Waffen-SS: Pre D-Day, 1944

Background

On the eve of the June 1944 Allied invasion of Northwest Europe - codenamed Overlord - the rebuilt Waffen-SS panzergrenadier and panzer divisions formed the armoured spearhead of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt's plan to smash the invasion bridgehead. But the German High Command was divided on when and where the invasion would take place, fatally weakening German chances.

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

In the spring of 1944, at depots and training camps all over Belgium and France, veteran Waffen-SS instructors were hard at work trying to knock thousands of new recruits into shape to meet the coming Allied invasion of Northwest Europe.

Due to the lamentable state of German intelligence, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the commander of Army Group B, had no firm intelligence about where the Allied troops would come ashore. Aerial photographs showed huge camps in southern England packed with tanks, artillery and supplies, while ports around the British coast were chock-a-block with ships and landing craft. All that was certain was that this immense force would attempt to open the long-awaited second front in a matter of months.

For the "Desert Fox", time was of the essence. When he toured France on an inspection of the Atlantic Wall coastal defences during December 1943, Rommel was far from impressed. France had long been a backwater of the war. It was where German units would be sent to recuperate after suffering a mauling in Russia. Since being appointed commander of the invasion coast, which stretched from the French border to northern Holland, Rommel had been trying to knock the last vestiges of complacency out of his rag-tag collection of just under 60 divisions. He ordered a major effort to reinforce the beach defences with minefields and fortifications. Millions of tons of concrete were poured into the ground to build bunkers and gun positions overlooking every possible landing site on the French coast. Inland, Rommel wanted strong armoured forces close at hand to defeat any Allied troops that did manage to get ashore.

Rommel's resources and plans

The Waffen-SS provided the bulk of Rommel's armoured reserve, comprising six of the eleven panzer and panzergrenadier divisions available to the Western Front. Except for a brief period in Italy when he worked with the Leibstandarte Division, Rommel had never commanded Waffen-SS divisions, but he quickly formed a favourable impression of them and their commanders. Touring their training grounds, Rommel could see their superb equipment and rigorous training schedules quickly bearing fruit. That was more than could be said for a number of army divisions. Rommel was shocked at the state of the infantry divisions manning the invasion defences along the coast, which were staffed mainly by former Russian and Polish prisoners. Their fighting potential was minimal. Some of the army panzer divisions were not much better, with the famous 21st Panzer Division having to make do with captured French tanks and trucks in many of its battalions. Such problems only increased Rommel's reliance on the Waffen-SS, which had first call on replacement manpower, new weapons and equipment.

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