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Caen: Anvil of Victory
The epic account of how the fate of Operation Overlord and the Battle of Normandy was determined at the lengthy and harrowing battle for Caen.
This book, written by a veteran of the campaign and renowned historian, Alexander McKee, is essential reading for fans of Anthony Beevor, Max Hastings, and Stephen E. Ambrose.
D-Day was the greatest amphibious operation in history, yet the battle for the beaches was only the beginning of a long campaign to push back German forces from Normandy.
The Battle for Caen was the climax of the Normandy fighting, where, for two months, elite troops from the British, Canadian, and German forces clashed in ferocious combat, house by house, hedge by hedge, beneath massive air bombardments.
Using over sixty-five eye-witness accounts from both the Allied and German sides, as well as from the French civilians caught in the conflict, McKee reconstructs the struggle to secure the Allied position in Western Europe.
From the storming of the beaches on D-Day to the decisive Battle of the Falaise pocket, McKee charts the course of the Battle of Normandy and provides fascinating detail on how the conflict at Caen shaped the entire campaign.
‘An excellent series of eye-witness accounts from both sides … a first-class “worm’s eye view” of the fighting.’ The Daily Telegraph
‘A superb tribute to the bravery and tenacity of both the Allied and enemy troops.’ Time and Tide
‘A brilliant and moving account of the confusion, the bravery and terror of war.’ Sunday Express
This book, written by a veteran of the campaign and renowned historian, Alexander McKee, is essential reading for fans of Anthony Beevor, Max Hastings, and Stephen E. Ambrose.
D-Day was the greatest amphibious operation in history, yet the battle for the beaches was only the beginning of a long campaign to push back German forces from Normandy.
The Battle for Caen was the climax of the Normandy fighting, where, for two months, elite troops from the British, Canadian, and German forces clashed in ferocious combat, house by house, hedge by hedge, beneath massive air bombardments.
Using over sixty-five eye-witness accounts from both the Allied and German sides, as well as from the French civilians caught in the conflict, McKee reconstructs the struggle to secure the Allied position in Western Europe.
From the storming of the beaches on D-Day to the decisive Battle of the Falaise pocket, McKee charts the course of the Battle of Normandy and provides fascinating detail on how the conflict at Caen shaped the entire campaign.
‘An excellent series of eye-witness accounts from both sides … a first-class “worm’s eye view” of the fighting.’ The Daily Telegraph
‘A superb tribute to the bravery and tenacity of both the Allied and enemy troops.’ Time and Tide
‘A brilliant and moving account of the confusion, the bravery and terror of war.’ Sunday Express
454 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 1964
About the author
Alexander McKee
54 books14 followersAlexander McKee was no "yes-man", he dared to criticise many military, political, economic, media and academic icons and he always kept an open mind. He was fanatical about making his works as accurate as he possibly could. He was ever alert to plain-wrong, biased, distorted or sloppy reports and hidden agendas; wickedly delighting (the more so as a self-educated man) in criticising and exposing assertions that did not fit the evidence. Among his targets were those who tended to emphasise media-image-managment, the accumulation of personal wealth and career progression over both personal integrity and respect for other people's contributions. He gleefully highlighted all the many lapses of integrity that he found. Equally, many established experts, often highly educated people and indeed experts regarding the theoretical aspects of their disciplines, but whom he considered scandalously remiss when they complacently failed to complement such theoretical understanding with practical knowledge as a way to test their theories empirically. Consequently, some of them came in for some harsh criticism on occasion. One gets the impression from his work that some of them appeared reluctant to venture outside the academy at all; out into the "real world": let alone to mix with ordinary people. Implicitly, he urged them to converse with the fishermen, the builders, the soldiers, the doctors, the nurses, the shipwrights and the firemen to glean practical understanding from these practical people, who had to be willing and able to carry out the ultimate tests on their theories to provide demonstably working solutions in order to fulfill their typical working roles. Then he urges such experts in the theory to re-test their theories against the empirically derived knowledge gleaned from their excursions among the working classes, and to do so conjunction with their own senses, out in the "real world": rather than limiting themselves and risking their reputations on the results of thought experiments alone. He dug deep into eye-witness testimonies and spent countless hours searching libraries and museums for the documentary evidence surrounding each his-story. One may find this slightly comical that viewed against the background of established caricaturisations, when the elevated "pillars of wisdom", went "building castles in the air" around about the "ivory towers" and he found strong contradictory "real world" evidence he often lambasted them mercilessly, although it does sometimes seem to be overdone. In contrast, he made the point that some of the sloppy documentary historical works such as that of Sir Robert Davis, that temporarily led his own research astray (and much to his annoyance caused him to repeat untruths in public lectures) while causing the propagation of serious errors until he uncovered them, were nevertheless probably a consequence of the pressures of work, owing to the high quality of the rest of the publication.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 22, 2026
Gedetailleerd boek over de ‘Battle of Normandy’. De persoonlijke verhalen blijven indrukwekkend. Ook interessant om te zien dat niet elke landing in bloed gesmoord werd, zo ging de landing van de Engelsen en de Canadezen relatief makkelijk. De fouten aan Duitse zijde vallen op, vooral waar die veroorzaakt worden door een rigide bestuursstructuur met uiteraard Hitler aan de top.
July 13, 2026
Book about much worse fate the war with russia, at the time.
"The Germans, on the other hand, bitterly described the Battle of Normandy as a war of men against equipment."
Hubert Meyer, a staff officer with the 12th SS Panzer Division in Normandy in 1944, recalled: "After Franz's arrest, it was revealed that he had been spying around the Orne River for years, and we later experienced the consequences of his activities firsthand. Our security and counterintelligence measures were insufficient. Furthermore, conditions were unfavorable; we occupied enemy territory, and the years spent in France had greatly weakened discipline within the units. Nevertheless, more should have been done. Panzer Group West was a notable exception, but the soldiers were generally unfamiliar with the issue of secrecy, and what's more, they were completely uninterested in it." In this respect, the enemy was far superior to us."
Hubert Meyer, as Operations Officer (Ia), was responsible for troop movements and combat. From Officer Ic, he received only a short tactical report (synthesis). It contained crucial information for the front: "The spy network arrested on the Orne River admitted that for years he had been transmitting the coordinates of our positions, which explains the precision of enemy artillery fire." For Meyer, it was the military effect that mattered, not the Frenchman's identity.
On June 6–7, 1944 (right after the Allied landings in Normandy), Operations Officer (Ia) Hubert Meyer had to urgently move the 12th SS Panzer Division from its concentration area south of Rouen (around Évreux/Bernay) to the front line directly west and north of Caen.
Due to the absolute air supremacy of the Allied Air Force (Royal Air Force and USAAF), moving the Panzer Division during daylight was impossible. Hubert Meyer designated two main, parallel marshrutkas (Marschstraßen) for the units, which were intended to divide the massive vehicle column and minimize the risk of congestion:
Northern Route (for wheeled units and mechanized infantry): This route ran along the Bernay–Lisieux–Troarn–Caen axes. This route was shorter, but it passed through major transport hubs that were constantly under Allied bombardment, forcing the headquarters to constantly detour along dirt roads.
Southern Route (primarily for the heavy tracked vehicles of the armored regiment): This route ran along the Vimoutiers–Trun–Falaise route, then branched off north toward Caen on the N158 national road. This route was deliberately chosen to prevent the tracks of Panzer IV and Panther tanks from damaging key paved roads in the north and to conceal heavy equipment in the forested areas along the route.
The roads Meyer had mapped out became "hell on earth." Allied fighter-bombers (so-called Jabos) destroyed bridges, paralyzed traffic, and set fire to fuel tankers. It took the division several hours to cover only a few dozen kilometers, instead of the planned few.
For this reason, the division's massive counterattack on the beaches, planned for June 7, fell on the Allies piecemeal – the panzergrenadier regiments entered the fight almost without the support of their own tanks. Effect/Process. The grenadiers advanced primarily with small arms and light armored personnel carriers. The Nova Scotia Highlanders and the Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment, pressing toward Carpiquet Airport, were completely surprised by the force of the attack from the fanatical, young SS men. The grenadiers managed to repel the Canadians, inflicting heavy losses, and recapturing key towns such as Authie and Buron.
The phrase "enormous, irreplaceable losses" refers to the fact that the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend" was almost completely annihilated in Normandy. After less than three months of fighting (in August 1944), the unit, which numbered over 20,500 men at the beginning of the invasion, was reduced to only about 300 men capable of front-line combat and a dozen operational tanks.
On June 16, 1944, the division's first commander, SS-Brigadeführer Fritz Witt, was killed by shrapnel from an Allied ship shell. His death shocked the unit. The general was killed by artillery fire launched by British warships on his field headquarters in Venoix, near Caen.
Like six other tankers, the War Nawab was stuffed with guncotton to keep its oil tanks alight. It became a giant floating incendiary bomb. It was to sail behind a smokescreen into the harbor where the German invasion force was located. The crew was tasked with steering the ship towards the point of greatest concentration of landing craft, lighting the fuses, and gracefully withdrawing on lifeboats. The success of this suicidal mission depended primarily on the wind and a smoke screen. It was an act of despair – the British Empire could only field six hundred fighters and thirty-six destroyers in its defense. In 1944, the warring sides switched places, but not entirely. It is true that the Germans were almost powerless at sea and in the air against the overwhelming might of the Allies. However, in 1940, the British infantry could offer only ineffective resistance, having become the weakest link in the three branches of the armed forces after Dunkirk, while the German land forces in 1944, defending "Fortress Europe," could hardly be considered insignificant. It was they who were entrusted with the most important task; the future of the "new order" depended on them, and specifically on the ten armored divisions whose forces the British, together with the Canadians, tried to tie down in Caen so that the American allies could break through the defenses on the other end of the bridgehead, which was of decisive importance.
Russia and the left led America to the Pacific War.
...a secret plan was created to reduce the German population after the war, eliminate industry, and weaken agriculture. This was the so-called Morganthau Plan, named after the advisor to President Roosevelt who devised it. The order to implement it bore the operational codename Eclipse. It was issued to the British Army only in January 1945, when it was signed by Montgomery's Chief of Staff. It was feared that if the plan were revealed, even those German soldiers who cared nothing about the war would fight to the death. Nevertheless, information about its existence somehow leaked to the press just before the invasion, at the most critical moment when the most important decisions were being made. Goebbels was quick to put it to use immediately. On May 28th, in "Wacht am Kanal," the newspaper of the German troops stationed on the shores of the English Channel, as if the managing editor knew this was the perfect moment, an article by William Barkley, reprinted from the London "Daily Express," appeared, faithfully summarizing the intended project. It was headlined "Totale Zerstörung Deutschlands"—"Total Destruction of Germany."
"This plan will teach us once again how to wash our bread with tears," the commentary read. "Germany, without industry and with barren soil, will inevitably sink to the level of living of the inhabitants of India [...] where millions die every year. Perhaps this will finally awaken all those who favored gentle measures, crazy enough to believe in the possibility of compromise."
It is worth mentioning that: The US administration agreed to Stalin's demands, ceding nearly half (approximately 46-48%) of pre-war Polish territory to the Soviet Union.
Operation Snow. It was a secret operation of the Soviet intelligence service (KGB/NKVD). Harry Dexter White, a senior official in the US Treasury Department and close associate of Morgenthau, was a Soviet agent codenamed "Snow." It was White who helped formulate the radically anti-German Morgenthau Plan.
His proposals became the direct basis for the so-called Hull Note – the official, extremely tough US diplomatic ultimatum to Japan (demanding, among other things, a complete withdrawal from China). The government in Tokyo found these demands unacceptable and considered an ultimatum, ultimately clinching the decision to attack Pearl Harbor.
His tough memoranda (which shaped the Hull Note) drew the US into the Pacific War against Japan. Although the US won the war, in retrospect, this action mainly helped the USSR by protecting Stalin from having to fight on two fronts (against Hitler and Japan simultaneously).
A trusted NKVD agent, Vitaly Pavlov, met with White in Washington in May 1941. He conveyed to him the theses that White copied almost word for word into his memoranda to the US government. The goal was simple: to redirect Japan's aggression from Siberia to the Pacific, towards the United States.
A Soviet spy in Tokyo, Richard Sorge, obtained reliable information in the fall of 1941 that Japan would not attack Siberia. This allowed Stalin to safely transfer elite, fresh Siberian divisions to Moscow. It was these troops that stopped Hitler in December 1941.
Hausser attempted to obtain a two-day delay in carrying out the order so that the units could properly assemble, but his superior, General Dollmann, commander of the 7th Army, under enormous pressure from Hitler, dared not agree. That same morning, June 28th, Dollmann died of a heart attack. Hausser became his successor. At noon, during a briefing at which senior officers of the 9th SS Panzer Division received orders for the following day's attack, Bittrich was entrusted with Hausser's former position—command of the II SS Panzer Corps. Bittrich, in turn, had to appoint his successor to assume command of the 9th Division. The choice naturally fell on the most senior regimental commander, Oberführer Müller. Thus, at a critical moment, before a particularly important attack, the command structure was reorganized. But that was not all. The Germans were in for another blow. The orders issued were for an attack on the "Scottish Corridor" from the southwest with the forces of the entire corps. The 10th SS Panzer Division was to attack the Odon River bridgehead at Gavrus and the flank of the 11th SS Panzer Division located on Hill 112, while the 9th SS Panzer Division would attack northward against Le Valtru and the "bottleneck" at Cheux, supported by another SS formation, the 2nd Panzer Division Das Reich and Panzerlehr. The opposite flank of the "Scottish Corridor" was to be the target of the attack by the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, arriving from Belgium, supported by the severely exhausted and diminished forces of the 12th SS Panzer Division and the 21st Panzer Division. Never before had so many SS divisions been concentrated in such a small area. Although none of the newly arrived formations managed to complete the concentration, those that arrived in time were to unconditionally launch the attack on the morning of June 29th. But even this deadline was not met due to an Allied air raid. Then, an officer from the 9th SS Panzer Division, reconnoitering the roads leading towards Cheux early that morning, was captured by soldiers from the 15th Scottish Division. He had with him all the plans for the upcoming attack.
This concentration of all German armored forces in the West around the "Scottish Corridor," extending almost ten kilometers into the German positions, but Still just over three kilometers wide, it forced the British onto the defensive and the withdrawal of their armored forces from Hill 112. In terms of territorial gains, Operation Epsom was only a partial success. However, it cost an exceptionally large number of soldiers—nearly a quarter of the infantry were killed or wounded. From a strategic standpoint, it proved a double triumph. The Second Army's task was to engage and tie down the bulk of the German armored forces, allowing General Omar Bradley's American First Army to break through to the Cotentin Peninsula. Of the eight German armored divisions then in Normandy, seven and a half were engaged by the British. However, Montgomery's strategy also involved exposing the Germans to a series of new threats, first in one sector, then in another, forcing them to react and leaving them no time to mount a large-scale offensive that could have bisected the Allied beachhead. The plan succeeded. First, a planned attack by three German divisions—the 12th SS Panzer Division, the 21st Panzer Division, and the Panzerlehr Division—ended in a "holding position." Then the 2nd Vienna Panzer Division was similarly drawn into fierce fighting on the front line. Now, the vast strategic armored reserve, which was intended to come under the command of Geyr von Schweppenburg and his planners at Panzer Group West headquarters, also engaged in a desperate fight against the advancing British. In 1940, the French army was defeated precisely because of the lack of such a powerful, mobile reserve. In 1944, the German army had a powerful reserve, but it was destroyed by British and Canadian forces.
"In terms of firepower, the Soviet Panzer Division couldn't even compare to the British," recalled Walter Harzer, then Ia, or Deputy Chief of Operations of the 9th SS Panzer Division. "British air and artillery support was far superior to that of the Russians. If the Luftwaffe had been able to cope with the Allied Navy and stop the highly accurate bombing of specific targets, I believe the British-Canadian landings would have been, as they say, stuck in a ditch again. However, our counteroffensive collapsed under the pressure of air attacks and artillery fire, especially the heavy guns of the battleships, which wreaked real havoc. When one such shell exploded near a Panther, the fifty-six-ton tank rolled over on its side from the blast alone." It was mainly the salvos from the battleships, and not the defense of the enemy soldiers, that stopped the armored regiment of our division."
The name Hans (short for Johannes) was simply given to a child at baptism. It was one of the most popular Christian names in Europe, given in honor of St. John the Baptist.
As a soldier in the 15th Armored Division, he fought in North Africa (including in Egypt and Libya) and then on the Western Front, including Normandy.
He was born into an ordinary Austrian middle-class or working-class family near Wiener Neustadt. The Wiener Neustadt region and the surrounding valleys (including the Ternitz/Pottschach region) were one of Austria's most important industrial centers in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with the metallurgical, machine-building, and textile industries thriving there. His family had been connected to this local, working-class community for generations.
- Patent US3973749A for "Hollow Formwork Elements for Concrete Construction"
After the war, Hans became an engineer and ran his own business, continuing his family's urban engineering tradition. His most famous engineering success was co-developing the technology for hollow formwork elements for concrete construction with engineers from Pottschach and Vienna. This patent was officially approved by the US Patent Office on August 10, 1976. Höller developed this design together with a team of Austrian engineers (Erich Köhler, Franz Friedl, Franz Gebauer), and the rights to the invention were transferred to the renowned Semperit Aktiengesellschaft group in Vienna.
While this unsuccessful attack was underway about two kilometers to the west, the 8th Heavy Company of the 21st Panzer Division, commanded by Lieutenant Braatz and in which Hans Höller fought, was able to withdraw to Lebisey almost undisturbed. Under cover of darkness, it left the park in Bénouville, and by dawn, it had taken up positions on the road in marching column, supported by a small number of infantry. The only significant attempt to disrupt this delicate operation was made by a British tank, which emerged from the bushes onto the road less than twenty meters in front of Corporal Wlcheck's 75mm self-propelled gun, spoiling his breakfast. The corporal dropped the slice of bread he was buttering, moved the barrel to where he expected the tank would appear, and destroyed it with the first shot. The unit then quietly withdrew to Lebisey and finally took up positions on a convenient hill from where it had a good view of the bridges between Hérouville and Colombelles, which it held for the next four weeks. The Germans discovered that the "garrison" at Hérouville was limited to a single interpreter who refused to leave her post until officially relieved by the artillerymen.
(June 6): Hidden with his platoon in the forests near the Château de Bénouville, Höller personally commanded the operation, which repelled a British counterattack, destroying three Sherman tanks.
SOMUA MCG with the PaK 40 (S307(f)) gun.
Only 16 units of this particular tank destroyer configuration were produced. The Germans entered the French production facilities at Saint-Ouen directly, seizing completed vehicles straight from the assembly lines and military warehouses.
Captain (later Major) Alfred Becker of the German 227th Infantry Division played a key role. While serving as a mechanical engineer on the French coast during occupation duty, he saw enormous potential in abandoned French vehicles. Personally, He ordered their mass collection, cataloging, and protection from destruction.
At Caen: His tank destroyer platoon (equipped with modified French half-tracks armed with 7.5cm PaK 40 anti-tank guns) completely blocked the Allied advance along the Caen canal. This prevented the British from rapidly capturing the city in the first hours of the invasion. The British were forced to completely change their operational plans. Instead of a lightning-fast, armored raid in the first hours of the invasion, they had to prepare for a long and bloody campaign of attrition.
The British directed their armored divisions west of Caen, attempting a deep outflanking operation (this led, among other things, to the famous Battle of Villers-Bocage on June 13th). At the end of June, they launched Operation Epsom, committing several hundred tanks to break the German lines near the Odon River and forcing the defenders (including a unit of Höller) to retreat under threat of being cut off.
On July 7, 1944, the British Strategic Air Force (RAF) dispatched 450 Lancaster and Halifax heavy bombers over Caen, dropping over 2,500 tons of high-explosive bombs. According to Adolf Hitler's orders, Caen was to be defended to the last man. The German command (including Erwin Rommel) knew that the loss of this communications hub would open the path to Paris for the Allies. Who was last?
"The Germans, on the other hand, bitterly described the Battle of Normandy as a war of men against equipment."
Hubert Meyer, a staff officer with the 12th SS Panzer Division in Normandy in 1944, recalled: "After Franz's arrest, it was revealed that he had been spying around the Orne River for years, and we later experienced the consequences of his activities firsthand. Our security and counterintelligence measures were insufficient. Furthermore, conditions were unfavorable; we occupied enemy territory, and the years spent in France had greatly weakened discipline within the units. Nevertheless, more should have been done. Panzer Group West was a notable exception, but the soldiers were generally unfamiliar with the issue of secrecy, and what's more, they were completely uninterested in it." In this respect, the enemy was far superior to us."
Hubert Meyer, as Operations Officer (Ia), was responsible for troop movements and combat. From Officer Ic, he received only a short tactical report (synthesis). It contained crucial information for the front: "The spy network arrested on the Orne River admitted that for years he had been transmitting the coordinates of our positions, which explains the precision of enemy artillery fire." For Meyer, it was the military effect that mattered, not the Frenchman's identity.
On June 6–7, 1944 (right after the Allied landings in Normandy), Operations Officer (Ia) Hubert Meyer had to urgently move the 12th SS Panzer Division from its concentration area south of Rouen (around Évreux/Bernay) to the front line directly west and north of Caen.
Due to the absolute air supremacy of the Allied Air Force (Royal Air Force and USAAF), moving the Panzer Division during daylight was impossible. Hubert Meyer designated two main, parallel marshrutkas (Marschstraßen) for the units, which were intended to divide the massive vehicle column and minimize the risk of congestion:
Northern Route (for wheeled units and mechanized infantry): This route ran along the Bernay–Lisieux–Troarn–Caen axes. This route was shorter, but it passed through major transport hubs that were constantly under Allied bombardment, forcing the headquarters to constantly detour along dirt roads.
Southern Route (primarily for the heavy tracked vehicles of the armored regiment): This route ran along the Vimoutiers–Trun–Falaise route, then branched off north toward Caen on the N158 national road. This route was deliberately chosen to prevent the tracks of Panzer IV and Panther tanks from damaging key paved roads in the north and to conceal heavy equipment in the forested areas along the route.
The roads Meyer had mapped out became "hell on earth." Allied fighter-bombers (so-called Jabos) destroyed bridges, paralyzed traffic, and set fire to fuel tankers. It took the division several hours to cover only a few dozen kilometers, instead of the planned few.
For this reason, the division's massive counterattack on the beaches, planned for June 7, fell on the Allies piecemeal – the panzergrenadier regiments entered the fight almost without the support of their own tanks. Effect/Process. The grenadiers advanced primarily with small arms and light armored personnel carriers. The Nova Scotia Highlanders and the Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment, pressing toward Carpiquet Airport, were completely surprised by the force of the attack from the fanatical, young SS men. The grenadiers managed to repel the Canadians, inflicting heavy losses, and recapturing key towns such as Authie and Buron.
The phrase "enormous, irreplaceable losses" refers to the fact that the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend" was almost completely annihilated in Normandy. After less than three months of fighting (in August 1944), the unit, which numbered over 20,500 men at the beginning of the invasion, was reduced to only about 300 men capable of front-line combat and a dozen operational tanks.
On June 16, 1944, the division's first commander, SS-Brigadeführer Fritz Witt, was killed by shrapnel from an Allied ship shell. His death shocked the unit. The general was killed by artillery fire launched by British warships on his field headquarters in Venoix, near Caen.
Like six other tankers, the War Nawab was stuffed with guncotton to keep its oil tanks alight. It became a giant floating incendiary bomb. It was to sail behind a smokescreen into the harbor where the German invasion force was located. The crew was tasked with steering the ship towards the point of greatest concentration of landing craft, lighting the fuses, and gracefully withdrawing on lifeboats. The success of this suicidal mission depended primarily on the wind and a smoke screen. It was an act of despair – the British Empire could only field six hundred fighters and thirty-six destroyers in its defense. In 1944, the warring sides switched places, but not entirely. It is true that the Germans were almost powerless at sea and in the air against the overwhelming might of the Allies. However, in 1940, the British infantry could offer only ineffective resistance, having become the weakest link in the three branches of the armed forces after Dunkirk, while the German land forces in 1944, defending "Fortress Europe," could hardly be considered insignificant. It was they who were entrusted with the most important task; the future of the "new order" depended on them, and specifically on the ten armored divisions whose forces the British, together with the Canadians, tried to tie down in Caen so that the American allies could break through the defenses on the other end of the bridgehead, which was of decisive importance.
Russia and the left led America to the Pacific War.
...a secret plan was created to reduce the German population after the war, eliminate industry, and weaken agriculture. This was the so-called Morganthau Plan, named after the advisor to President Roosevelt who devised it. The order to implement it bore the operational codename Eclipse. It was issued to the British Army only in January 1945, when it was signed by Montgomery's Chief of Staff. It was feared that if the plan were revealed, even those German soldiers who cared nothing about the war would fight to the death. Nevertheless, information about its existence somehow leaked to the press just before the invasion, at the most critical moment when the most important decisions were being made. Goebbels was quick to put it to use immediately. On May 28th, in "Wacht am Kanal," the newspaper of the German troops stationed on the shores of the English Channel, as if the managing editor knew this was the perfect moment, an article by William Barkley, reprinted from the London "Daily Express," appeared, faithfully summarizing the intended project. It was headlined "Totale Zerstörung Deutschlands"—"Total Destruction of Germany."
"This plan will teach us once again how to wash our bread with tears," the commentary read. "Germany, without industry and with barren soil, will inevitably sink to the level of living of the inhabitants of India [...] where millions die every year. Perhaps this will finally awaken all those who favored gentle measures, crazy enough to believe in the possibility of compromise."
It is worth mentioning that: The US administration agreed to Stalin's demands, ceding nearly half (approximately 46-48%) of pre-war Polish territory to the Soviet Union.
Operation Snow. It was a secret operation of the Soviet intelligence service (KGB/NKVD). Harry Dexter White, a senior official in the US Treasury Department and close associate of Morgenthau, was a Soviet agent codenamed "Snow." It was White who helped formulate the radically anti-German Morgenthau Plan.
His proposals became the direct basis for the so-called Hull Note – the official, extremely tough US diplomatic ultimatum to Japan (demanding, among other things, a complete withdrawal from China). The government in Tokyo found these demands unacceptable and considered an ultimatum, ultimately clinching the decision to attack Pearl Harbor.
His tough memoranda (which shaped the Hull Note) drew the US into the Pacific War against Japan. Although the US won the war, in retrospect, this action mainly helped the USSR by protecting Stalin from having to fight on two fronts (against Hitler and Japan simultaneously).
A trusted NKVD agent, Vitaly Pavlov, met with White in Washington in May 1941. He conveyed to him the theses that White copied almost word for word into his memoranda to the US government. The goal was simple: to redirect Japan's aggression from Siberia to the Pacific, towards the United States.
A Soviet spy in Tokyo, Richard Sorge, obtained reliable information in the fall of 1941 that Japan would not attack Siberia. This allowed Stalin to safely transfer elite, fresh Siberian divisions to Moscow. It was these troops that stopped Hitler in December 1941.
Hausser attempted to obtain a two-day delay in carrying out the order so that the units could properly assemble, but his superior, General Dollmann, commander of the 7th Army, under enormous pressure from Hitler, dared not agree. That same morning, June 28th, Dollmann died of a heart attack. Hausser became his successor. At noon, during a briefing at which senior officers of the 9th SS Panzer Division received orders for the following day's attack, Bittrich was entrusted with Hausser's former position—command of the II SS Panzer Corps. Bittrich, in turn, had to appoint his successor to assume command of the 9th Division. The choice naturally fell on the most senior regimental commander, Oberführer Müller. Thus, at a critical moment, before a particularly important attack, the command structure was reorganized. But that was not all. The Germans were in for another blow. The orders issued were for an attack on the "Scottish Corridor" from the southwest with the forces of the entire corps. The 10th SS Panzer Division was to attack the Odon River bridgehead at Gavrus and the flank of the 11th SS Panzer Division located on Hill 112, while the 9th SS Panzer Division would attack northward against Le Valtru and the "bottleneck" at Cheux, supported by another SS formation, the 2nd Panzer Division Das Reich and Panzerlehr. The opposite flank of the "Scottish Corridor" was to be the target of the attack by the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, arriving from Belgium, supported by the severely exhausted and diminished forces of the 12th SS Panzer Division and the 21st Panzer Division. Never before had so many SS divisions been concentrated in such a small area. Although none of the newly arrived formations managed to complete the concentration, those that arrived in time were to unconditionally launch the attack on the morning of June 29th. But even this deadline was not met due to an Allied air raid. Then, an officer from the 9th SS Panzer Division, reconnoitering the roads leading towards Cheux early that morning, was captured by soldiers from the 15th Scottish Division. He had with him all the plans for the upcoming attack.
This concentration of all German armored forces in the West around the "Scottish Corridor," extending almost ten kilometers into the German positions, but Still just over three kilometers wide, it forced the British onto the defensive and the withdrawal of their armored forces from Hill 112. In terms of territorial gains, Operation Epsom was only a partial success. However, it cost an exceptionally large number of soldiers—nearly a quarter of the infantry were killed or wounded. From a strategic standpoint, it proved a double triumph. The Second Army's task was to engage and tie down the bulk of the German armored forces, allowing General Omar Bradley's American First Army to break through to the Cotentin Peninsula. Of the eight German armored divisions then in Normandy, seven and a half were engaged by the British. However, Montgomery's strategy also involved exposing the Germans to a series of new threats, first in one sector, then in another, forcing them to react and leaving them no time to mount a large-scale offensive that could have bisected the Allied beachhead. The plan succeeded. First, a planned attack by three German divisions—the 12th SS Panzer Division, the 21st Panzer Division, and the Panzerlehr Division—ended in a "holding position." Then the 2nd Vienna Panzer Division was similarly drawn into fierce fighting on the front line. Now, the vast strategic armored reserve, which was intended to come under the command of Geyr von Schweppenburg and his planners at Panzer Group West headquarters, also engaged in a desperate fight against the advancing British. In 1940, the French army was defeated precisely because of the lack of such a powerful, mobile reserve. In 1944, the German army had a powerful reserve, but it was destroyed by British and Canadian forces.
"In terms of firepower, the Soviet Panzer Division couldn't even compare to the British," recalled Walter Harzer, then Ia, or Deputy Chief of Operations of the 9th SS Panzer Division. "British air and artillery support was far superior to that of the Russians. If the Luftwaffe had been able to cope with the Allied Navy and stop the highly accurate bombing of specific targets, I believe the British-Canadian landings would have been, as they say, stuck in a ditch again. However, our counteroffensive collapsed under the pressure of air attacks and artillery fire, especially the heavy guns of the battleships, which wreaked real havoc. When one such shell exploded near a Panther, the fifty-six-ton tank rolled over on its side from the blast alone." It was mainly the salvos from the battleships, and not the defense of the enemy soldiers, that stopped the armored regiment of our division."
The name Hans (short for Johannes) was simply given to a child at baptism. It was one of the most popular Christian names in Europe, given in honor of St. John the Baptist.
As a soldier in the 15th Armored Division, he fought in North Africa (including in Egypt and Libya) and then on the Western Front, including Normandy.
He was born into an ordinary Austrian middle-class or working-class family near Wiener Neustadt. The Wiener Neustadt region and the surrounding valleys (including the Ternitz/Pottschach region) were one of Austria's most important industrial centers in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with the metallurgical, machine-building, and textile industries thriving there. His family had been connected to this local, working-class community for generations.
- Patent US3973749A for "Hollow Formwork Elements for Concrete Construction"
After the war, Hans became an engineer and ran his own business, continuing his family's urban engineering tradition. His most famous engineering success was co-developing the technology for hollow formwork elements for concrete construction with engineers from Pottschach and Vienna. This patent was officially approved by the US Patent Office on August 10, 1976. Höller developed this design together with a team of Austrian engineers (Erich Köhler, Franz Friedl, Franz Gebauer), and the rights to the invention were transferred to the renowned Semperit Aktiengesellschaft group in Vienna.
While this unsuccessful attack was underway about two kilometers to the west, the 8th Heavy Company of the 21st Panzer Division, commanded by Lieutenant Braatz and in which Hans Höller fought, was able to withdraw to Lebisey almost undisturbed. Under cover of darkness, it left the park in Bénouville, and by dawn, it had taken up positions on the road in marching column, supported by a small number of infantry. The only significant attempt to disrupt this delicate operation was made by a British tank, which emerged from the bushes onto the road less than twenty meters in front of Corporal Wlcheck's 75mm self-propelled gun, spoiling his breakfast. The corporal dropped the slice of bread he was buttering, moved the barrel to where he expected the tank would appear, and destroyed it with the first shot. The unit then quietly withdrew to Lebisey and finally took up positions on a convenient hill from where it had a good view of the bridges between Hérouville and Colombelles, which it held for the next four weeks. The Germans discovered that the "garrison" at Hérouville was limited to a single interpreter who refused to leave her post until officially relieved by the artillerymen.
(June 6): Hidden with his platoon in the forests near the Château de Bénouville, Höller personally commanded the operation, which repelled a British counterattack, destroying three Sherman tanks.
SOMUA MCG with the PaK 40 (S307(f)) gun.
Only 16 units of this particular tank destroyer configuration were produced. The Germans entered the French production facilities at Saint-Ouen directly, seizing completed vehicles straight from the assembly lines and military warehouses.
Captain (later Major) Alfred Becker of the German 227th Infantry Division played a key role. While serving as a mechanical engineer on the French coast during occupation duty, he saw enormous potential in abandoned French vehicles. Personally, He ordered their mass collection, cataloging, and protection from destruction.
At Caen: His tank destroyer platoon (equipped with modified French half-tracks armed with 7.5cm PaK 40 anti-tank guns) completely blocked the Allied advance along the Caen canal. This prevented the British from rapidly capturing the city in the first hours of the invasion. The British were forced to completely change their operational plans. Instead of a lightning-fast, armored raid in the first hours of the invasion, they had to prepare for a long and bloody campaign of attrition.
The British directed their armored divisions west of Caen, attempting a deep outflanking operation (this led, among other things, to the famous Battle of Villers-Bocage on June 13th). At the end of June, they launched Operation Epsom, committing several hundred tanks to break the German lines near the Odon River and forcing the defenders (including a unit of Höller) to retreat under threat of being cut off.
On July 7, 1944, the British Strategic Air Force (RAF) dispatched 450 Lancaster and Halifax heavy bombers over Caen, dropping over 2,500 tons of high-explosive bombs. According to Adolf Hitler's orders, Caen was to be defended to the last man. The German command (including Erwin Rommel) knew that the loss of this communications hub would open the path to Paris for the Allies. Who was last?
April 9, 2016
This book is a bit of a confused mash partly due to the inclusion of only a few maps. The author also quotes extensively from participants of the battle and it's easy to miss the closing quotation marks at times. Despite these downsides some of the battle narratives provide perspective from both sides of the battlefield and a view of the British side of the Normandy battles.
Worth reading for those interested in military history or WW2.
Worth reading for those interested in military history or WW2.
December 30, 2024
A horrible, gut-wrenching battle that killed thousands on both sides
This detailed account of armies attacking and defending that key French city in a series of battles that dragged on for two months. The British forces planned to capture Caen in the first days of the invasion, but the terribly costly effort lasted for almost two months of indescribable brutality and huge losses of life. The eye-witness accounts vividly portray the horror of the battles and the destruction of entire units on both sides. Not for the weak of heart.
This detailed account of armies attacking and defending that key French city in a series of battles that dragged on for two months. The British forces planned to capture Caen in the first days of the invasion, but the terribly costly effort lasted for almost two months of indescribable brutality and huge losses of life. The eye-witness accounts vividly portray the horror of the battles and the destruction of entire units on both sides. Not for the weak of heart.
May 25, 2025
Frtailed Review of Normandy Battles after D-Day
After D-Day, the battles for Normandy did not proceed as the Allies and Germans planned and expected. .This book provides detailed accounts of the battles involved and the reasons why many actions were failures and tragedies, often accented by accounts of the participants. central to the overall account is the total destruction of the city of Caen by the Allied forces of “liberation - a tragedy seldom mentioned in D-Day overviews. In particular, individual tank engagements are described in vivid detail
After D-Day, the battles for Normandy did not proceed as the Allies and Germans planned and expected. .This book provides detailed accounts of the battles involved and the reasons why many actions were failures and tragedies, often accented by accounts of the participants. central to the overall account is the total destruction of the city of Caen by the Allied forces of “liberation - a tragedy seldom mentioned in D-Day overviews. In particular, individual tank engagements are described in vivid detail
December 24, 2025
Riveting - at times gruesome - first hand accounts of the battle for Normandy.
I’d have given this book five stars if the writing was more clear at times about who was recollecting the action. I found (as others have also) that it wasn’t consistently apparent which side was speaking or being spoken about. Despite this, the book pulled me along and painted a vivid picture of events from both the high level view of command and the dirt level experiences of the soldiers on the ground. Highly recommended.
I’d have given this book five stars if the writing was more clear at times about who was recollecting the action. I found (as others have also) that it wasn’t consistently apparent which side was speaking or being spoken about. Despite this, the book pulled me along and painted a vivid picture of events from both the high level view of command and the dirt level experiences of the soldiers on the ground. Highly recommended.
January 17, 2022
A good account of the Normandy campaign, relying mainly on first hand accounts stitched togethor, but it does a good job of that. If you want to learn the details of the campaign this isn't the book for that, but it is a good overview, and useful to give more of the feel of things rather than a drier historical account. It covers both sides, and the civilian side as well, and is very readable, though I found the authors editorial comments grated a little at times.
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September 11, 2024Normandy Campaign
The title is rather a misnomer as it does not deal just with Caen, but also the final breakout battles finishing with the horror of the so called Falaise Gap. Evidently an older book but very well written for all that; making you realise the bravery of the allied forces confronting the still very professional and far more experienced German army. Recommended as an overview of the campaign.
The title is rather a misnomer as it does not deal just with Caen, but also the final breakout battles finishing with the horror of the so called Falaise Gap. Evidently an older book but very well written for all that; making you realise the bravery of the allied forces confronting the still very professional and far more experienced German army. Recommended as an overview of the campaign.
January 25, 2021
Good read but confusing at rimes
I loved rhis book and would have been difficult to write. I was confused at times which side was being reported on. Great descriptive writing though. Felt I was right there. Was totally moved by efforts of all sides. Thank you.
I loved rhis book and would have been difficult to write. I was confused at times which side was being reported on. Great descriptive writing though. Felt I was right there. Was totally moved by efforts of all sides. Thank you.
July 20, 2024
Interesting read
An overall recounting of the Commonwealth side of D-day through to the closing of the Falaise gap. Lots of eyewitness stories,but it sèmed a little disjointed at points. Some different views from other books on the subject.
An overall recounting of the Commonwealth side of D-day through to the closing of the Falaise gap. Lots of eyewitness stories,but it sèmed a little disjointed at points. Some different views from other books on the subject.
September 27, 2024
Great view of the D-Day landing.
Great book that details the D-day landing and the hard fight on both sides. The Allies lost several battles, but the amount material support was too much for the enemy.
Great book that details the D-day landing and the hard fight on both sides. The Allies lost several battles, but the amount material support was too much for the enemy.
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July 25, 2025What a read!!!
I thought I had a very good understanding of the battle for Caen. I did not. Both sides were well represented throughout the book. I highly recommend this book to readers of World War II.
I thought I had a very good understanding of the battle for Caen. I did not. Both sides were well represented throughout the book. I highly recommend this book to readers of World War II.
August 16, 2025
Interesting and confusing.
Interesting look at a specific aspect of D-Day and the weeks after. Needed more and better maps. Switching from German to Allied viewpoints confusing occasionally.
Interesting look at a specific aspect of D-Day and the weeks after. Needed more and better maps. Switching from German to Allied viewpoints confusing occasionally.
November 14, 2023
A very interesting read
June 17, 2024
One of the best accounts of the Normandy campaign I’ve ever come across. Brilliant narrative, good blend of story and details.
August 23, 2024
A very full depth description of the Anglo Canadian part of the Normandy campaign
November 13, 2024
pro German military writing
According to this author the German military were head and shoulders above the Allies, only to be beaten by overwhelming force.
According to this author the German military were head and shoulders above the Allies, only to be beaten by overwhelming force.
February 9, 2025
Not the best
Author mixes stories from allies and axis in the same paragraph, very confusing. Mixes in his own opinions all too often.
Author mixes stories from allies and axis in the same paragraph, very confusing. Mixes in his own opinions all too often.
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September 10, 2025Interesting perspectives from both sides.
September 18, 2025
a moving tale of useless slaughter and general confusion
Well written. A strangely balanced view of allies and axis troops as if the Nazis were just innocents in a war of their own making.
Well written. A strangely balanced view of allies and axis troops as if the Nazis were just innocents in a war of their own making.
June 26, 2016
This is a history of the Battle of Normandy (06-06-1944 to 31-08-1944), in which the civilians of Normandy paid a disproportionate part of the cost in French lives for their nation's Libération. It is a work of meticulous scholarship, inasmuch as it presents in abundant detail the day by day reality of the struggle through the eyes of many eyewitnesses on both sides. It appeared in 1964, so no doubt it has been widely critiqued and its strengths and weaknesses (if such there are) are a matter of public record. I am a casual reader, and I make no apologies if it is found that I am ignorant of errors of fact, omissions, or misunderstandings of events that may possibly have been pointed out. My impression is that this is a first rate piece of work, balanced and thorough, and that it deserves to be taken very seriously.
The events narrated were never going to be easy to relate. The task of marshaling the source materials must have been huge, and shining a light through the "fog of war" when there are so many players, so many fronts, so many modes of warfare, so many events, and so many stories, all contending for the author's attention, would have been very hard indeed. My frequent confusion may have been alleviated somewhat had I not been reading the book on a Kindle (I was traveling), which is a terrific medium for print but poor for maps, diagrams, and other visual forms. I came away from reading this book with a very foggy idea of the overview of events, but a wealth of vivid impressions of the personal experiences of people caught up in them.
I will just add that I was impressed that McKee does not shrink from making adverse criticisms of Allied actions, whether it be the repeated exhibitions of incompetence at the top by the Americans (due to upper-echelon confusion, Omaha Beach saw the worst slaughter of the D-Day landings), or the unwarranted bombing of civilian targets in Caen ordered by Bernard Montgomery. The myth of D-Day may be very creditable to the soldiers on the ground, but as so often in war the decisions and mistakes of their leaders proved almost as deadly as the efforts of the enemy. Not all Germans fought back heroically; many were demoralized and thoroughly disenchanted with Nazism, and were glad of an opportunity to surrender; several incidents of mistreatment and even murder of German prisoners by their Allied captors are reported; there were atrocities on both sides. Other Germans proved themselves exceptionally good soldiers, loyal, effective, and brave, whatever one might have to say about the cause for which they fought. The Canadian fighting man gets a pretty good rap in this book, which I hope is a reflection of his true worth; Canadian troops were unusual in this conflict in that they were all volunteers.
I read this shortly after spending about 5 weeks of spring living in Normandy, a land of verdant fields and hedges, of peaceful stone-built villages with each its church spire or several, a busy and fruitful region; but for the many photographs, it would be difficult now to visualize it devastated as it was in 1944. The "hell of the hedges", as Allied soldiers dubbed the struggle in which hedges gave such effective concealment to German tanks and infantry, was the result of traditional farming practices that continue today, and which give Normandy much of its continuing rural charm.
The events narrated were never going to be easy to relate. The task of marshaling the source materials must have been huge, and shining a light through the "fog of war" when there are so many players, so many fronts, so many modes of warfare, so many events, and so many stories, all contending for the author's attention, would have been very hard indeed. My frequent confusion may have been alleviated somewhat had I not been reading the book on a Kindle (I was traveling), which is a terrific medium for print but poor for maps, diagrams, and other visual forms. I came away from reading this book with a very foggy idea of the overview of events, but a wealth of vivid impressions of the personal experiences of people caught up in them.
I will just add that I was impressed that McKee does not shrink from making adverse criticisms of Allied actions, whether it be the repeated exhibitions of incompetence at the top by the Americans (due to upper-echelon confusion, Omaha Beach saw the worst slaughter of the D-Day landings), or the unwarranted bombing of civilian targets in Caen ordered by Bernard Montgomery. The myth of D-Day may be very creditable to the soldiers on the ground, but as so often in war the decisions and mistakes of their leaders proved almost as deadly as the efforts of the enemy. Not all Germans fought back heroically; many were demoralized and thoroughly disenchanted with Nazism, and were glad of an opportunity to surrender; several incidents of mistreatment and even murder of German prisoners by their Allied captors are reported; there were atrocities on both sides. Other Germans proved themselves exceptionally good soldiers, loyal, effective, and brave, whatever one might have to say about the cause for which they fought. The Canadian fighting man gets a pretty good rap in this book, which I hope is a reflection of his true worth; Canadian troops were unusual in this conflict in that they were all volunteers.
I read this shortly after spending about 5 weeks of spring living in Normandy, a land of verdant fields and hedges, of peaceful stone-built villages with each its church spire or several, a busy and fruitful region; but for the many photographs, it would be difficult now to visualize it devastated as it was in 1944. The "hell of the hedges", as Allied soldiers dubbed the struggle in which hedges gave such effective concealment to German tanks and infantry, was the result of traditional farming practices that continue today, and which give Normandy much of its continuing rural charm.
February 11, 2017
Some books provide a better overall view of the battle for Normandy. Several describe individual actions in more detail (Mark Zuehlke's are particularly good). This one stands out because it puts the reader into the middle of the sights, sounds, smells and emotions of the physical and moral chaos that constituted two months of deadly struggle. McKee details the human reality with great effect: brutality, occasional mercies, sudden and unimaginable violence, breaks for tea, the frequent dependence of grand plans on the initiative and determination of a handful of men, the tragic sweeping of civilians into the maelstrom, pure luck both good and bad. The madness is captured by a nun's recording of a reversal that happens when she and other sisters try to lead hundreds of mentally ill out of an endangered convent hospital and across battle lines into hoped-for safety: "Some of our mental patients, thinking we had brought on all this suffering, in their delusions gave us untold trouble; others, however, became almost lucid, and did their utmost to help us, and to cheer on their companions."
It helps that McKee was there — not an observer or historian trying to reconstruct, but someone who lived through it trying to convey what it was like.
It helps that McKee was there — not an observer or historian trying to reconstruct, but someone who lived through it trying to convey what it was like.
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