Waffen-SS Armour in Normandy: The Combat History of SS Panzer Regiment 12 and SS Panzerjäger Abteilung 12, Normandy 1944, based on their original war diaries

by Norbert Számvéber

Waffen-SS Armour in Normandy presents the combat history of SS-Panzer Regiment 12 and SS-Panzerjäger Abteilung 12 in the Battle for France from June to the end of August 1944 based on transcriptions of their original unit war diaries from the Military History Archives in Prague.Both armored units belonged to the 12.SS-Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. SS-Panzer Regiment 12 was fully equipped with Panzer IV and Panther tanks. The main AFV of SS-Panzerjäger Abteilung 12 was the Jagdpanzer IV L/48 tank destroyer.The structure of the volume is partly source publication (documents of SS-Panzer Regiment 12) and partly study (the deployment of SS-Panzerjäger Abteilung 12). The text was written and footnoted by the author based upon original wartime files in Prague that have remained almost unknown.The book starts with the story of the units' establishment and training in 1943/1944, including, for example, the shipments of equipment, orders of battle and tactical numbers of the tanks. After this introduction, a highly detailed daily chronology of the combat actions is provided, from 12.SS-Panzer Division traveling to the Caen sector to Operation Totalize and the withdrawal to the Seine River.Documents from SS-Panzer Regiment 12 presented in the book include the combat reports, list of knocked-out enemy tanks, German personnel and tank losses, combat orders, summary of acquired combat experiences and others.This is an impressive look at tactical-level events and command decisions, highlighting the armored combat tactics that were able to stop Montgomery's Army Group from breaking through the German lines near Caen for two months. The study includes a number of detailed maps and excellent photos. In addition, the book has benefited from the contribution of rare information, photographs and documents from the archive of noted Waffen-SS historian Mark C. Yerger.

604 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2011

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most comprehensive unit histories of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend" to date. Szamveber starts his work with the creation of the unit in early 1943, which was a collaboration between the Reichsjugendführer of the Hitler Youth Artur Axmann and Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. The concept was to have a Panzer Division that consisted heavily of younger men, most born in the year 1926. The plan was approved by Hitler, and after filling out the ranks with 10,000 Hitler Youth members and senior NCOs and officers drawn from veteran SS units, the 12th Panzer Division began its hard training at the Beverloo Camp in Leopoldsburg in late 1943.

In the second half of the book, Szamveber writes the unit history of its operations in the Normandy campaign, particularly focusing on the 12th division's participation in the defense of Caen and it's later retreating actions from France. By September, the division had lost 80% of its manpower, including a large portion of its panzers and other motorized vehicles. Szamveber and other historians attribute these heavy losses to the fanaticism of the 12th division's young soldiers, most of whom were fervent believers in National Socialism. The Third Reich was the only German state of which they knew, hence the ideological training they received in their schooling made them hardened defenders of the cause.

Szamveber ends the book with a detailing of the combat effectiveness of the division in Normandy. Unfortunately, the book does not cover the later actions of the division in the Ardennes offensive and the late actions of 1945.

[Neil Crowle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not very interesting reading on the whole. Because it was heavily reliant on the regimental war diaries, the style of writing was very repetitive. If you had a break and came back to the book, you could read passages and have no idea whether you had already read them or not: the style was the same the whole way through.