12th Hitlerjugend SS Panzer Division in Normandy

by Tim Saunders, Richard Hone

The history of the armored division comprised of German teenagers in the Normandy campaign, drawing on new materials from former Eastern Bloc archives.   Raised in 1943 with seventeen-year-olds from the Hitler Youth movement, and following the twin disasters of Stalingrad and ‘Tunisgrad,’ the Hitlerjugend Panzer Division emerged as the most effective German division fighting in the West. The core of the division was a cadre of officers and NCOs provided by Hitler’s bodyguard division, the elite Leibstandarte, with the aim of producing a division of ‘equal value’ to fight alongside them in I SS Panzer Corps.   During the fighting in Normandy, the Hitlerjugend proved to be implacable foes to both the British and the Canadians, repeatedly blunting Montgomery’s offensives, fighting with skill and a degree of determination well beyond the norm. This they did from D+1 through to the final battle to escape from the Falaise Pocket, despite huge disadvantages, namely constant Allied air attack, highly destructive naval gunfire, and a chronic lack of combat supplies and replacements of men and equipment.   Written with the advantage of new materials from archives in the former Eastern Bloc, this book is no whitewash of a Waffen SS division and it does not shy away from confronting unpalatable facts or controversies.  Includes photographs

Genres: History, World War II, Military History, War, Audiobook, Nonfiction

315 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 28, 2021

About the author

Tim Saunders MBE MA (1956 - ????) served in the British Army as an officer in the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment and The Rifles for over 30 years before leaving to become a full time military historian. In his second career he brings together the overlapping spheres of writing, battlefield guiding and military history film making. His intuitive knowledge of warfare and soldiers that is abundantly clear from his insightful and entertaining writing is a result, of his military training, service across the world and his operational experience.
Tim's portfolio of work is wide, with videos from Vikings to WW2 being made with Battlefield History TV and Pen & Sword Digital, variously as presenter, director and editor, His books, now totalling more than twenty title, however, are mainly focused on the Napoleonic Wars and the battles of the Second World War
Tim lives on the edge of the Army's Salisbury Plain Training area and often finds himself writing to the accompaniment of the sound of real tanks and gunfire.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

We rarely read bravery stories of those who lost the war. The problem with this book is that the level of narrative is placed somewhere in between the personal or small group stories and the overall motives and strategies of the war; unless you are a military strategist it is rather uninteresting to follow daily reports of several divisions engagements, the back and forth movement of the front line in a few miles area, and the end of day loses in tanks and men on both sides. The book is great when it explains what made this particular division so special and that there is more to war and soldiers besides materials and weapons.

[The Bauchler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A competent, informative, chronological telling of the last actions of the 12th SS Panzer Division in Normandy.

[Aubrey Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed and technical account of the SS Hitlerjugend's critical role in the Normandy campaign. The audiobook edition does not do it justice as one can't access maps that I'm assuming might appear in the hard copy. Still, I appreciated all the excerpts from war diaries and personal accounts of soldiers and officers on both sides.

The reading by Bruce Mann was a little slow. I kept it on 1.2 speed for most of the time.

[Bradley S Donovan · Rating 5 out of 5]

great easy read

Great read with many good accounts by veterans of both sides. The maps make it easier to keep pace with the location of events as they unfold.

[Mark A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good view of Normandy from the German side as I have read it from the American

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's okay, but not particularly memorable. Just details of battles with little information about the troops.

[Sebastian Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb! A thoroughly gripping account of the role of the SS Hitlerjugend’s role in the Normandy ‘44 campaign. From the units creation, to its deployment and combat, opposite British and Canadian forces in the battle for Caen and beyond. Well illustrated with maps and photographs, and enlivened with firsthand accounts, I found this a terrifically engaging and informative read. Highly recommended.

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boys fighting men , and they made em (the grown ups) fight and die for every inch. A powerful reminder of indoctrination.

[solo · Rating 2 out of 5]

stumbled into this one by way of catching up on the 12th that featured quite prominently in Bloody Verrieres (well, and by virtue of it being Plus as well).

though by different author, it largely suffers from the same drawbacks as the Verrieres: being a whole 9h book focusing on a single unit within a narrow window of time - it's chock-full of questionable trivia. and, since like the Verrieres, it was narrated by Mann, it was quite painful as well...

also, even though some time was dedicated to fleshing out the unit background, it sheds surprisingly little light on Hitlerjugend as a phenomenon and the 12th's performance in Normandy.