Panzer Commander by Von Luck Hans

Author:Von Luck, Hans
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783830176
Publisher: Frontline Books
Published: 2013-05-29T16:00:00+00:00

15

The Start of the Invasion, 6 June 1944

The evening of 5 June 1944 was unpleasant. Normandy was showing its bad side; during the day there had been rain and high winds.

I was sitting in a sparsely furnished house on the edge of the village of Bellengreville, a few kilometers west of Vimont, a small town east of Caen, the industrial center and port of the Normandy coast; before me were papers and maps to do with exercises I was preparing for my regiment. My adjutant, Lieutenant Helmut Liebeskind, was at the command post in the village. I was a major, 32 years old. I was to be promoted to lieutenant-colonel at the end of July, and after a further two months to colonel—rapid progress, it seemed to me.

The general weather conditions, worked out every day by naval meteorologists and passed on to us by division, gave the “all clear” for 5 and 6 June. So we did not anticipate any landings, for heavy seas, storms, and low lying clouds would make large-scale operations at sea and in the air impossible for our opponents.

That evening, I felt our lot was highly unsatisfactory; like most of my men, I was used to mobile actions, such as we had fought in the other theaters of war; this waiting for an invasion that was undoubtedly coming was enervating.

But, in spite of the inactivity, morale among the troops remained high, the more so since Normandy spoiled us with butter, cheese, “crème fraîche,” and meat, as well as cider.

On that rainy evening, my adjutant and I were waiting for a report from No. II Battalion that the night exercise had ended. This battalion was in the area Troarn–Escoville, hence fairly near the coast, while No. I Battalion, equipped with armored personnel carriers and armored half-track vehicles, had taken up waiting positions further to the rear. I had given the more basic order that in the event of possible landings by Allied commando troops, the battalions and companies concerned were to attack immediately and independently; and to do so, moreover, without regard to the prohibition from the highest authority on engaging action except after clearance by High Command West. But in view of the weather report that we had been given, I had no thought of such an engagement that night.

About midnight, I heard the growing roar of aircraft, which passed over us. I wondered whether the attack was destined once again for traffic routes inland or for Germany herself. The machines appeared to be flying very low—because of the weather? I looked out the window and was wide awake; flares were hanging in the sky. At the same moment, my adjutant was on the telephone, “Major, paratroops are dropping. Gliders are landing in our section. I’m trying to make contact with No. II Battalion. I’ll come along to you at once.”

I gave orders without hesitation, “All units are to be put on alert immediately and the division informed. No. II Battalion is to go into action wherever necessary.

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