Army Group G (Southern France)
1st Army
LXXX (80th) Corps
158th Reserve Infantry Division
708th Infantry Division (by 30 July)
LXXXVI (86th) Corps
159th Reserve Infantry Division
276th Infantry Division (mid-June)
19th Army
IV Luftwaffe Field Corps
271st Infantry Division (mid-July)
272nd Infantry Division (mid-July)
277th Infantry Division (29 June)
LXXXV (85th) Corps
338th Infantry Division (mid-August)
244th Infantry Division
LXII (62nd) Reserve Corps
157th Reserve Infantry Division
242nd Infantry Division
From outside France and the Low Countries
9th SS Panzer Division (Russia – 29 June)
10th SS Panzer Division (Russia – 29 June)
2nd Parachute Division (Germany – to Brittany12 June)
89th Infantry Division (Norway – early August)
363rd Infantry Division (Denmark – by 30 July)
German Order of Battle July-August 1944
Army Group B (Northern France and the Low Countries) Panzergruppe West (5th Panzer Army)
I SS Panzer Corps
1st SS Panzer Division Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler
12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend
716th Infantry Division
II SS Panzer Corps
9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen
10th SS Panzer Division Frundsber
277th Infantry Division
XLVII (47th) Panzer Corps
2nd Panzer Division
116th Panzer Division Windhun
276th Infantry Division
326th Infantry Division
1st SS Panzer Division Liebstandarte AdolfHitler (Mortain counterattack)
2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich (Mortain counterattack)
17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen (Mortain counterattack)
275th Infantry Division (Mortain counterattack)
LVIII (58th) Panzer Corps
Panzer Lehr Division (Mortain counterattack)
17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen (Mortain counterattack)
2nd Panzer Division (by 9 August)
2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich (10 August)
10th SS Panzer Division (by 9 August, Corps reserve)
III Flak Corps
Flak-Sturm-Regimenter 1 to 4
Flakkampfgruppen 11700, 13300 and 12400
7th Army
II Parachute Corps
3rd Parachute Division
352nd Infantry Division (initially subordinate to LXXXIV Corps)
Fallschirm-Sturmgeschütz Brigade 12
XXV (25th) Corps (stationed in Brittany)
77th Infantry Division
265th Infantry Division
266th Infantry Division
319th Infantry Division (stationed in the Channel Islands)
343rd Infantry Division
2nd Parachute Division
LXXIV (74th) Corps
LXXXI (81st) Corps
9th Panzer Division
Panzer Lehr Panzer Division
331st Infantry Division (kampfgruppe)
708th Infantry Division
LXXXIV (84th) Corps
Panzer Lehr Division
2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich (Kampfgruppe Weidinger)
17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen
21st Panzer Division (transferred mid-June to LXXXVI Corps)
116th Panzer Division Windhund (Kampfgruppe Lueder)
243rd Infantry Division
275th Infantry Division
353rd Infantry Division
5th Luftwaffe Division
91st Airlanding Division
LXXXVI (86th) Corps
21st Panzer Division
Panzergruppe Eberbach (subordinate to 7th Army)
II SS Panzer Corps
XLVII Panzer Corps LVIII Panzer Corps
Included remnants of 1st SS, 2nd SS, 9th SS, 17th SS, 2nd and 116th Panzer Divisions and 708th Infantry Division
Appendix V
Panzergruppe West and 7th ArmyPanzer Division Commanders
Heer Panzer Divisions
2nd Panzer
Generalleutnant Vollrath Lübbe: 5 Sep 1942-1 Feb 1944
General der Panzertruppen Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz: 1 Feb 1944-5 May 1944
Generalleutnant Franz Westhoven: 5 May 1944-27 May 1944
General der Panzertruppen Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz: 27 May 1944-31 Aug 1944
Generalmajor Henning Schünfeld: 31 Aug 1944-15 Dec 1944
Generalmajor Meinrad von LauchertL 15 Dec 1944-20 Mar 1945
Generalmajor Oskar Munze: 20 Mar 1945-1 Apr 1945
Oberst Carl Stollbrock: 1 Apr 1945-8 May 1945
9th Panzer
Generalleutnant Erwin Jolasse: 27 Nov 1943-10 Aug 1944
Oberst Max Sperling: 10 Aug 1944-3 Sep 1944
Generalmajor Gerhard Müller: 3 Sep 1944-16 Sep 1944
Generalleutnant Harald Freiherr von Elverfeldt: 16 Sep 1944-6 Mar 1945
Oberst Helmut Zollenkopf: 6 Mar 1945-26 Apr 1945
21st Panzer
Generalleutnant Edgar Feuchtinger: 15 May 1943-15 Jan 1944
Generalmajor Oswin Grolig: 15 Jan 1944-8 Mar 1944
Generalleutnant Franz Westhoven: 8 Mar 1944-8 May 1944
Generalleutnant Edgar Feuchtinger: 8 May 1944-25 Jan 1945
Oberst Helmut Zollenkopf: 25 Jan 1945-12 Feb 1945
Generalleutnant Werner Marcks: 12 Feb 1945-Apr 1945
116th Panzer
Generalmajor Gerhard Müller: 28 Mar 1944-1 May 1944
General der Panzertruppen Gerhard Graf von Schwerin: 1 May 1944-1 Sep 1944
Generalmajor Heinrich Voigtsberger: 1 Sep 1944-14 Sep 1944
Generalmajor Siegfried von Waldenburg: 14 Sep 1944-Apr 1945
Panzer Lehr
Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein: 10 Jan 1944-20 Jan 1945
Generalmajor Horst Niemack: 20 Jan 1945-Apr 1945
Waffen-SS Panzer Divisions
1st SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler
SS-Brigadeführer Theodor Wisch: 7 Apr 1943-20 Aug 1944
SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke: 20 Aug 1944-6 Feb 1945
SS-Brigadeführer Otto Kumm: 6 Feb 1945-8 May 1945
2nd SS Das Reich
SS-Gruppenführer Heinz Lammerding: 23 Oct 1943-24 July 1944
SS-Standartenführer Christian Tychsen: 24 July 1944-28 July 1944
SS-Brigadeführer Otto Baum: 28 July 1944-23 Oct 1944
SS-Gruppenführer Heinz Lammerding: 23 Oct 1944-20 Jan 1945
SS-Gruppenführer Werner Ostnedorff: 29 Jan 1945-9 Mar 1945
SS-Standartenführer Rudolf Lehmann: 9 Mar 1945-13 Apr 1945
SS-Standartenführer Karl Kreutz: 13 Apr 1945-8 May 1945
9th SS Hohenstaufen
SS-Obergruppenführer Willi Bittrich: 15 Feb 1943-29 June 1944
SS-Oberführer Thomas Müller: 29 June 1944-10 July 1944
SS-Brigadeführer Sylvester Stadler: 10 July 1944-31 July 1944
SS-Oberführer Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock: 31 July 1944-29 Aug 1944
SS-Standartenführer Walter Harzer: 29 Aug 1944-10 Oct 1944
SS-Brigadeführer Sylvester Stadler: 10 Oct 1944-8 May 1945
10th SS Frundsberg
SS-Gruppenführer Karl Fischer von Treuenfeld: 15 Nov 1943-27 Apr 1944
SS-Gruppenführer Heinz Harmel: 27 Apr 1944-Apr 1945
SS-Obersturmbannführer Franz Roestel: Apr 1945-8 May 1945
12th SS Hitlerjugend
SS-Brigadeführer Fritz Witt: 24 June 1943-14 June 1944
SS-Brigadeführer Kurt Meyer: 14 June 1944-6
Sep 1944
SS-Obersturmbannführer Hubert Meyer: 6 Sep 1944-24 Oct 1944
SS-Brigadeführer Fritz Kraemer: 24 Oct 1944-13 Nov 1944
SS-Brigadeführer Hugo Kraas: 13 Nov 1944-8 May 1945
Waffen-SS Panzergrenadier Divisions
17th SS Götz von Berlichingen
SS-Gruppenführer Werner Ostendorff: 30 Oct 1943-15 June 1944
SS-Standartenführer Otto Binge: 17 June 1944-20 June 1944
SS-Brigadeführer Otto Baum: 20 June 1944-1 Aug 1944
SS-Standartenführer Otto Binge: 1 Aug 1944-29 Aug 1944
SS-Oberführer Dr. Eduard Deisenhofer: 30 Aug 1944-Sep 1944
SS-Oberführer Thomas Müller: Sep 1944-Sep 1944
SS-Standartenführer Gustav Mertsch: Sep 1944-Oct 1944
SS-Gruppenführer Werner Ostendorff: 21 Oct 1944-Nov 1944
SS-Standartenführer Hans Linger: Nov 1944–Jan 1945
Oberst Gerhard Lindner: 15 Jan 1945-21 Jan 1945
SS-Oberführer Fritz Klingenberg: 21 Jan 1945-22 Mar 1945
SS-Oberführer Georg Bochmann: Mar 1945-8 May 1945
Heavy Tank Battalions
Schwere Panzer Abteilung 503
Hauptmann Graf Kageneck: May 1943-Feb 1944
Hauptmann Fromme: Feb 1944-Dec 1944
Hauptmann von Diest-Koerber: Dec 1944–Jan 1945
Schwere SS-Panzer Abteilung 101
SS-Obersturmbannführer Leiner: 9 Nov 1943-13 Feb 1944
SS-Obersturmbannführer von Westerhagen: 13 Feb 1944-20 Mar 1945
SS-Sturmbannführer Kling: 20 Mar 1945-8 May 1945
Schwere SS-Panzer Abteilung 102
SS-Sturmbannführer Laackmann: Jan 1944-Mar 1944
SS-Sturmbannführer Weiss: Mar 1944-18 Aug 1944
SS-Sturmbannführer Hartrampf: Aug 1944-May 1945
Appendix VI
Principal Allied Codenames
Allied Deception Codenames
BODYGUARD
Overall Allied strategic deception plan for the invasion of France, designed to shield Overlord from German intelligence. This encompassed Operations Fortitude, Qmck-silver and Zeppelin.
FORTITUDE (NORTH AND SOUTH)
Allied deception plans designed to convince the Germans that the main invasion in France would occur in the Pas de Calais area and/or Norway.
QUICKSILVER
Part of Fortitude which covered the fictitious US 1st Army Group under General George S Patton in southeast England, poised to strike across the Pas de Calais.
CASCADE
Deception plan designed to mislead the Axis as to the true strength of Allied forces in the Mediterranean; was followed by Operation Zeppelin.
ZEPPELIN
Deception plan designed to convince the Germans that the Allies would attack Crete or Western Greece from the Mediterranean, or Romania via the Black Sea.
Principal Allied Operational Codenames
OVERLORD
6 June 1944: American, British and Canadian seaborne invasion of northern France, conducted on the Normandy coastline between Quineville in the west and Ouistreham to the east.
NEPTUNE
6 June 1944: The naval and assault landing element of Overlord.
PERCH
13-14 June 1944: British attack west of Caen designed to turn the German flank by seizing Villers-Bocage.
EPSOM
25/26 June – 1 July 1944: British offensive west of Caen toward Evrecy, south of the city; intended as a pre-emptive strike to tie up German armour reinforcements.
DAUNTLESS
25 June 1944: Subsidiary attack supporting Epsom, designed to secure the western lank prior to the main operation.
MARTLET
25 June 1944: British operation to capture Fontenay-le-Pesnil as part of Epsom and Dauntless.
CHARNWOOD
7-10 July 1944: Frontal assault launched by the British and Canadians to capture Caen, only succeeded in taking the northern half of the city.
JUPITER
10 July 1944: British attack west of Caen following Charnwood.
GREENLINE
15 July 1944: British attack intended to pin down German armour west of Caen prior to Goodwood.
GOODWOOD
18-21 July 1944: British offensive east of Caen, intended to assist the capture of the city and pin down German forces prior to the American break-out from the Cotentin Peninsula.
ATLANTIC
18-20 July 1944: Launched by the Canadians in conjunction with Operation Goodwood to capture Caen and get over the Orne.
SPRING
24-27 July: Conducted by the Canadians, designed to capture the Bourguébus and Verrières ridges south of Caen to open up the Falaise road. Also tied German forces down during Operation Cobra.
COBRA
25-31 July 1944: Launched by the Americans just west of St Lô to break out from the Normandy bridgehead, enabling them to strike southwest into Brittany and southeast toward Falaise and the River Seine.
BLUECOAT
30 July-7 August 1944: Intended to support Operation Cobra by drawing German forces to the Caen area and capturing Mont Pinçon.
TOTALISE
7-13 August 1944: British, Canadian and Polish attack along the Caen-Falaise Road intended to capture Falaise.
TRACTABLE
14-16 August 1944: Development of Totalise designed to close the neck of the Falaise salient, thereby trapping 5th Panzer Army, Panzergruppe Eberbach and 7th Army.
DRAGOON
15 August 1944: Allied invasion of the south of France between Toulon and Cannes forcing the German evacuation of France.
Appendix VII
Table of Equivalent Ranks
German Army Waffen-SS British Army US Army
Feldmarschall Reichsführer-SS Field Marshal General of the Army
Generaloberst SS-Oberstgruppenführer General General
General der Panzertruppen etc SS-Obergruppenführer Lieutenant General Lieutenant General
Generalleutnant SS-Gruppenführer Major General Major General
Generalmajor SS-Brigadeführer Brigadier Brigadier General
Oberst SS-Oberführer or SS-Standartenführer Colonel Colonel
Oberstleutnant SS-Obersturmbannführer Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant Colonel
Major SS-Sturmbannführer Major Major
Hauptmann SS-Hauptsturmführer Captain Captain
Oberleutnant SS-Obersturmführer Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant
Leutnant SS-Untersturmführer 2nd Lieutenant 2nd Lieutenant
Stabsfeldwebel SS-Sturmscharführer Regimental Sergeant Major Sergeant Major
Hauptfeldwebel SS-Hauptscharführer Sergeant Major Master Sergeant
N/A SS-Oberscharführer N/A Technical Sergeant
Feldwebel SS-Scharführer Staff Sergeant Staff Sergeant
Unteroffizer SS-Unterscharführer Sergeant Sergeant
Stabsgefreiter N/A N/A Staff Corporal
Obergefreiter SS-Rottenführer Corporal Senior Corporal
Gefreiter SS-Sturmmann Lance Corporal Corporal
Oberschütze SS-Oberschütze N/A Private 1st Class
Schütze SS-Schütze Private Private
Bibliography
Note on Sources
English language published and unpublished literature covering the many aspects of D-Day and the subsequent Normandy campaign is simply quite vast, but little of it deals explicitly with German experiences or indeed that of the panzer divisions. I have referred to, and quoted extensively from, the wide-range of works listed in full in the bibliography. Detailed endnotes, most notably for the quotes, have been deliberately omitted for the sake of brevity.
In preparing this volume I would particularly like to recommend Eric Lefevre’s superb Panzers in Normandy then and now, Richard Hargreaves’ The Germans in Normandy, and Niklas Zetterling’s Normandy 1944. Lefevre’s work is by far the best single volume dealing with the panzer regiments role and organisation in Normandy. Zetterling’s magisterial study, drawing on primary German source
s, provides a comprehensive organisational surveyof almost every single German ground unit, including Heer, Waffen-SS and Luftwaffe, committed to the battle.
Also of note is Georges Bernage’s The Panzers and the Battle for Normandy, though this only covers up to late July 1944, missing out the final stages of the battle, and Jean-Paul Pallud’s Röckmarsh!, looking at the German retreat to the Seine. In contrast, Paul Carell’s Invasion – They’re Coming!, first published in Germany in 1960, documenting the battle from the German perspetive, has since been discredited as being inaccurate in places.
The postwar debriefs by Generals Eberbach, Fahrmbacher, von Gersdorff, Hausser, von Lüttwitz and von Schweppenburg, edited by David Isby , provide invaluable insight into the deployment of the panzertruppen and subsequent bitter squabbles amongst the German commanders about how the battle played out. They do, though, need to be treated with a degree of caution as many of the generals were seeking to exonerate their own performances, whilst blaming others for any perceived shortcomings. The original interviews are held at the US National Archives and the Military History Institute at the US Army War College. Basil Liddel Hart’s classic The Other Side of the Hill, in which he interviewed manyof the senior German generals, provides similar insight into the German High Command.
The German sitreps, or Weekly Situation Reports, also provide a snapshot of the slowly deteriorating situation in Normandy, especially in terms of the Allies mounting pressure on the German defences and the paucity of replacement troops and equipment. The Imperial War Museum, Public Archives of Canada, and the UK and US National Archives are the key depositories for most of the English language primary source material relating to this campaign.
Readers seeking a good overview will not do better than reading Major General David Belchem’s perceptive Victory in Normandy. He served as head of Montgomery’s planning staff and provides a first rate, concise yet comprehensive account. Likewise Max Hasting’s Overlord has much to recommend it.
The best accounts of the brutal battle for Caen are the works by Henry Maule and Alexander McKee, while the best works on Operation Cobra are James Carafano’s very detailed analysis, though this is mainly from the American point of view, and Steven Zaloga’s readily accessible volume. There are many works on Falaise. The best known is James Lucas and James Barker’s study and the most concise is Ken Ford’s, while William Breuer’s book verges toward the sensational. Recent detailed battlefield guides include the useful volumes by Stephen Hart and Paul Latawski. The most readily available accounts of 2nd SS Panzer Division’s troubled march north are those by Max Hastings and Phil Vickers, both titled Das Reich. Notably, many of the earlier published studies consulted are out of print.