THE REAPER’S HARVESTING SUMMER

THE STORY OF THE 12-SS PANZER DIVISION, A UNIT OF GERMAN TEENAGERS THAT RECEIVED ITS BAPTISM OF FIRE IN THE NORMANDY CAMPAIGN

Author: Angelos N Mansolas Publisher: Fonthill Price: £35

Few German Army formations are surrounded by as much legend and distinction as the 12-SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. In World War II’S critical turning point of 1943 the German regime, reeling from a multifront Allied offensive and a dwindling manpower supply, raised seven new Waffen-ss divisions. One of them was unique among the rest in that its troops were drawn mostly from youths under the age of 20 of the Hitler Youth Organisation.

Author Angelos N Mansolas contends this unit evolved into one of the most effective fighting formations in military history. For the highest levels of combat efficiency to be achieved, the division was built around a cadre of officers and NCOS from the Leibstandarte, all of whom had bloodied themselves on the Eastern Front and in other major campaigns.

In March 1944, this grouping of teenage fighters was ordered to move to the area of Caen in Normandy, where it became part of the I-SS Panzer Corps. By the summer, with the German Army in full retreat northeast across France and Belgium, the 12-SS had ceased to exist as a coherent fighting formation. The young men of the unit had fought like seasoned veterans in numerous battles, including the disastrous Falaise Pocket. They suffered appalling losses before they were able to make their way back to Germany, where the survivors arrived in September 1944. The force had lost 60 per cent of its manpower in less than four months of constant action.

“I know every single one of these grenadiers,” remarked the division’s commander SS Oberführer Kurt Meyer. “The oldest is barely 18. These boys have not yet learned how to live, but by God, they know how to die.”