The Battle for Caen.

How interesting, wrong but interesting. We in Britain know that WW2 was won in the Battle of Britain. Everything after that was just a mopping up exercise.

 

Oh boy... :roll:

 

Here we go...:S


So it wasn't Stalin who crushed the germans with only a small army of light tanks? :lol:

 

Uh Oh! :roll: :lol:

 

Light tanks? I thought he used troikas and hay wagons... :lol:

 

Roel, please name the second Panzer division so I can let the publisher know of their mistake in source information. Cheers!
As for the braketed info, I have corrected this oversite. Thank you for your help.

 

Hey! Don't leave out the HEAVIES!!!!

The British/Canadians also faced the three Tiger battalions in Normandy at this time.

Schwere Panzer Abteilung 503 (the most successful Tiger unit of them all)

Schwere SS Panzer Abteilung 101

Schwere SS Panzer Abteilung 102

 

I'll second that. They proved very formidable for their first combat around Tarnopol in March/April 1944.

 

They were mentioned as part of the S.S. divisions, however not in the detail you have provided. Thank you Lyndon.

 

No problem, but I think the SS Tiger battalions operated independant and in different locations to the SS Panzer Divisions in Normandy.The SS Tiger battalions operated almost excusively against the British/Canadians. When 2nd SS Panzer Division was in action against the Americans, SS Tiger battalion 102 was fighting the British/Canadians as far as I know off the top of my head.

P.S)Good to bury the hatchet!

 

You're welcome!

As for the second Panzer division, it was the Second SS Panzer division. :lol: I thought it was the 2nd Panzer division, the Wehrmacht one, but it seems from what I have at hand that it was actually the 2nd SS temporarily switched to the west. The other one was the Panzer Lehr as I mentioned, and finally the 17th SS PzGr.

 

2nd SS Panzer Division (Das Reich) was indeed in Normandy after previously fighing on the eastern front. In Normandy it was firstly in action against the British/Canadians then the Americans.

The famous Panther commander and 'ace' Ernst Barkmann was from 2nd SS Pz Div.'Barkmann's corner' was a legendary episode when his Panther ko'd a number of American Shermans and other vehicles on a junction of the St Lo to Coutances on 26th July 1944.Shades of Witmann a month earlier!

 

Saint Lô was in many respects the American version of Caen, in that it cost them horribly to take the town, and also took them a lot more time than expected. Like Caen, this town was covered by high ground which the Germans used in every possible way.

 

Yup and the Germans thought a break out attempt was coming from the Americans, and that is why one more division was transfered to the south.
According to Omar Bradley's (spelling) book.

 

Apparently the German airforce was quite active at night during the Battle for Caen. The bombers had a real hell of a time evading the Allied night fighters.
Most of the missions were to mine the Normandy coastal waters with low level flights. Now that must have been really hairy!

 

By that time in the war? I'll say it was! Considering the large numbers of fighter units in England at the time, it's a wonder any of the German planes survived the missions.

 

Apparently in the pilot testimonies the pilots would bail out over the German front lines in Normandy because their planes were too damaged to return to the home airfields. It was a one way trip for the aircraft, just not the pilots.

 

It says a lot about the German pilots that they flew those missions under those conditions.

 

Caen taken on schedule

If Caen had been taken on schedule - 6th June - what effect would this have had on following actions?

 

The Germans would have lost a vital road and rail network, the Allies would have gained one. Also, the bridges over the Orne at Caen give access to the only tank-suitable terrain in the whole of Normandy.

I reckon the Allies would have been able to advance faster, more decisively and less bloody had they taken Caen on day one. But it is an interesting question to ask if it was possible to do so.