Part 7: The Lines Began to Crack
On the 11th of June after meeting with Obergruppenfuhrer Sepp Dietrich, the commander of the 1st SS Corps, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel issued a memo to German High Command on the strategy going forward.
“As a result of the stubborn defence of the coast troops and the immediate counter attacks launched by the available armoured reserves, the enemy attack, despite the strength of his effort, has gone considerably more slowly than he had hoped. The enemy also seems to be committing more forces than he had originally planned.
Under cover of his very strong air force, the enemy is visibly reinforcing himself on land, and neither our air force nor our navy is in a position, especially by day, to offer him any hindrance. Consequently the enemy forces in the bridgehead are growing at a considerable rate.
For the present the Army Group must content itself with forming a continuous front between the Orne and Vire out of forces which are gradually arriving, and allowing the enemy to move up to it. Unfortunately, it will not be possible, in these circumstances, to relieve the troops still holding out at many points along the coast.
The Army Group is endeavoring to replace the armoured formations now in line as soon as possible by infantry, so that the armour can be used to form mobile reserves again behind the front.
The course of the battle in Normandy to date gives a clear indication of the enemy’s intentions. A) to gain a deep bridgehead between the Orne and Vire, as a springboard for a powerful attack later into the interior of France, probably towards Paris. B) to cut off the Cotentin peninsula and gain possession of Cherbourg as soon as possible, in order to provide himself with a major port of large landing capacity.
The Army Group also intends to shift the centre of gravity of its operations into the Carentan-Montebourg area during the next few days, in order to hold the Americans in that sector and divert the danger from Cherbourg. Not until then can any attack be made against the British between the Orne and Vire.
The material equipment of the Americans, with numerous new weapons and war material, is far and away superior to that of ours. The enemy armoured formations, as Obergruppenfuhrer Sepp Dietrich has informed me, appear to fight their actions at longer ranges of as much as 2,500 yards, using vast quantities of ammunition and with magnificent air support.
It should be cautioned against undertaking any major clean up of the front by offensive methods, as this would further expend the strength of the already exhausted panzer divisions. Infantry divisions are to be put into the Orne and Carentan-Montebourg sectors. Panzer divisions at present to move west of Caen and reserve armoured formations to be assembled on the flanks. After completion, a limited withdrawal to be made southwards, with the object of launching an armoured thrust into the flank of the advancing enemy and fighting a battle away from the enemy’s naval artillery.
The 12 SS Hitlerjugend and the Panzer Lehr Divisions are to be withdrawn south to the area of St. Lo and Avranches. In there place the 6th Fallschirmjager Regiment, the 709th Infantry Division, the 91st Infantry Division and the 352nd Infantry Division will continue to hold the front. In a few days the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, the 243rd Infantry Division, the 77th Infantry Division, the 355th Infantry Division and the entire Fallschirmjager corps will have arrived to support the defenders in the Carentan-Montebour area.
The 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg is already in the process of deploying west of Caen between Tilly-sur-Seulles and the Odon River. It will be joined by the remnants of the 21st Panzer Division and the 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen, which due to heavy fighting now are no more than small reinforced battle groups. In the place of 21st Panzer and the 12th SS, the 711th Infantry Division, the 272nd Infantry Division, the 326th Infantry Division and the 16th Luftwaffe Reserve Division will be brought up to the Orne front north of Caen."
On the 12th of June just as Rommel was beginning to put his plans into action disaster struck. The Americans opened a large scale offensive against the Carentan-Montebourg sector, backed by a heavy bombardment and air attacks. Shortly after the start of the onslaught German corps commander General Erich Marcks, who had personally arrived to lead the battle, was killed in an attack by Allied aircraft. This was then followed two days later by the death of Brigadefuhrer Fritz Witt, the commader of the 12th SS, who was killed by an allied naval barrage. On the 16th Cartentan fell to the triumphant Allies, the German lines were beginning to crack. If it was not for the timely arrival of the 101st SS Heavy Tank Battalion, lead in person by Sepp Dietrich, and the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division the Allies surely would have achieved a major breakthrough.
The British meanwhile were beginning a series of probing attacks against the German front lines. Having succeeded in taking Bayeux the British began to push further into the Forest of Cerisy and along the Bayeux-St.Lo road. These attempts were blocked by the 3rd Fallschirmjager Divison, which after some minor skirmishes managed to dissuade the British. Further east elements of the British 49th and 50th Infantry divisions also began probing southwards towards Tilly-sur-Seulles and Villers-Bocage only to be halted by elements of the 10th SS and 102nd SS Heavy Tank Battalion, after heavy fighting on the 13th of June.
With these latest developments, Rommel’s plans were slightly disrupted. The 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend was tied to the front would not be able to withdrawal in the foreseeable future. Elsewhere things went more smoothly for the Germans, the Fallschirmjager corps and 77th Infantry Division moved north of St-Lo and relieved the Panzer Lehr Division of its duties. In addition to this infantry units were flooding north of Caen and the two Panzer Divisions holding that sector were being withdrawn. Only time would tell whether the Germans lines would crack or hold.
