Waffen-SS: August Storm, 1944

Background

In early August 1944, Montgomery launched his final offensive at Caen, codenamed Totalize. The Hitlerjugend Division, commanded by Meyer, fought superbly to blunt this new Allied assault. In a series of savage battles, he stopped the Canadian and Polish tanks in their tracks, but his losses were high and Germany lost her top tank ace - Michael Wittmann.

Operation Totalize

After blunting Operation Luttich, the Allied High Command saw that it had the opportunity to trap the German armies in Normandy in a giant pocket. General Patton's Third Army was fanning out virtually unopposed into Brittany, heading towards the Seine River crossings. All that was needed was for the noose to be tightened around the 400,000 Germans still fighting in Normandy. Montgomery decided that now was the time to link up with Patton's spearhead. Operation Totalize was to begin on 8 August 1944.

Two infantry divisions, each led by an armoured brigade, were to advance due south along the main road out of Caen towards Falaise, on Route Nationale 158. This would be a very different style of attack to those previously attempted by the British or Canadians. Seven separate armoured columns would be formed, with as many infantry as possible loaded on armoured personnel carriers which had been created by converting self-propelled artillery pieces. This Allied force also had one major advantage over previous units that had attempted to seize the Bourguebus ridge. This time there were no Waffen-SS tanks and 88mm Flak guns waiting for them. The Leibstandarte had been pulled out to lead the attack on Mortain, II SS Panzer Corps was fighting Operation Bluecoat to a halt near Vire, and the Hitlerjugend was in reserve. "Sepp" Dietrich was still in command of the sector, although his I SS Panzer Corps headquarters had only one Waffen-SS division, Hitlerjugend, with 59 Panthers, 39 Panzer IVs, 27 Jagdpanzer IVs and the 8 Tigers of the 101st SS Battalion under its command. They faced more than 700 British, Canadian and Polish tanks.

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