was necessary when they could have been moved at night was something I did not understand especially since I recently heard that the enemy bombers over France just knocked out forty of our loaded fuel trucks along with many other vehicles
in just one raid
. But an order is an order and Panzer Lehr suffered terribly because of it.

Ever since the first days of the invasion, whether diversionary or not, we have continued to battle with the invaders around the city of Caen. We’ve been faced with almost daily attacks around Caen but because General Rommel has so skillfully planned for its defense, the enemy has been consistently repulsed and the city remains in our hands. The three Panzer divisions ordered to Caen have brilliantly defended the city with the resources we have but so far, we have been unable to wipe out the enemy.

General Rommel is convinced that the time is ripe for a counter-attack and he’s requested that more Panzer divisions be moved to Caen. Knowing what he now knows about the Schwerpunkt of the enemy invasion, Herr General Rommel convinced General von Rundstedt to get two more Panzer divisions moved to Normandy. General von Rundstedt, at last, has come around to General Rommel’s way of thinking and finally agreed with his “finger tip” assessment. General von Rundstedt sought and obtained der Führer’s permission to have what were probably our best two best Panzer divisions transferred to us. General Rommel was optimistic when he heard that Hitler had agreed. I was now just waiting to see the enemy crumble in the face of the 1
^st
SS Panzer Division “Leibstandarte Adolph Hitler” Division and the “Das Reich” 2
^nd
SS Panzer Division, both of which are now on their way to Normandy. “Das Reich” was originally stationed at Toulouse and “Leibstandarte Adolph Hitler” was in Belgium originally, placed close to our border.

But neither was here yet and so General Rommel could only use the force of the three Panzer divisions he had around Caen when our delayed counter-attack for the city went off as ordered on 9. June. 44. We fought for two days. Even though it was daylight, we were out and able to escape aerial destruction probably because with our men under cover of the hedgerows, there was no great target for the enemy pilots to see as they constantly flew overhead. Hidden as we were in the hedgerows, our soldiers could open fire on the unsuspecting enemy troops as they walked along these narrow paths between two of these hedgerow embankments. With nowhere to hide, they were cut down by the hundreds. The enemy soldiers got a taste of their own medicine when walking in daylight leads to massacre since that is exactly what was happening to our troops, tanks, planes and vehicles whenever we attempted to move in daylight.

General Rommel ordered General von Schweppenburg’s Panzer Group West to split the enemy between Bayeux and Caen. General Rommel felt that if we could achieve this objective, we would then be strong enough to finish off each one of the isolated enemy salients. General Rommel sent the 21
^st
Panzer against the British 51
^st
Highlanders at Caen on the right flank. The 12
^th
SS Panzer Division was set against the Canadian 3
^rd
Division in the center and Bayerlein’s Panzer Lehr (which was ordered to retake Bayeux) went against the British 7
^th
Armoured Division on the left. It was a bold plan, but it was unsuccessful.

General Rommel is now convinced that his enemy Montgomery is planning to launch an offensive attack of his own. One of the only ways they can hope to reach Caen is to go around the outskirts of the city. They will have to attack either by way of Caumont or the high ground and open roads around Villers-Bocage. Not knowing from which position the enemy will attack, General Rommel devised plans to keep them from penetrating both. General Rommel, with Hitler’s concurrence of course, has placed Panzer Lehr Division, the 12
^th
SS Panzer Division and the newly arrived 1
^st
SS Panzer Division to the west of the city along our enemy’s southern flank. Then he has the 21
^st
Panzer Division to the northeast of the city.

On 11. June General Rommel had left our headquarters to visit General von Schweppenburg to discuss and plan for combining our offensive action with a strong defensive action. General Rommel left, but he never made it to Panzer Group West Headquarters. He returned to La Roche Guyon several hours after he first set off. He told us that he knew enough to avoid the main roadways, so he was traveling on secondary roads only. He said that notwithstanding this precaution, he and Karl, his driver, were forced to abandon the car and take protection among the trees and rocks between two and three dozen times because of the enemy planes.

As expected, the British began another drive to capture Caen and they started it on 12. June by attempting to seize the small town of Villers-Bocage. Under these circumstances it was Panzer Lehr who engaged them. Then, as fierce fighting around Villers-Bocage continued, we received a report that enemy bombs wiped out General von Schweppenburg’s Panzer Group West headquarters. General von Schweppenburg was wounded and in fact, was almost killed in this attack. Gott sei Dank that Field Marshal Rommel turned back from his intended trip to confer with General von Schweppenburg!

The report said that most of Panzer Group West was destroyed. I can understand the enemy looking for dust along a roadway and sensing that must be a target of opportunity but I’m wondering how the enemy found General von Schweppenburg’s headquarters unless the general neglected to camouflage his tents and vehicles. And speaking of camouflage, I’ve observed that the enemy’s own equipment has distinctive marks of black and white alternating lines painted on them. I inquired of Herr Rommel why they would be so foolish as to paint such a bold target on their tanks and aircraft and he answered that they were sure we would shoot at them no matter what markings they had. They just wanted to be sure their own troops didn’t fire on them by mistake.

With the loss of General von Schweppenburg and the destruction of much of Panzer Group West, as well as the enemy’s own counter-attack for the city of Caen, there is simply no more hope of continuing our counter-attack. We were forced to halt our offensive as we did not have sufficient reinforcements or enough replacement tanks to fight both offensively and defensively. Enemy bombing raids are taking a toll but I’m quite certain our Führer anticipates this and has put strategies in place to offset it though he hasn’t shared with us yet what those strategies might be. Until then, we are on the defensive again.

General Bayerlein knows we are weak in one spot in our defensive ring around Caen (well to be candid, in many more spots than one). He ordered his Panzer Lehr Division to keep the enemy from reaching one particular weak area around the Aure River but his attempt was unsuccessful. At this point, we had no real option but to let the enemy take the town of Villers-Bocage. The town itself was of no real use to us anyway, and while the English were presumably enjoying their prize, the 101
^st
SS Panzer Battalion was ordered to move to the high ground northeast of the town to join the old Afrika Corps 21
^st
Panzer Division already in place there. Strategically, it was this high ground that we needed to prevent the enemy from taking at all costs. Gott sei dank our ace tank commander had been brought back from the Russian front because the next day as the enemy carelessly progressed towards that high ground, the Tiger tanks of the 101
^st
were ready. Oberstürmführer Michael Wittmann especially was in place and waiting to do what he does best. I’ve heard nothing but superlatives about Colonel Wittmann and upon checking for myself, I see that he has personally destroyed 119 enemy tanks while on the Eastern Front.

From the reports we later received, Oberstürmführer Wittmann kept up the good work at Villers-Bocage when his Tank battalion observed a column of enemy half tracks and tanks driving towards their objective. He did not wait for orders or indeed for any reinforcements but knew that he had to keep the British from gaining the high ground. He first blocked the narrow road the enemy was advancing on. He reported that there were hedgerows along both sides of the enemy which meant none of their reinforcements could get to them and none of the approaching tanks could turn around. I have the picture in my mind of shooting ducks in a row which is what he singlehandedly did. By blowing up the lead vehicle, nothing more could move forward and he shot at the remaining enemy tanks one by one.

When Colonel Wittmann’s fellow tankers added their might to the shooting spree, the British on this road were destroyed. Herr Wittmann then turned his massive Tiger tank around and drove towards the town itself. There, he said, he met unmanned British tanks whose men couldn’t get into their vehicles fast enough. He said he shot and destroyed three of those tanks in a matter of minutes and then continued to the intersection where he encountered British tankers who were apparently more prepared. Seeing that his run of destruction was coming to an end, Oberstürmführer Wittmann shot at and destroyed another couple of enemy tanks as he reversed and escaped, using the road he came in by. The other Tigers were still attacking the enemy. The British, who just hours earlier had been all but dancing in the streets of the captured Villers-Bocage, now probably recognized that many of their own would never dance again.

Was Oberstürmführer Michael Wittmann finished after this good day’s work? No and he reported to us that he and less than ten other tankers went back to finish a job they felt had been left undone. They wiped out every last remaining enemy soldier they could find who hadn’t surrendered, both in the town and at the intersection of the roads around the town. Our POW guards were exceedingly busy the days of 13 and 14. June. And while Tanker Colonel Wittmann was finishing his job that day, he reported that he narrowly escaped death himself when his tank was finally hit by a British anti-tank shell. He said he was glad so many British had been killed or captured or else he and his fellow tankers might have run into the enemy as they were literally running on foot from the wreckage of their burning tanks! They made it back to our line where they were welcomed as heroes. Though the British continued to fight for this objective for another day, our superior Tiger tanks and fearless soldiers prevented the capture of the high ground and made Caen even more defensible for us.

Even after this, the enemy shows no signs of giving up around Caen so we continue to fight with all our available might and courage. But defending the city of Caen is one thing. Destroying the enemy around it appears to be quite another and I sincerely doubt whether there can be any more offensive plans for Caen itself or really for any objectives in Normandy unless the troops from the Eastern Front prevail in the war against Russia. If those victorious troops could then be brought back here to France, I know we could prevail here as well. But right now, we’re having trouble getting the men and supplies we need so I don’t plan on holding my breath until that great day comes. Last week, General Rommel requisitioned more than a thousand new tanks to replace the ones we’ve lost but only a fraction of that number came in response.