Extracts 'Battle of the Falaise Gap' (German)

Discussion in 'German' started by Pat Curran, Mar 15, 2015.

  1. Jpz4

    Jpz4 Active Member
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    Oct 24, 2012
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    Unfortunately I have little information on the division readily available (neither my sector, nor period I'm interested in)
    For now I'll limit myself to Zetterling:

    4 trains had unloaded in the Le Havre - Amiens area on 26 June. Another 19 trains were still on their way to that area and some additional trains had not even reached the area of OB West yet.
    It was transfered to Normandy at the end of July. On 3 August it was subordinated to the I.SS-Pz.K.

    On 4 August G.R.1056 was in the area of Falaise - Bretteville along with III./A.R.189 and Pz.Jg.Abt.189. G.R.1055 was near Thiberville with Füs-Btl.189 and II./A.R.189. I./A.R.189 was south of Lisieux.
    On 6 August elements were in action with 13 Sturmpanzer IV (Stupa) that were attached from Sturmpanzer Abteilung 217.
     
  2. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
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    Oct 20, 2012
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    Morning Guys,

    Allan, I have three of the four Osprey books in softback - didn't know they done hardback versions. Anyway, I can never remember which one of the four is missing when I'm spinning that annoying round display stand they have in stores :D

    Niels, forgive my ignorance but can you explain who or what is 'Zetterling'? Many thanks for the positions of divisional elements for 4th and 6th August.

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  3. Jpz4

    Jpz4 Active Member
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    Oct 24, 2012
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    This is what I mean with Zetterling:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0921991568?keywords=zetterling%20normandy&qid=1444296108&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

    THE overview when it comes to German units in Normandy. Admittedly it does not cover all units (such as Flak and coastal artillery) and the level of detail varies due to the difference in available information.
    It is also short on operational information, but that was a deliberate decision.

    I am working hard to correct some of those 'deficiencies' however.
     
  4. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
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    Oct 20, 2012
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    Thanks Niels,

    I appreciate the clarification. Had seen this book before but the author's name had not registered!

    Moving over to the 'British & Commonwealth' ground forces thread here for Operation Totalize.

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  5. Jpz4

    Jpz4 Active Member
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    Oct 24, 2012
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    Our discussion on the 89.Inf.Div. probably fits better in the 'British & Commonwealth' sector, but since it is still here.... this is where I'll continue for now. ;-)

    Anyway, after looking up the locations of the division, I realised I might have some more stuff on the division after all. For whatever reason I picked up a copy of 'No Holding Back' years ago, which covers the operations of the Canadian troops south of Caen.
    I just checked, and it contains many references to the division. At least the index shows it is mentioned on 30 pages.

    Unfortunately this also means it's not a matter of reading just a few pages, but rather the entire book to fully understand the context.... nonetheless I'll see what I can find for dates that interest you. ;-)

    BTW, even though I've never read it completely, the research seems solid. And the Stackpole edition is very reasonably priced. Well worth picking up a copy.
     
  6. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
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    Oct 20, 2012
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    Thanks Niels,

    Your recommendation is good enough for me :D - I just purchased a copy from the Book Depository here for €18.99 (post free)

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  7. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
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    To continue from page 77...

    Feldmarschall von Kluge considered his options on the evening of 8th August. Despite the danger now very apparent to the north on the Falaise road and Patton's armour fanning out to the south, he knew Hitler's order to pursue the Avranches offensive could not be denied. The depressing reports had been flowing in throughout the afternoon:

    The Feldmarshall focused on where he had been told - Avranches, and promised Hausser reinforcements for the Seventh Army. The question was from where? When the 9th and 10th SS Panzer, together with the 9th Panzer were offered, Hausser replied in panic:

    More follows...

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  8. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
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    Continuing from page 79 (8th August)...

    More follows...

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  9. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
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    Oct 20, 2012
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    To continue from page 80...

    He is not mentioned in the book, but as I understand matters, it was during this German counterattack that SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Michael Wittmann was killed along with his entire crew. A lot of work has been done on the demise of this German tank ace and I don't want to get embroiled in the 'who got Wittmann' saga here. However, a tactical map of the full counterattack would be useful.

    More follows...

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  10. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
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    To continue from p. 90...

    Following the successful attack on the Canadians of 'Worthington Force' on Hill 140 by Kurt Meyer's 12th SS Panzer on the 9th August, a false sense of reprieve descended on the German command in Normandy:

    The author goes on to relate that the Canadian/Polish 'Totalize' push was not as stalled as von Kluge had hoped. The level of research done on the Polish units is very detailed as can be seen from this extract further down the page:

    The 'Rouvres ravine' I take to be the valley of the River Laizon at bottom right in the IGN map below:

    <iframe width="850" height="550" frameborder="2" scrolling="no" marginheight="2" marginwidth="2" src="http://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/embed/visu.html?c=-0.20957091176089562,49.01724530293674&z=0.00008583068847489914&l=GEOGRAPHICALGRIDSYSTEMS.MAPS.3D::GEOPORTAIL:OGC:WMTS==aggregate(1)&permalink=yes" allowfullscreen></iframe>
    Live Map (C) IGN - Press F5 to Refresh​

    Hill 140 is midway between Soignolles and Rouvres above, but I am not sure about Hill 111 - I presume its the height marked above at the 'Worthington Force' monument location.

    Hitler remained obsessed with the Avranches breakthrough ignoring the danger on the eastern flank. Von Kluge, knowing that suspicion had begun to fall on him regarding the July plot, offered no resistance to the Fuhrer's new plan for a second attempt in the west. He listened silently as Hitler raged down the phone:

    More follows...

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  11. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
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    To continue from page 95...

    Von Kluge set about relaying Hitler's orders to his sub-ordinates; orders which he knew were unworkable and doomed to failure as the text stating the replies from his field commanders below makes clear:

    More follows (see the American thread here for next extract.)

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  12. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
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    To continue from page 98...

    Chapter 9 - Von Kluge Retreats

    The two days referred to in the opening sentence below appear to be that of the 10th & 11th August.

    Feldmarshall Von Kluge's days are numbered.

    More follows.

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  13. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
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    To continue from p106...

    The narrative below appears to refer to events which occurred on the 11th August.

    More follows...

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  14. allan125

    allan125 Active Member
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    Apr 20, 2013
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    Thanks Pat, having driven over a lot of the battleground last year I find this of great interest, and also for having driven part of the route that Dad took from B.19 Lingevres via Flers to the Seine crossing at Vernon in the breakout a personal interest as well.

    cheers

    Allan
     
  15. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
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    Hi Allen,

    I only have Google Maps at present, and the one Touques I can find is way up north on the coast beside Deauville. There must be another one somewhere in von Kluge's path. The text in the book may not be giving the full name, but that would be unusual for Eddy Florentin.

    Anyone spot it?

    Thanks,

    Pat
     
  16. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
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    ...or is it a river :huh:
     
  17. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
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    More,

    It's a river alright, the La Tougues River rises some 20Kms east of Argentan and flows north to the sea at Tougnes via Gace, Lisieux and Pont l'Eveque.

    To continue from page 110 and the beginning of chapter 10 'Solution Dictated by Despair':

    More follows...

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  18. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
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    To continue from p. 114...

    I find the following pages very interesting in that they relate how the German field commanders in Normandy finally came to use the word 'pocket' to describe the situation on the ground. The date is the 12th of August:

    'The N 24 bis, the main channel for the withdrawal authorised by von Kluge, received the roads leading from Flers to Conde, towns upon which the Americans and the British were converging.

    On the evening of the 12th, VII U.S. Corps approached Sourdeval, crossing the Borenton-Domfront line. The British VIII Corps had cut the important artery of the N 812, 3 kilometres east of Vire. To the north before Falaise, Barbery and Moulines were captured by the Canadians; to the south Argentan and its suburbs were reached at 1830 hours by General Oliver's Combat Command A. Along the N 24 bis, Bourg-Saint-Leonard, Pinau-Haras, and Coulmer fell during the afternoon to Combat Command R.

    The corridor through which the Seventh Army could still "pull its chestnuts out of the fire" was now no more than 35 kilometres wide.

    It was conference time on the estate of the Dukes of La Rochefoucauld, 1900 hours. A real summit conference to which Blumentritt had once more travelled from Saint-Germain-en-Laye, taking care to use only the roads on the right banks of the river. In the huge high-ceilinged room, two chairs faced the Feldmarschall, sitting at the desk at which Louvois had signed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The electric current had failed and the maps were faintly lit by the twilight. The Army Group B commanders loved La Roche-Guyon. Admiral Friedrich Ruge evokes at length his strolls in the park and his games of Ping-Pong with Speidel. The G.S.O. I of Army Group B declaimed verses as he regarded the Seine valley, "which could be seen below with its verdant fields of flowers."

    Von Kluge put forward a mad propositions: the encirclement of XV Corps.

    Speidel shook his head. General Speidel was without doubt the most resolute spirit on the German side. Around him reigned peace, the peace surrounding the hub of a great wheel at the centre of the typhoon. It was a question of encircling an American army corps, even though the fleeing units now scattered over the countryside had neither material nor ammunition, since the fall of Alencon had deprived the Seventh Army of its vital supply routes.

    "General Haislip's divisions," explained von Kluge, "are engaged in a corridor. Now we hold the walls of this corridor. We therefore have the possibility of cutting Haislip off from the main forces of the Third Army."

    Did von Kluge believe this? Between XV Corps attacking Alencon, and the rest of the Third Army directed on the Loire, there was nothing. So much so, that Patton had to borrow an infantry division from XXth Corps - the brand new 80th, which had disembarked at the artificial harbour at Saint-Martin-de-Varreville, and then taken rapidly by truck to Laval - so that its three regiments could guard the bridges of Le Mans and the Evron and Sille-le-Guillaume crossroads. (The reader should remember the arrival of General McBride's division. We shall meet this division again in a few days' time in Argentan).'

    But von Kluge's reasoning held. Again, the means had to be obtained to realise this desperate plan. A rational reply was worked out to cut Patton off from Hodges at the Avranches bottleneck, a free interpretation of the wish expressed by the Fuhrer that morning.

    "Eberbach will break through to the south east," suggested von Kluge. "Starting from a base Carrouges - La Lacelle, the armoured group will make for Mortain, and there pivot 90 degrees north; on the date of our attack, the 14th, there is every reason to hope that XV Corps will be massed along N 24 bis between Argentan and Laigle. Our movement will allow us to bag the lot."'


    More follows...

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  19. Pat Curran

    Pat Curran Administrator
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    To continue from p. 116...

    '"An interesting Plan," replied Eberbach, exhausted that evening by another transfer of his HQ, the third in 24 hours from Vieux-Pont to Chenedouit, "a move which despite the short distance of 20 kilometres, took us 6 hours. Our movement was slowed down by traffic jams. Everywhere there were burning vehicles. All the roads were crowded, every yard was covered at a snail's pace. The transfer of units had to take place in several sections, more sections than would have been necessary in normal conditions. Supplies of course were endangered, and literally blocked on the few roads available between Falaise and Argentan."

    The Panzer General, too, did not hesitate to raise objections.
    "My forces comprise 80 tanks in all. Facing me, the Americans and the French have 70,000 men and 700 tanks. Another objection: the Panzer Group from the logistic point of view, depends on the Fifth Panzer, which is fully engaged at Thury-Harcourt with XIIth British Corps. And that's not all! Only three roads link me with Sepp Dietrich, and these north-south roads are harassed all day by fighter bombers and congested at night by the movements of units travelling east."

    Sepp Dietrich was not in a mood to argue. He did not express his opinion until next day at 1035 hours.

    "If the front held by Fifth and Seventh Panzer is not immediately moved," he cabled to General Speidel, "and unless an effort is made to move eastwards so as to escape the threatened encirclement, the Army Group will merely have to erase the name of these two armies."

    And the veteran of the 30th June 1935, Hitler's old comrade of the 9th November 1933 Putsch, and therefore the least suspect of the army commanders he had appointed, did not mince his words.

    "Soon it will become impossible to supply the troops with either ammunition or fuel. Immediate measures must be taken to turn east before it's too late. The enemy can fire into the pocket with all his artillery from all sides."

    The word "pocket" had been officially uttered. The term, however, was premature: through a 37 kilometre wide corridor the Seventh Army which still held Falaise and Argentan could still escape to Vimoutiers, Orbec and Bernay, gateways to the Seine, to Picardy and thence to Germany, where the reserve forces could re-form and organise a more rational counterattack - like the one which would be launched three months later in the Ardennes.

    Von Kluge was frantic, having requested a withdrawal for twelve days. He was caught in the maelstrom of the fluctuations of war, and at 2100 hours issued the orders of despair: five armoured divisions, or what remained of them, starting from Carrouges were to cut from west to east across the hilly forest of Ecouves to hack Patton's columns advancing north, descend on Mesle-sur-Sarthe and from there make a quarter turn left to Gace, and encircle the Allied forces in that same pocket which would later enclose the German forces in Normandy.

    It was madness; but, that night of 12th August, nothing made sense any more.'


    More follows...

    Regards,

    Pat
     
  20. Jpz4

    Jpz4 Active Member
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    Oct 24, 2012
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    "Fifth and Seventh Panzer"
    Bit odd, I assume this is about 7. Armee and the 5.Pz.Armee (the former Pz.Gr. West).
     

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