Hi All, One of my favorite books on the Normandy Campaign is a very old first edition (English translation) of 'Battle of the Falaise Gap' by Eddy Florentin. I am going to post extracts from the book which relate to the German side in this thread. The date is Sunday, 30th July 1944. The new GOC, Army Group B also now had a second title; that of Supreme Commander West. Feldmarschall Von Kluge initially relished the duel role following Hitler's removal of Von Rundstedt whom he blamed for the fall of Cherbourg and in the knowledge that he was in favour of negotiating a peace deal with the Allies. The Army Group B job came to him following the air attack on Rommel which left him severally injured on the 17th July. However, Von Kluge's initial enthusiasm had began to quickly wane once he became aware of the precarious situation in which the German forces in Normandy now found themselves. With the arrival of Major-General John S. Wood's 4th American Armoured Division in Avranches on Sunday 30th July, Von Kluge immediately realised he was in serious trouble: With this report from his Chief of Staff, General Hans Speidel, Von Kluge picked up a pencil and went to the large scale map in his bunker under the girls school in Le Mans. He circled two names on the map, some 30 kilometers apart near the Normandy/Brittany boundary - Villedieu les Poeles to the north and Pontaubault to the south: Four American armoured divisions had poured into the breach with the obvious intention of breaking out into Brittany, now just 'around the corner' of the St Michel Bay. No, the situation was not good at all! The breach had followed on from the virtual destruction of the German LXXXIV Korps as described on page 16: Von Kluge would not be able to return to his rooms at the Hotel de Paris that night and he settled down to await further developments. Telephone and cable messages flowed into the command stronghold expressing panic as the 61 year old Field Marshall studied each report with ever diminishing optimism. He felt compelled to order a withdrawal. The units of the Seventh Army were told to regroup on the Granville-Troisgots line, south of St Lo. It was a reasonable decision in the circumstances but Obergruppenfurer SS Paul "Papa" Hausser, G.O.C. Seventh German Army, thought this move insufficient to recover the situation and ordered the remaining units of the LXXXIV Korps to retire towards Percy so as to avoid being caught with their back to the sea. Von Kluge did not like Hausser and the feeling was mutual. When the Field Marshall heard of the exceeded orders, he roared: There was nobody to guard the coast. General Holmes E. Dager's tanks of Combat Command B, 4th U.S. Armoured Division, were already on the lower road which skirts Avranches and were this very night on their way to Pontaubault, the gateway to Brittany, the Loire and Maine. The author describes this small village thus: Below is a present day photo of Pontaubault Bridge, which spans the Selune River: Eddy Florentin goes on to note: Hausser kept drawing back his units to the south east; in his mind to otherwise was courting disaster. Hausser had a habit of annoying his commander and had already exceeded his orders on an earlier occasion a few days before when the C-in-C West noted Hausser had not withdrawn his precious armour - Panzer Group Lehr and the Division Das Reich from the Cotentin front. Hausser had not recalled with the result that a good portion of this once great tank force now rested at the bottom of bomb craters around Chapelle en Juger. No, the two men were not getting along at all. However, Von Kluge knew this was no time for regrets - the bridge across the Selune River was all that mattered now. Von Kluge turned to his staff: -oOo- More follows... Regards, Pat
Hi Allan, I was just looking at a photo of the model earlier this evening. Its here in what appears to be a museum in Avranches. Regards, Pat
Interesting text, also because it is one of the few (even today) to address the German side of the story and does a rather acceptable job of it. It does however not fully appreciate the poor condition of the various German formations at the time. You can't blame the author for that considering the age of the book. I do wonder the sources he used.... In my opinion the narative could have been a bit more neutral, but again that is probably very much related to the era. At least it's still a whole lot more objective than works like "They're coming!", which quotes the thoughts of people who were dead minutes later. (To name just one flaw) Any way, maybe it's most surprising that a lot of what was written in this period (say first 2-3 decades after the war) has never been updated since in any significant way.
Hi Niels, The foreword of the book I found very interesting, showing the outlook of the author at the time of publication (1964): I never would have though that there was a time when the Battle of the Falaise Gap would have been considered as 'overshadowed' by the invasion of southern France! Regards, Pat
hello Pat That is the one that I saw - the museum is just off of a slip road on the main road past Avranches, small but well worth the visit. regards Allan
Hello there, I'm afraid the museum is no more... The exhibits were sold off at auction a few years ago if I recall correctly. Sean
Hi All, To continue the German story (p21)... Though no date is given for this passage in the book, I take it to refer to Monday, 31st July. As already stated, these two men, Von Kluge and 'Papa' Hausser did not like each other. However, both realised the seriousness of the situation facing them and therefore had to attempt a common approach - hence the conference. The SS man had arrived in Normandy on the 25th June at the head of a formidable armoured force - the II SS Panzer Korps. This was not a second rate formation by any means; made up of the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions, it had earned a fierce reputation on the Eastern Front when it halted the Red Army offensive before Tarnopol in the Ukraine during the Russian spring offensive. The German High Command had decided to recall Hausser and the II SS Panzer Korps from the Russian Front and use it to tie down the British Second Army on the right flank of the lodgement area. OK, lets see where we are: The map below shows the German dispositions, including the II SS Panzer Korps, as of the 25th July, the day Operation Cobra was launched: The map is taken from page 363 of that other excellent work, Chester Wilmot's ' The Struggle for Europe'. The front line, with a few exceptions, had begun to take on the appearance of what the Allied High Command most feared, a static First World War battle zone. Operation Cobra, made possible by the British and Canadians tying down the bulk of the German armour around Caen, changed everything in Normandy. 'Cobra' brought the Americans to Avranches in a matter of days as can be seen by this second situation map from 'The Struggle for Europe (page 385). This map is titled Operation Cobra, July 25th-31st: Back to Avranches on the 31st July: The situation in town was fluid and uncertain. A group of nine Germans had decided to hold up in the Carmelite convent and wait to see if they should continue the fight or surrender. While this group argued the point in the refectory, a group of Americans were on the first floor firing onto the oncoming German force on the Pontaubault road as the action, known later as the Battle of Mont Jarry raged into its second hour on the hairpin bends below the heights. The convent, circled red on the IGN map extract below, commanded the approaches to the hairpin bends from which the main German column now fought their way up the Pontaubault road: Holding them off was General Dager's merger advance calvary of Combat Command B, 4th US Armoured Division and to make matters worse, it was raining with heavy overcast conditions - no air support available. The General warned his superiors that the situation was in doubt; the town may not be held. Apart from the rain, there was indeed much which Colonel Bacherer had to be optimist about. He could still call down artillery support from hidden batteries in the villages of Saint Quentin and Saint Martin. The battle in the bends raged for four hours until a single ray of sunshine broke through the clouds and like any good western movie, relief arrived for the Americans in the nick of time. A squadron of P47s found the position and bombed the German column. The scene was a foretaste of the horrors to come further east in the Falaise Gap over the following three weeks. Horses bolted, with some running unharnessed, broken wagon shafts banging against their flanks. The number of loose animals was estimated at 150, while others lay dead or dying amongst the human casualties. Over 11,000 Germans surrendered to the small American force holding the heights. Their comrades in Combat Command A joined them and having cleared the carnage from the road, proceeded south towards Pontaubault. The German squad in the convent, realising the day was lost, asked the Mother Superior to contact the Americans on their behalf in order to surrender. When she returned however, they had escaped over the convent wall. The conference was held in La Magendiere Manor, near the hamlet of Bion, just south of Mortain and centered in the live map window below - at least I think that's the location from the description in the book - the spelling is slightly different; anyone able to confirm? <iframe width="525" height="350" frameborder="2" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/embed/visu.html?c=-0.9306497591858571,48.62000704536416&z=0.000021457672120657332&l=ORTHOIMAGERY.ORTHOPHOTOS::GEOPORTAIL:OGC:WMTS(1)&l=GEOGRAPHICALGRIDSYSTEMS.MAPS.3D::GEOPORTAIL:OGC:WMTS==aggregate(1)&permalink=yes" allowfullscreen></iframe> Von Kluge opened the meeting, setting the theme - the recapture of Avranches. If this one deed could be achieved, the front could be restored. However, reinforcements were vital - not just any units though; only the very best would suffice to put the genie back in the bottle. More follows... Regards, Pat
Guys, Can you take a look at the last film (INV 588) in this Photosnormandie YouTube clip around time mark 04:29: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IIZ8-y22CbI" frameborder="1" allowfullscreen></iframe> The clapper board dates the footage to the 7th of July, which clearly rules out the bridge at Pontaubault but I am curious - its very like 'our' bridge with slightly lower walls (watch the Sherman and the M10 crossing and you can almost see the bottom of the running wheels. Anyone any ideas as to location? The pontoon bridge also has me wondering - IIRC, there is mention of a pontoon being used to speed up Patton's men crossing at Pontaubault. Critical Past does have confirmed footage of the Pontaubault bridge, with the northern span of the railway bridge collapsed in the background - see here There is also a power pole on the southern end at Pontaubault which is not visible on the Photosnormandie footage, again helping to rule out that location...but where is it??? Thanks, Pat
One more item of interest... Here is a strike photo of the raid which probably dropped the northern span of the railway bridge (bridge obscured by the explosions): The eastern branch of the railway line also has a bridge which appears intact from a previous raid, though the line itself has taken one hit and several near misses on the southern side of the river Selune. Regards, Pat
Unless there is/was a similar one in the same area: St.-Fromond bridge. Date and unit make sense too ;-)
Thanks Guys, Niels, your suggestion of Saint Fromond certainty looks to be the correct height from the top of the arches to road level when viewed from this angle. Sean, I can't see your image from my work PC, but I assume it rules out Saint Fromond. The mysterious bridge appears to have unseen damage at the far end as indicated by the smaller vehicles having to slow and mount some form of steel or timber reinforcement. That might help to identify it in aerial cover. Regards, Pat
Hello Pat, No, I was confirming Niels' assertion. In other words, "no, I don't think there's another similar one in the area". Sorry for the confusion. The photo shows the ramps/roadways installed by engineers (with a small dirt ramp at the end), these being quite noticeable in the film footage. Cheers, Sean
By the way, the small commemorative plaques on the bridge should be read east to west, ie Airel side first then St Fromond. They basically state that although the eastern end was reached on 12th June, it wasn't until 7th July before the crossing was completed. I used to cross the very same bridge every day on my way to and from work. Still do fairly often. Every time I crossed it I thought about that month and a bit... Sean
Pat, do either of two books use 'Invasion! They're coming' from Paul Carell? I find the description of conversations between, and actions of German commanders suspicious. They remind me of Carell's way of telling stories. I hope they rely on different sources. Paul Carell is a pseudonym of Paul Karl Schmidt, a high-ranking officer of the Algemeine SS and the chief-spokesman of Von Ribbentrop. Before, during and after the war he was heavily involved in German propaganda. To say he has a questionable reputation is an understatement, but it seems a lot of authors did not (and still do not) realize this. It is possible he received information from key officers to write his books, but the reliability of most cannot be checked. I've done a quick comparison with 'Breakout and Pursuit', a solid yet under appreciated work. It confirms certain parts and provides the sources used, including original german telephone conversations. The lower level German accounts are however not in that book. [hr] Well, reputation or not, neither division was at authorized strength when they joined the fighting. I'm stressing this because allied historians have a tendency to overlook the actual strength of their German opponents. If it's called a division, it must be as strong as a division. As an example, you can say Market Garden was opposed by the 9. and 10.SS-Pz.Div. This is technically true, but overlooks the fact they were both badly mauled after the fighting in Normandy. They were far from full strength. In Normandy allied formation were generally - eventually - able to replace losses in men and material, German units usually could not. When looking at the German strength, by mid July the outcome of the campaign had already been determined. This is something the allied commanders do not seem to have realized just yet, probably because of their slow progress and heavy losses. Simply put all they had to do is keep pushing until the overstretched German defenses would collapse. It really only was a matter of time by then. Goodwood was one such push, Cobra the final. I'm getting off topic, let me return to II.SS-Pz.K. If we just look at Frundsberg when it arrived in Normandy: - it did not have a Panther battalion available - II./SS-Pz.Rgt.10 was equipped with about 50% Pz.IV and 50% StuG, for a total under its authorized strength. This combination of vehicle types was a fairly obsolete organization that was common in Waffen-SS units in 1943. - the six infantry battalions (SS-Panzer Divisions had two more than the Heer) were at about 75% manpower. Most likely the main shortage were officers and NCO's (at least it was with GvB) - the antitank battalion was not yet equipped with tank hunters Both Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg already suffered suffered losses in June, when they were rushed in against the British Epsom offensive. The losses of Hohenstaufen were considerably higher though. Still, up to 14 August, Frundsberg had lost only twelve Pz.IV and eight StuG. The division was certainly not weak, but it should definitely not be considered a full Panzer Division.
Hi Niels, Only the text in the dark blue quotations in my posts is directly from the book. The rest is my interpretation of the text to which I am referring, so if there are errors, they are mine alone :blush: Regards, Pat
Figured as much Pat ;-) Just a reminder to be cautious, even if it makes for a more boring read. Getting carried away (common when reading older books) is something that will bite you in the **s. BTW, regarding the quotes you posted, I'm still curious about the sources used by the two books.