Cover Rapid Reads This short ebook is part of the “Rapid Reads” series on the German Army of World War II. This series, when complete, will offer a comprehensive overview of this absorbing topic, covering the key campaigns, tactics, commanders and equipment of the World War II Wehrmacht. We hope you enjoy this Rapid Read and that you will recommend the series to friends and colleagues. You should be able to read one of these handy eBooks in less than an hour. They’re designed for busy people on the go. If you would like to place a review on our website, or with the retailer you purchased it from, please do so. All feedback, positive or negative, is appreciated. All these Rapid Reads plus supplemental materials and ebooks on other military topics are available on our website, www.germanwarmachine.com The Ardennes Forest, December 1944 0–100m Geilenkirche 100–200m 200–300m Julich Cologne 300–400m 400–500m Maastricht 500–600m 600m and above German Westwall defences Düren US frontline, early December 1944 Aachen 0 10 20 30km 0 10 20 miles Euskirchen Liêge Eupen Verviers Huy E Namur lse nb o rn R Malmedy id g Stoumont La Gleize e Stavelot Trois Points Habiémont Recht Manhay Vielsalm Erezee St Vith Dinant Sadsdot Salmchâteau Marche La Roche Givet Bourcy Bizory Bastogne Bitbourg Trier Sedan Arlon Luxembourg A jeep-like German Kübelwagen drives past the enormous bulk of a Panther tank on the road near the Ardennes. Armoured vehicles had to be scattered throughout the countryside during the planning stages of the offensive as a precaution against the marauding allied-fighter bombers that claimed so many vehicles during the Normandy campaign. The Sixth Panzer Army Building the army for Hitler’s Ardennes Offensive. 5 n August 1944, determined to regain the initiative against the IAllied forces spreading out from the Normandy beaches, Hitler ordered a counteroffensive. His plan, known as Operation Luttich, was for several Waffen-SS panzer divisions to drive a wedge through the Allied lines and reach the coast near Granville. The operation, which began on 7 August near the town of Mortain, was a complete disaster. It left most of the German Seventh Army trapped in a rapidly-shrinking salient – known as the Falaise Pocket. Although the Allies failed to completely encircle the Seventh Army until after many units had left, their constant attacks took a terrible toll on the German units trapped inside. Forced to flee for their lives, and under constant artillery and aerial bombardment, German units abandoned massive numbers of transport vehicles, heavy weapons, and tanks. The Germans conducted a fighting retreat as far as the Dutch and German borders, where they managed to halt the Allied advance on a line of pre-prepared defences called the Westwall (sometimes known as the Siegfried Line). Though not destroyed, the Wehrmacht in the west was a shadow of its former self, and even the feared II SS Panzer Corps could barely muster 30 functioning tanks and a little more than half its official complement of men. Ever the optimist, Hitler was already thinking about how he could regain the initiative in the war even before the last remnants of his battered armies had retreated across the German and Dutch borders in September 1944. Hitler decided that his élite Waffen-SS panzer divisions would lead this new offensive. For reasons of secrecy, none of his top Wehrmacht commanders was let in on the secret. Each one was just told to get his troops ready for battle as soon as possible. 6 The 20 July Bomb Plot had destroyed for good Hitler’s trust in the army’s generals. He wanted his favourite Waffen-SS general, “Sepp” Dietrich, to command the most powerful armoured force Nazi Germany had ever put in the field. At an audience with the Führer in early September 1944, Dietrich was told that he was to command the newly formed Sixth Panzer Army. Although nominally an army formation – rebuilt from the remnants of XII Corps that had been badly mauled in Russia during the summer – almost all of Dietrich’s key staff officers were old hands from either his Leibstandarte or I SS Panzer Corps days. Dietrich’s right- hand man was SS-Brigadeführer Fritz Kraemer who, as chief of staff, was the powerhouse behind his commander’s bluster. As an army commander, Dietrich was perhaps over-promoted. He himself realized that he was no professional staff officer, and he relied on the likes of Kraemer to turn his ideas into concrete plans. Dietrich’s true forte was man-management and motivation of the troops. His down-to-earth bonhomie was exactly what was needed to mould the thousands of new recruits who were now arriving to fill out the ranks of his divisions. Hitler liked him so much because Dietrich never had any ambition, beyond looking after his men. He never felt threatened by Dietrich and, because of their time together in 1920s Munich, the Führer would listen to his views on what was happening at the front. To fill out his new army, Dietrich was given the two premier Waffen-SS corps headquarters, I SS and II SS Panzer Corps. I SS Panzer Corps boasted the Leibstandarte and Hitlerjugend Divisions, under the command of SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Priess, who had previously commanded the infamous Waffen-SS Totenkopf Panzer Division in Russia and was considered a sound tactician, if ruthless, even judging by Waffen-SS standards. 7 After his success commanding one of Hitlerjugend’s panzergrenadier regiments in Normandy, Wilhelm Mohnke, now an SS-Oberführer, was given the honour of commanding the Leibstandarte. Although Mohnke had fought well in Normandy, he was far from popular with his comrades. He lost a foot in the Yugoslav campaign, so missed fighting with Hausser’s SS Panzer Corps in Russia, and he was still considered an “outsider” by many of the Waffen-SS officers who were now regimental and divisional commanders in Dietrich’s army. Taking the place of Kurt Meyer, who had been captured in early September, was SS- Standartenführer Hugo Kraas, a highly decorated Leibstandarte Division veteran. Manpower changes The victor of Arnhem, Willi Bittrich, remained in command of his beloved II SS Panzer Corps, and he had Walther Harzer at his side as chief of staff. He still had the Hohenstaufen Division, under the capable Sylvester Stadler, but the Frundsberg Division had been replaced by the Das Reich Division. Its commander, Heinz Lammerding, was a rabid Nazi who was considered one of the most stupid officers who ever reached high command in the Waffen-SS. He relied on his chief of staff and regimental commanders to come up with battle plans and he was loathed for taking credit for their successes. Bittrich’s corps, however, was now very strong and considered the most militarily professional in the Waffen-SS. By the beginning of October, battered Waffen-SS units were garrisoned in old Wehrmacht barracks in northwest Germany, where they began to receive a steady stream of new recruits 8 and new equipment. Thousands of conscripts, ex-Luftwaffe and navy men – as well as a few idealistic volunteers – had to be given the basics of military training and then moulded into effective fighting units. Under the direction of veteran officers, as well as noncommissioned officers, this process gathered pace during October and into November as more ambitious tank- gunnery training and field exercises were undertaken. The presence of so many highly decorated combat veterans in the ranks of the Waffen-SS panzer divisions was a major boost to morale. The newly arrived youngsters were treated to a series of medal parades, where Normandy veterans received decorations for their heroism only a few weeks before. Optimism against all odds The steady arrival of new tanks, halftracks, artillery pieces, weapons and uniforms added to the spirit of optimism. If Germany, after five years of war, could still find the equipment to outfit completely four panzer divisions, then the Führer’s promises of new wonder-weapons to turn the tide of war might well be true. By mid-November 1944, morale among the divisions of Dietrich’s new army was high and still rising. Hitler ordered that Dietrich’s army would have priority for new equipment coming from the Reich’s remaining armament’s factories. British and American bombing, along with the loss of factories in eastern Poland, meant this was almost the last efforts of armament minister Albert Speer’s organization. The reorganization and re-equipping of Dietrich’s divisions was nearly complete by the end of November. While the frontline panzer divisions were at between 80 percent and 90 percent strength, there was a severe shortage of Waffen- 9 SS corps-level artillery and heavy tank units. These had to be replaced by army units. As befitted its status as one of the premier units of the Waffen- SS, the Leibstandarte boasted a formidable compliment of tanks and armoured vehicles. Its Panzer Regiment was again commanded by Jochen Peiper, who had now recovered from wounds received in Normandy, and fielded 38 Panthers and 34 Panzer IVs in a single battalion. To beef up its firepower, the 501st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion – formed from the old 101st SS Battalion – was attached with 30 of the monster 70-tonne (69- ton) King Tiger tanks. The division’s antitank battalion boasted 21 Panzerjäger IVs. The division had the pick of Germany’s manpower, and veteran officers considered it to be on a par with previous intakes. Hitlerjugend’s materiel The Hitlerjugend Division was equally powerful, with 38 Panthers and 37 Panzer IVs in its Panzer Regiment, which were grouped in one battalion.