29 March 2019
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The role of the Waffen-SS panzer divisions in Normandy
A new, illustrated guide to the Waffen-SS divisions in Normandy explains how the Germans failed to contain the D-Day landings.
One of the greatest ironies of the Battle of Normandy is that the German divisions found it much harder to reach the front line than the Allies, who had to cross the sea and then deploy in a cramped bridgehead until the Allied breakthrough of late July 1944. The Waffen-SS were no better off than the Heer units and German high command never quite got on top of operations, as the divisions were thrown into the melee one by one. During the month of June 1944, the Panzer divisions present succeeded in containing the Allies in a small bridgehead. In July, the arrival of more SS divisions should have finally allowed the Germans to counter-attack decisively. This was not the reality. The Allies had also strengthened in number and kept the blows coming, one after another. Each SS-Panzer division had a different experience of the fighting in July.
This Casemate Illustrated looks at the divisions one by one throughout Operations Goodwood and Cobra which saw large tank battles and the collapse of the German front in Normandy. It includes over 100 photographs, alongside biographies of the commanders and colour profiles of trucks and tanks which played a key role in operations as the Allies succeeded in breaking through the German line of defence.
- Casemate Illustrated
- ISBN 978-1-6120-0641-3
- 128 pages. Softback. £19.99
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