The Maquis and the French Communist Resistance and ϟϟ-Panzergrenadier-Regiment „Der Führer“: The Tulle and Oradour-sur-Glane Massacres

Das Reich Officers: Kämpfe, Krag, Stückler and Lammerding

The Waffen-SS is reproached with particular emphasis for two massacres in France: Tulle and Oradour-sur-Glane: At the beginning of 1944, after suffering heavy losses on the Eastern Front, the 2.SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich, under the command of SS-Gruppenführer Heinz Lammerding regrouped in Valence-d'Agen. The Das Reich was to march from the South of France to the Invasion Front, after the landing in Normandy. The activity of the French partisans had increased considerably with the commencement of the allied invasion. The rear of the German Front was threatened quite seriously by this activity. The Das Reich was delayed by two weeks through a concerted program of sabotage organized by the Maquis Resistance Movement. The town of Tulle had been taken by the Maquisards. The Reconnaissance unit of Das Reich, which found its way to the front blocked by the occupied town, was able to recapture it after heavy fighting. When the spearhead units of Das Reich reached the center of the city on June 9 1944, they found 52 dead German soldiers from the regular Army (Wehrmacht). The bodies of ten more German soldiers were found elsewhere. According to the eye-witness accounts of the inhabitants of the town, the Maquisards had driven over German soldiers who were still alive with their lorries. On one of the corpses it was discovered that a hole had been bored through both heels and a rope threaded through. Apparently the soldier had been dragged along by a lorry in this way until he died from his injuries. The bodies were in part mutilated beyond recognition and it was evident that many had not been killed by shooting but rather by other means. According to the facts which could be determined then and there, it was established that the soldiers had surrendered to the Maquisards and had then been murdered. On June 8 1944, the Commander in the West, Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt, had announced to the Armed Forces that members of the French Resistance movement were to be treated as terrorists. As a result of the situation encountered in Tulle the Staff Officer of Das Reich ordered reprisal measures to be carried out. All non-inhabitants of the town who were suspected of being partisans were sought out from the population. After 21 one of them were set free, 99 men were hanged. A frightful event, but what had preceded it and what brought it about was just as frightful. Anyone who claims that Tulle was a war crime committed by Das Reich should be fair enough to report what brought the whole business about. The Wehrmacht considered the killing of members of its armed forces by partisans unlawful in accordance with the rules of war, and according to the facts, murder. Image: 2.SS-Panzerdivision Das Reich officers: SS-Stubaf. Helmut Kämpfe, SS-Stubaf. Ernst August Krag, SS-Ostubaf. Albert Stückler and SS-Brif. Heinz Lammerding. Commons: Bundesarchiv.

SS-Sturmbannführer Helmut Kämpfe

The case of Oradour-sur-Glane also occurred in the midst of the conflict subsequent to the allied invasion on June 10 1944. It, too, can be described as a reaction to an attack carried out by the French Communist Resistance (FTP). In this case, however, SS-Sturmbannführer Adolf Otto Diekmann, commander of 1.Battalion, SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 4 Der Führer committed an excess which obliges one to share in the grief and sympathy for the victims. Nonetheless, it should be remembered that Oradour involved one company, whereas the 2.SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich contained about 70 companies altogether. Moving ahead of his forces to Normandy in an armored personnel carrier, SS-Sturmbannführer Helmut Kämpfe drove into an ambush conducted by the Communist FTP on June 9 1944 and was taken prisoner by a group led by Sergeant Jean Canou. Normally, the FTP, well armed and supported with materiel from the Western Allies, took no prisoners. But the highly decorated officer seemed like the perfect hostage. Kämpfe was the highest ranking officer ever to be captured by the resistance. He was turned over to the Communist leader Georges Guingouin. An unfortunate chain of events followed. A French informant informed SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Der Führer that the FTP in Oradour-sur-Vayres were planning to execute Helmut Kämpfe by ceremoniously burning him alive that day. The Austrian SS-Standartenführer Sylvester Stadler instructed SS-Sturmbannführer Adolf Otto Diekmann, a friend of Kämpfe's, to search the village with a Kampfgruppe from the 3.Kompanie. But the day ended in a horrific manner. There are a number of theories why Diekmann targeted Oradour-sur-Glane in the first place, a village about 24 kilometers northeast of Oradour-sur-Vayres; it still remains disputed. Oradour-sur-Glane was completely destroyed and most of its inhabitants, 642 men, woman and children were intentionally executed and as alleged by the perpetrators died as the result of an explosion from an insurgent ammunition supply dump inside the church. SS-Sturmbannführer Kämpfe, the highly decorated frontline veteran was murdered aged 34 in the vicinity of Limoges on June 10 1944. Some sources said he was burned alive in front of an audience. It was not until after World War II that a former Communist FTP member confirmed this and led officials to the grave of Kämpfe. The father of three, who was posthumously promoted SS-Obersturmbannführer, was interred in 1982 at a military cemetery. It is also worth mentioning that SS-Standartenführer Stadler, the regimental commander, immediately initiated court-martial proceedings against SS-Sturmbannführer Diekmann, who had acted on his own initiative. Stadler demanded the strictest punishment for all who had been involved in the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre. Diekmann was killed in Normandy, possible suicide by deliberately getting himself killed in battle, on June 29 1944 before he could be brought to justice. In 1953, SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Lammerding was tried for war crimes for the massacre of Tulle and Oradour-sur-Glane and sentenced to death in absentia by the court of Bordeaux, but he wasn't extradited by the Federal Republic of Germany. Instead, he resumed his career as a civil engineer in Düsseldorf until his death in 1971. Many experts talk about a deal between Germany and France: In exchange for not carrying out the sentance against Lammerding, Germany would remain silent concerning French complicity in many of the deaths. The fact that one-third of the perpetrators at Oradour-sur-Glane were French Waffen-SS volunteers from the Alsace region challenged the postwar myth of the unity of the French nation in its victimization by and resistance against the Nazi oppressor. In December 2011 German police raided houses of six former members of the 3.Kompanie. At the time of the massacre, the men would have been 18 or 19, and low-ranking soldiers. The Dortmund prosecutor, Andreas Brendel, searched for wartime diaries, photographs and documents that could provide evidence against them. Credit: The face of courage and When all our brothers are silent. Image: Helmut Kämpfe, one of only 98 German soldiers - out of millions - who received both the Knight's Cross and the Close-Combat Clasp in Gold during the entire war. c. Bundesarchiv.

12.ϟϟ-Panzerdivision „Hitlerjugend“

SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25 (Ardenne Abbey)

SS-Panzergrenadier of the Hitlerjugend (Calva)

MG 42 machine gunner of the Hitlerjugend (Ardenne Abbey)

During the fighting in Normandy, the 12.SS-Panzerdivision Hitlerjugend proved to be implacable foes to both the British and the Canadians, repeatedly blunting ground commander Bernard Montgomery's offensives, fighting with skill and a degree of determination well beyond the norm. These young volunteer soldiers held their positions in the trenches tenaciously, defying all attacks by the enemy who was so very superior in numbers and materials. Together they fought on 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. According to Professor Emeritus of History and author George H. Stein the Hitlerjugend losses during the fighting in Normandy, in the three months from June to September 1944, amounted to 80% of its troops, over 80% of its tanks, 70% of its armored vehicles, 60% of its artillery and 50% of its motor vehicles. The vehicle insignia of the division was a skeleton-key, dietrich in German, in a shield chosen after the Corps commander Josef Sepp Dietrich with the addition of the single Siegrunen of the Hitlerjugend movement. Credit: Saunders and Hone. Top image: SS-Schütze Sepp Bund, MG-42 Gunner Klaus Schuh and Günther Hamel being awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class for actions on June 9 1944. Both Bund and Schuh were killed in action on June 26 1944 near Cheux. Only Hamel made it out alive. They were all born in 1926. Photo by SS-Kriegsberichter Wilfried Woscidlo on June 12 1944 in the orchard of the Ardenne Abbey near Caen, command post of SS-Obersturmbannführer Kurt Meyer's SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25. Credit: Karl Mensburg. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Middle image: an unidentified SS-Sturmmann of the Hitlerjugend in Calvados in June 1944. Credit: Jiří Macháček. Bottom image: another unidentified youngster of the Hitlerjugend outside the monastery walls of Ardenne Abbey in July 1944. He is carrying an MG-42 configured as a light support weapon. American G.I.s called the MG-42 Hitler's buzz saw because of the way it cut down troops in swaths. Photo by Wilfried Woscidlo. These photos displays the wide vareity of camouflage uniforms used by the Waffen-SS. Not only was the SS one of the original organizations to implement military issued camouflage, but it was unequivocably the most prolific developer and user of camouflage designs during World War II. Commons: Bundesarchiv.

Surrender Invites Death: Fighting the Allies in Normandy

Unidentified Waffen-SS POW

Unidentified Waffen-SS POW

In many cases members of the Waffen-SS, whose courage and chivalry had often been acknowledged even by their military opponents, were brutally beaten and murdered after they surrendered their arms to Allied forces. Surrender by individuals or small groups was not nearly as common in the Waffen-SS as in the regular Wehrmacht. Individual SS men surrendered in some numbers early in the Normandy invasion, but this became less common as fear of mistreatment became widespread. Most incidents involving Allied personnel alleged by historians to have been war crimes under the law of war in operation at the time were, for a variety of reasons, not investigated by the Allied powers, or were investigated and a decision was taken not to prosecute. Images: youthful members of the highly motivated and much-feared Waffen-SS captured on the outskirts of Caen by the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division in June 1944. Library and Archives Canada. Both photos in the Public domain.

Schwere ϟϟ-Panzer-Abteilung 101 of 1.ϟϟ-Panzerkorps

Tiger Commander Michael Wittmann during the Normandy campaign

Pz.Kpfw. Tiger n°231 of s.SS-Pz.Abt.101

Pz.Kpfw. Tiger n°232 of s.SS-Pz.Abt.101

With the anticipated Allied invasion of Western Europe approaching, elements of the schwere SS-Panzerabteilung 101 in the East were ordered to the West in April 1944. It was one of Waffen-SS elite armored units, acting as a fire brigade and a crack assault unit on all fronts. The battalion was part of the I.SS-Panzerkorps. During the Battle of Normandy the corps were assigned to the 1.SS-Panzerdivision Leibstandarte SS, 12.SS-Panzerdivision Hitlerjugend, Panzer-Lehr-Division and the German-Latin 17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen. On June 1 1944, the schwere SS-Panzerabteilung 101 was located near Beauvais north-west of Paris. With the D-Day landings on June 6 1944, it was ordered to Normandy where it arrived on June 12 1944. Over its history, the unit lost 107 tanks for 500 enemy tanks destroyed - a kill ratio of 4.67. It was redesignated the Schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 501 in September 1944. Top clips: the legendary Waffen-SS panzer ace Michael Wittmann of the schwere SS-Panzerabteilung 101 in the cupola of Tiger n°231. The sequence was shot in Normandy only a few weeks before he met his end in a fiery ambush. Die Deutsche Wochenschau. Bottom image: Tiger n°232 was commanded by SS-Unterscharführer Kurt Kleber, called Quax for short by his comrades, and assigned to schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 101. The panzer crews’ worst fears were vindicated when the company soon found itself the victim of a number of air attacks. During the drive to the Norman town of Villers-Bocage, five men were killed, among them Kurt Kleber – the company's first casualty of the Normandy Campaign. Due to Allied air superiority, the Tigers in Normandy were employed mainly in a static defensive role. The Tiger was introduced in August 1942 and was at that time the most powerful Panzer in the world. The success of the Tiger was so profound, that no allied tank dared to engage it in open combat. This psychological fear soon became to be known as Tigerphobia. Both the German automotive manufacturer of luxury high performance automobiles, Porsche of Stuttgart and Henschel und Sohn of Kasseland were responsible for the chassis and automotive design. Turret and main weapon design was awarded to yet another prominent 400-year-old German firm, Krupp of Essen. This mighty Panzer was given its nickname Tiger by SS-Oberf. Ferdinand Porsche. Photo by KB Hans Scheck in June 1944. Credit: Royston Leonard. c. Bundesarchiv.

Schwere ϟϟ-Panzer-Abteilung 101 of 1.ϟϟ-Panzerkorps

SS-Obersturmführer Michael Wittmann

Wittmann with Tiger Commanders of s.SS-Pz.Abt.101

The schwere SS-Panzerabteilung 101, part of the I.SS-Panzerkorps, was tasked with holding the area of Caen and distinguished themselves during the fighting defeating a British armoured breakthrough near the village of Villers-Bocage and played a major role in the halting of the British Epsom and Goodwood operations. Notable members: SS-Obersturmführer Karl Möbius (credited with 125 destroyed enemy tanks), SS-Sturmbannführer Heinrich Kling (credited with 51 destroyed enemy tanks), SS-Unterscharführer Karl-Heinz Warmbrunn (credited with 57 destroyed enemy tanks), SS-Obersturmführer Helmut Max Ernst Wendorff (credited with 84 destroyed enemy tanks), SS-Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann (credited with 138 destroyed enemy tanks) and SS-Oberscharführer Balthasar Woll (credited with 100+ destroyed enemy tanks). Left image: Knight's Cross with Oakleaves holder Michael Wittmann, here as a SS-Obersturmführer, photographed atop his Tiger tank in May 1944 in northern France. Right image: the schwere SS-Panzerabteilung 101 also possessed experienced section leaders. Picture shows Waffen-SS Tiger commanders of the famous Panzer ace SS-Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann's IInd Company in front of a Pz.VI Tiger in the Norman countryside in 1944. From left to right: covered by Wittmann is SS-Rottenführer Josef Jupp Sälzer, SS-Hauptscharführer Hans Höflinger (Tiger n°213), SS-Oberscharführer Georg Lötzsch (Tiger n°233), the Knight's cross holder SS-Oberscharführer Balthasar Bobby Woll (Tiger n°212) and SS-Unterscharführer Karl-Heinz Warmbrunn (Tiger n°214). Hans Höflinger's Tiger n°213 was lost during Wittmann's fatal counter-attack north of Cintheaux on August 8 1944. According to Patrick Agte's book "Tiger", Höflinger survived the attack and ended the war fighting the Soviet Bolsheviks in Operation Spring Awakening in March 1945. Both photos by Kriegsberichter Hans Scheck, France 1944. Credit: Julius Jääskeläinen. Commons: Bundesarchiv.

Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6 subordinated to Waffen-SS

17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen in Normandy

The Lions of Carentan: Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6 in Normandy

Dressing station of the Fallschirmjäger airborne infantry around Carentan

Major baron Friedrich von der Heydte's elite Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6, equal in status to Waffen-SS units in recruiting, weaponry and training, were subordinated to the German-Latin 17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen around Carentan. The battle-hardened German Paras, known as the Green Devils by Allied forces, fought ferociously during the Normandy Invasion. They were perhaps the best armed infantrymen in World War II and played a key role defending positions in Normandy against much larger forces. The main weakness of the Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6 was the same as all of the German regiments and divisions in Normandy – they simply lacked any real transport capability. The regiment was operating with 2.SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich when American forces launched Operation Cobra. U.S. Army General Ike Eisenhower said: The Waffen-SS armoured and airborne units had the highest morale, both in attack and defense, the troops fought with fanatic courage. Top clip: Panzergrenadiers of the Götz von Berlichingen ride on a Sd.Kfz. 251 armored vehicle in Normandy in June 1944. In the center is Austrian SS-Stubaf. Ludwig Kepplinger, commander of the SS-Panzer-Abteilung 17 of the division. Kepplinger was murdered by the French maquis southeast of Laval on August 6 1944. Middle clip: frontline footage of a German paratrooper or Fallschirmjäger in Normandy armed with a MP 40 often erroneously called Schmeisser by the Allies. Clips from Die Deutsche Wochenschau. Bottom image: a field dressing station shared between units of the Fallschirmjägerregiment 6 and Götz von Berlichingen in June 1944 giving first aid in the area around Carentan, a key Normandy crossroads. Credit: Karl Mensburg. c. Bundesarchiv.

Allied Second Bombing of Caen in Anglo-Canadian Operation Charnwood Followed by Massive Carpet-Bombing in British Operation Goodwood

RAF Lancasters taxing out for another bombing mission over Normandy

Survivors of Allied carpet bombing of Normandy's cities and towns

Unidentified Leibstandarte SS Panzergrenadier captured by the Brits

The Germans ordered all remaining civilians to leave Caen on July 6 1944. By the time Caen was bombed again in a controversial bombing raid on the evening of July 7 1944, only 15,000 inhabitants remained. 467 Lancaster and Halifax bombers of RAF Bomber Command attacked the city in preparation for Operation Charnwood. Although their delayed-action bombs were aimed at the northern edge of Caen, massive damage was again inflicted on the city centre. The bombers missed virtually all the German positions on the edge of the city and instead reduced the centre of Caen to rubble. 350 civilians were killed in this raid. The southern part of Caen was not taken until July 18 1944, when the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division advanced through it as part of Operation Goodwood. On this morning, starting at 06.15 hours, 850 heavy bombers of the RAF attacked three targets – the Colombelles–Mondeville and Touffreville–Emiéville areas and Cagny in the Calvados. At 07.00 hours, over 340 American and British medium bombers struck Giberville, Cuverville, Démouville and Manneville. From 08.30 to 09.30 hours, over 640 American Liberator heavy bombers attacked three locations – two areas located along the northern face of the Bourguébus Ridge and Bures–Saint-Pair region on the extreme eastern flank. Franklin D'Olier (chairman of U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey) quoted in 1949 the survey’s summary report: The German experience suggests that even a first class military power - rugged and resilient as the Wehrmacht was - cannot live long under full-scale and free exploitation of air weapons over the heart of its territory. Top image: Avro Lancaster B Mark IIs of No.514 Squadron RAF taxi onto the main runway in Cambridgeshire for an early daylight attack on villages east of Caen during Goodwood on July 18 1944. Photo by RAF official photographer Flight Lieutenant S. A. Devon. Credit: Nathan Howland. Imperial War Museums. Fair use. Middle image: a civilian couple walk through ruins of the heavily bombed Normandy in 1944. Photo by American photographer Frank Scherschel. LIFE photo archive. Fair use. Bottom image: British Military Police Officers question an unidentified SS-Sturmmann of the Leibstandarte SS in Normandy on July 20 1944. According to the caption the soldier was found to be carrying a large quantity of Soviet banknotes. Imperial War Museums. Fair use.

17.ϟϟ-Panzergrenadier-Division „Götz von Berlichingen“ (Op. Cobra)

Boeing B-17s of USAAF enroute to targets over Nazi controlled territory

SS Non-commissioned officer of the Götz von Berlichingen

SS-Panzergrenadier of the Götz von Berlichingen

Pz.Kpfw. V Panther in the Normandy bocage

From the very first moment of the Normandy invasion the Allies had absolute air supremacy. Heavy and medium fighter-bombers hammered railheads, junctions, and bridges and devastated exposed Panzers and infantry. U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower remarked: If I didn’t have air supremacy, I wouldn’t be here. Allied air superiority took a heavy toll on German forces in Normandy. During the fighting, 17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen, despite its fanatical resistance, was all but annihilated. It was heavily engaged in the Normandy battles, fighting alongside 2.SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich in a stubborn but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to prevent the American breakout. The division's manpower strength was 18.354 officers and men in June 1944 when engaged in the fighting for the Bocage country near Saint Lô and Coutances were it suffered heavy losses. Götz von Berlichingen was then in the line of advance for Operation Cobra, and again suffered heavy losses attempting to halt the Allied offensive. Cobra was an offensive launched by the U.S. Army seven weeks after the D-Day landings to break out of Normandy. It commenced on July 25 1944 with a concentrated aerial bombardment from thousands of Allied aircraft. The largest air bombardment in support of ground forces yet. Simultaneously, the British launched Operation Goodwood and the Canadians Operation Atlantic. The division was encircled by the U.S. 2nd Armored Division around Roncey where it lost most of its armored equipment and by the end of July 1944, its strength was reduced to 8,530 men. Top image: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress of the USAAF 381st Bombardment Group on a bomber mission in 1944. The Group supported the Normandy invasion in June 1944 and bombed suspected positions in advance of ground forces at Saint-Lô in July 1944. The B-17 heavy bombers is accounted for over 290,000 sorties during World War II. USAFHRA. Public domain. Middle clips: an SS non-commissioned officer and a SS-Panzergrenadier during the battles in Normandy, both presumed to have belonged to the Götz von Berlichingen. Clips from Die Deutsche Wochenschau: Normandie am 12. Juni 1944. Fair use. Bottom image: a Panther tank move through the Normandy bocage. Part of translated German caption on photo reverse: 'Panthers' roll forward to reinforce. Normandy, July 5 1944. Credit: Jakob Lagerweij. Commons: Bundesarchiv.

Waffen-SS Prisoner of War: ϟϟ-Pz.Gren.Reg. 37 (Operation Cobra)

Officer identified as SS-Ustuf. Kurt Peters of SS-Pz.Gren.Reg. 37

Waffen-SS and airborne forces taken POWs South West of Saint-Lô

Top image: American propaganda photography showing U.S. Army Military Police Lieutenant Paul Unger of the 2nd Armoured Division frisking an Waffen-SS officer in Notre-Dame-de-Cenilly, South West of Saint-Lô, during Operation Cobra. The French author Jean Claude Perrigault identifies the officer being frisked by Paul Unger as SS-Untersturmführer Kurt Peters who served in the 3rd Battalion of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 37 of the 17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen. Bottom image: captured prisoners of war of the SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 37 of the Götz von Berlichingen, the SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 3 Deutschland of the Das Reich and so-called Green Devils of the Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6. Three distinct camouflage patterns in view; Waffen-SS Platanenmuster, Waffen-SS Erbsenmuster and Luftwaffen Splittertarnmuster. Note that the unidentified German Fallschirmjäger officer to the right is wearing an SS enlisted man's belt buckle. The surviving parts of the Götz von Berlichingen refitted in the Saar during September 1944 and took of manpower from Heer and Waffen-SS stragglers. The tactical marking of the division was the mailed fist of the German Imperial Knight and mercenary Gottfried Götz von Berlichingen. Both photos were taken by the Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist Robert Capa in Notre-Dame-de-Cenilly between July 27-29 1944. Credit: Doug Banks. LIFE photo archive. Fair use.

Liberating the Germans: Widespread Looting of Nazi Memorabilia

Waffen-SS Prisoner of War

U.S. G.I. pose with liberated militaria

Even the official history acknowledges widespread looting by American GIs during WWII. Allied soldiers took every Iron Cross off the Axis Prisoners of War that they could get their hands on. The ultimate souvenirs was no doubt various insignia and decorations of the feared Waffen-SS. The following text is from the author and historian Mark Bando's official website Trigger Time: A convoy carrying 1/506th troops paused for a rest break. Other troops had rounded-up some prisoners, who were standing at the side of the highway. Amongst them was a haughty-looking SS Sgt, wearing the double runic lightning flash collar patch. Judging from the amount of wear and dirt on the tab, the sgt was probably a veteran/survivor of many battles. Robert Wiatt of C/506th wanted to find out just how tough the SS Sgt really was. He walked over, drew his M-3 trench knife from his ankle and held it to the German's throat. As he did that, his buddy Ken Parker ran around behind the German and grasped his arms. The SS trooper maintained his calm and remained standing at attention, staring straight ahead. Wiatt used his knife to remove the collar patch for a souvenir. Left image: MP Lieutenant Paul Unger of the U.S. 2nd Armoured Division frisking an SS officer in Notre-Dame-de-Cenilly between July 27-29 1944. Photo by Hungarian-American War photographer Robert Capa. Credit: Matthias Ruf. LIFE photo archive. Fair use. Right image: American G.I. of the 2nd Armored Division pose with captured German militaria. American soldiers used the word 'liberate' to describe how they got their hands on loot. Everything they took off a German soldier or civilian was 'liberated'. Among the stolen items is a German Police Officer's Degen and a Rural Police Bayonet with portepees, items worth 1000's of dollars today. Photo by American photojournalist William Vandivert. Credit: Julius Backman Jääskeläinen. LIFE photo archive. Fair use.

2.ϟϟ-Panzerdivision „Das Reich“ (Unternehmen Lüttich)

U.S. Air Force B-24 Liberator Heavy Bombers over the English Channel

Men of 2.Pz.Division surrendering in Calvados after the failure of Lüttich

POW of Das Reich during the counter-offensive Operation Lüttich

Waffen-SS taken POWs during the counter-offensive Operation Lüttich

Following the successful advance of the U.S. Operation Cobra on July 25 1944 Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler personally ordered a German counter-attack code named Operation Lüttich. It was to cut into the side of the 'neck' of the corridor through which American troops were now pouring into central France. Instead of eight Panzer Divisions, only four - one of them incomplete - could be relieved from their defensive tasks and assembled in time; the 2.SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich, Wiener 2.Panzer-Division, 116.Panzer-Division Windhund and part of the Leibstandarte SS, with a total of about 300 tanks. The Luftwaffe were unable to reach the battlefield and the Allies had complete air control. Allied aircraft inflicted severe losses on the attacking troops. In the open ground the Panzers became exposed targets and the counter offensive soon halted. Over 150 tanks involved in the counter attack were lost to Allied air strikes. Nevertheless, the offensive continued around Mortain for several more days. The Germans were soon outflanked to their south and the front to their east collapsed, resulting in many of the troops in Normandy being trapped in the Falaise Pocket. Top image: U.S. B-24 Liberator long range heavy bombers just hitting the West-European continental coast on August 3 1944. Photo by U.S. Air Force photographer sergeant Lew Funk. Credit: Nathan Howland. Private Collection. Second image: Sergeant Jack Stollery is filming when a Captain of the 2.Panzer-Division, known as the Wiener Panzer-Division, is surrendering to Canadian Major David Vivian Currie of the South Alberta Regiment and Sergeant Major George Mitchell of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders of Canada in Saint-Lambert-sur-Dives. CSM Mitchell later told that the surrendering officer commonly referred to as Hauptmann Siegfried Rauch was arrogant and demanded that his surrender be taken by an officer. Mitchell responded with his rifle butt. The German officer never made it to a POW cage and it was reported that he was killed soon after the photo was taken. Private Jake Leyland of the same company of the Argylls' said about his fellow countryman: This guy had thirteen prisoners and next day they never reached the compound - he said that they all tried to escape... Credit: Doug Banks. Library and Archives Canada. Bottom images showing captured battle-hardened SS troops of the elite Das Reich during the Lüttich near Mortain on Aug. 7-13 1944. Their facial expressions clearly reflect what's going on in their hearts. Das Reich's manpower strength was 20,184 officers and men during the early days of the Normandy invasion, and in Sept. 1944 it reported having 12,357 men. During the war Das Reich was honored with 69 Knight's Crosses, 151 German Crosses in Gold and 29 Honor Roll Clasp recipients. It also boasted three Swords and 10 Oakleaves to the Knight's Cross holders. Its Panzer-Regiment collected 20 Knight's Crosses and 17 German Cross in Gold during 111 weeks of combat, destroying 1,730 tanks and assault guns. Already on Nov. 1 1943, the division was credited with 2,000 tank kills. Das Reich had more high award winners served in its ranks than any other division in World War II. The tactical marking of the division was a Wolfsangel rune, normally painted in white or yellow. A temporary insignia in the shape of a horizontal bar with two vertical bars was in use prior to the Battle of Kursk. Credit: Christian Zentner and Friedemann Bedürftig. Photos in the PD.

Slaughter at the Falaise Pocket and The Falaise Gap

Waffen-SS armoured ambulance SS 926256 hit by an Allied aerial attack

Panzerkampfwagen Tiger n°111 of s.SS-Pz.Abt.101

Captured Waffen-SS soldiers being interrogated by the Ritchie Boys

By August 13 1944, the Lüttich offensive had fully halted, resulting in 80,000 – 100,000 German troops being trapped in the Falaise Pocket. It’s estimated that the remnants of 14–15 divisions were in the pocket with a narrow some 32 kilometers gap existing as the sole avenue of escape. The 12.SS-Panzerdivision Hitlerjugend was sent to keep the northern edge of this gap open where gunners, engineers, cooks and clerks all found themselves fighting as Panzergrenadiers. However, Allied air superiority and massive artillery barrages smashed the tattered remnants of the Hitlerjugend as well as the Germans trapped inside the pocket. Thanks to the efforts of the 2.SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich along with the 9.SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen, a large number of German forces were able to escape the Falaise pocket, also referred to as the Falaise Gap after the corridor which the Germans sought to maintain to allow their escape. Top image: aftermath of bombardment of Mortain in front of the train station of Mortain-Le-Neufbourg on August 12 1944. In the foreground an SdKfz 251/8 half-track Krankenpanzerwagen assigned to the Waffen-SS. This armoured ambulance with the registration SS 926256 was capable of carrying up to eight seated casualties or four seated casualties and two stetcher cases. Credit: Imi. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Public domain. Middle image: photo of the wrecked Panzerkampfwagen Tiger n°111 commanded by SS-Obersturmführer Hannes Philipsen. It was assigned to the schwere SS-Panzerabteilung 101. Philipsen never made it out of Normandy alive. He is buried at the German war cemetery of La Cambe in France: Block 30 grave 204. This elite battalion who was attached to the I.SS-Panzerkorps lost virtually all its remaining Tigers in the Falaise pocket and the subsequent German retreat from France. On September 9 1944, the remains of the unit were ordered to rest and refit with the new Tiger IIs, also known as Königstigers. With this change on September 22 1944, it was redesignated schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 501. The photo was taken by Propagandakompanie Kriegsberichter Zwirner in Villers-Bocage in 1944. Credit: Christian Breith. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: Waffen-SS prisoners of war being interrogated by the U.S. Special Military Intelligence behind the front line in France 1944. Credit: Jakob Lagerweij. U.S. Army Signal Corps Collection.

Pocket Of Destruction: Closing The Falaise Gap

Commander of LXXXIV Armeekorps Generalleutnant Otto Elfeldt

Waffen-SS officers of 1.SS-Panzerdivision Leibstandarte SS

Pz.Kpfw. Tiger n°332 of s.SS-Pz.Abt.101

When all German battle-worthy units were ordered to break out of the Falaise Pocket on the night of 19 – 20 August 1944, Generalleutnant Otto Elfeldt (delegated with the leadership of LXXXIV Army Corps) and his corps served as a rearguard to cover the withdrawal of several individual battle groups. In the early morning hours of August 20 1944, Elfeldt led a small group of stragglers in an attempt to bypass the enemy-held town of Saint Lambert. However, Generalleutnant Elfeldt and his group were captured and he was transferred to Island Farm Special Camp 11 Camp 1. By the evening of August 21 1944, the pocket was closed for the last time, with around 50,000 Germans trapped inside. Although it is estimated that significant numbers managed to escape, German losses in both men and material were huge. Credit: Islandfarm. Top image: Generalleutnant Otto Elfeldt being questioned by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Credit: Richard White. U.S. War Department Film. Public domain. Bottom clips: shots showing officers from 1.SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte SS, which broke out of Falaise encirclement en masse the days before, at Elbeuf town situated by the banks of the Seine at the end of August 1944. Also seen is Tiger n°332 from schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 101, commanded in Normandy by SS-Unterscharführer Albert Leinecke. The Normandy campaign is over with the general withdrawal from Normandy, crossing the Seine and retreating eastward towards Belgium and Germany. The German Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS in Normandy spent the better part of the summer 1944 containing an Allied beach-head not only bulging with men and material but also supported by massive offshore and air-delivered firepower. Die Deutsche Wochenschau - the official Nazi German war newsreel from 1940 until production discontinued in March 1945. It received film stock from special Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht war reporting units. FU.

ϟϟ-Panzergrenadiers in Enemy Hands: Hatred and Vengeance

Fallen Waffen-SS Panzergrenadier in Normandy

Captured volunteers of 12.SS-Pz.Div. Hitlerjugend

Broken and beaten prisoner of 12.SS-Pz.Div. Hitlerjugend

During August 1944 SS-Rottenführer Rudi Splinter of the 10.SS-Panzer-Division Frundsberg was left behind inside a house with a number of other German wounded in the Falaise Pocket: They came into the room, heavily armed with Sten guns, and one asked: Are there any SS troops here? I should explain that a few days earlier I and another comrade had passed a destroyed German column, we discovered a supply of new tunics, unissued with no insignia. As our tunics were very shabby and tattered, we helped ourselves to the new ones. Because my uniform had no insignia, they had not realized I was Waffen-SS. They checked the other room. In there were two wounded Panzer soldiers from the Army (Wehrmacht). Both were seriously wounded. They took one look at their black uniforms with the traditional panzer death´s head collar tabs, assumed they were Waffen-SS and emptied their Sten gun magazines into them, slaughtering them as they lay there helpless. Despite his very junior rank Rudi Splinter was awarded the German Cross in Gold during the fighting in Normandy. Taken POW there, he settled in England after the war and turned his hand to farming. Source: Gordon Williamson; Loyalty Is My Honor. Top image: a dead and looted young SS volunteer lies on top of a belt of unspent MG ammunition with an SS eagle added to his camouflage smock; though against regulations, this was commonly seen. With his helmet firmly in place, the MG spare barrel carrying case still slung around his lifeless body, this young member of a machine gun unit lies on the edge of a sunken lane somewhere in Normandy. Around him are the contents of his pockets, his cigarette case and playing cards, thrown away as just so much rubbish not wanted by the U.S. GIs who have searched through his pockets. USASC. Middle image: POWs of the 12.SS-Panzerdivision Hitlerjugend photographed by their American captors in Normandy. Normandy was lost and their sacrifice had been in vain. U.S. NARA. Bottom image: a captured youngster of the Hitlerjugend brought in by Privates Gaston Daigneault and Robert Bonneau of the Canadian Régiment de la Chaudière. The Chaudière was assigned to the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division in Normandy. The official Public Archives of Canada caption for this photo contains no information on the POW other than his division. By early Sept. 1944 the Hitlerjugend numbered only some 600 fit men and no tanks. Credit: Mateusz Pietruszkiewicz. Library and Archives Canada.