“Churchill was worried that a stalemate would set in similar to that of World War I or, morerecently, Anzio . . . . The Germans quickly took advantage of Caen’s destruction by manningdefensive positions within the ruins. British troops were hampered by giant craters and hills ofrubble . . . . The attack by the 43 rd Wessez Division to capture Hill 112 to the southwest of Caenled to vicious fighting with little territorial gain. Carpiquet had, in fact, been held by only 150teenagers of the 12 th SS Panzer Division, 100 teens on the airfield, and 50 in the village. YetCanadians of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, with tank and flamethrower support, took the villageonly with great difficulty on July 4 th . It was found to have well-built underground blockhousesconnected by passages. By the end of the day, 117 Canadians were dead and 260 wounded.”See “The World at Arms – The Reader’s Digest Illustrated History of World War II,” Chapter 19,
page 307, “Caen – Crucible of Victory”.
Hitler had ordered that Caen and Carpiquet be defended at all costs. No retreat wascontemplated. Only General Sepp Dietrich and Rommel were allowed to issue withdrawalnotices, which they did despite the Fuhrer’s direct order. When they saw the Hitlerjugend werein danger of being obliterated, they acted without notifying him. Although there was nohesitation on the part of the Hitlerjugend to destroy American and Allied boys, it is nonethelesssad, at least for this reviewer, to gaze upon photos of 15-or-16-year-old artillery gunners lyingwith half their heads off in the ditches and dirt lanes of antitank-gun positions. Fortunately,most of this book’s photos show dazed and wounded Hitlerjugend grenadiers with their handsup, surrending.After six weeks of attritional warfare, from the beaches of Normandy to the crumpled wallsof Caen, the Hitlerjugend division was placed in reserve. They had made a desperate effort todefend the city, with too few resources, too few troops, coupled with poor strategic leadership,i.e., Hitler’s interference, the British, Canadian, and Polish forces start breaking through the12 th ’s lines into Caen.A final point. It should never be forgotten that during their retreat from France, members ofthe LSSAH, 1 st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and a select few of theHitlerjugend Division murdered 34 French civilians in Tavaux and Plomion, France. Units in thedivision that were not fit for combat were ordered to return to Germany on 8 September,leaving behind a small Kampfgruppe attached to the SS Division das Reich. The division lossesduring the fighting in Normandy, in its three months from June to September, amounted toapproximate 8,000 killed, and, destroyed, over 80% of its tanks, 70% of its armored vehicles,60% of its artillery and 50% of its motor vehicles. No where did this reviewer find in this book,or his own research, how many Hitlerjugend overall wound up dead serving in the LSSH,captured, or wounded before the war on ended on 3 May 1945, although that information maysoon be available in author Massimiliano Afiero’s planned, much-needed, much-desired,
second volume of this cogent history.
