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PoorOldSpike
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DEFENSIVE BATTLE IN NORMANDY
By Fritz Langanke (In his own words, transcribed by Mark Bando)
(Herr Langanke was a Mark V Panther tank commander and officer candidate in 2d company, 2nd SS Panzer Regiment 'Das Reich' in June-July of 1944 in Normandy)
The beginning of 1944 saw the Division "Das Reich" in the Bordeau-Toulouse area. Here, Ostuf. Schlomka took over 2nd company of SS Pz Rgt 2 and I was leader of 1st platoon of that company. We were the last ones to take over new tanks at the Magdeburg depot. While there, Invasion in Normandy started. We were supposed to go straight to that battle area.
But bombing of the bridges and railroad facilities in Northern France had made that impossible. On the rail we therefore nearly surrounded the whole country. We drove to the Saar down along the Rhone, close to the Mediterranean, up the Atlantic coast via Nantes to Alencon. There we detrained and from there took the road north to the area north of Percy.
Later we moved north and bivouacked at St Sebastian de Raids, south of the road from Carentan to Periers as operational reserve.
Several times we have minor engagements. And then, in the afternoon of July 9, alarm! An American breakthrough at Sainteny! I get the order to block the road with my platoon and stop the enemy under all circumstance. We have no map, no further information, don't know anything about our own troops. Hastily, we start and reach the road at Raids that is under heavy fire. One thing is clear, if the American advance succeeds, they have overcome the swamp and can move freely via Periers to Coutances the way they did it north toward Cherbourg.
With my V Panther I am driving along Route Nationale D971, Carentan-Periers up north. We don't reach Sainteny. At the point where the side road takes off to l'Oseraie larger groups of parachutists can be seen moving in the meadows beside the road. It's a little bit misty and dusk is falling and I'm not sure if they are Germans or Americans. So I hold fire fortunately, because the next day we learned they were Germans.
My order says block the road. Since I am alone with my vehicles and during the night rather helpless against infantry, I draw back a short distance and find a better position along some hedgerows (on both sides of the road), where we stay over night. The enemy did move up but only to the next hedgerow in front of us.
Probably none of us did sleep that night because sitting in a tank in a dark night in broken country without infantry protection is very nasty. Fortunately the Americans carried out night attacks very seldom. Mostly, come dark, they called it a day.
Next morning shelling set in, but was not too strong. Unmolested, slow, low flying American artillery observers moved for hours in those days, over our position. We could now see that the Americans had dug in at the next or over next hedgerows.
(Das Reich Panther in France before D-Day)
Being so close together was in one respect advantageous.
Artillery and fighter bombers were reluctant to aim straight at us for fear of endangering their own troops. So the main concentration of that fire was a bit behind us although bad enough anyhow. During the day we finally could breathe freely. III Bn 'DF' took over a section of the main line of resistance of which our position was a part. They had moved down from la Haye du Puits area.
The Grenadiere from 10th Company 'DF' dug their foxholes right beside our tanks. An old comrade of mine from pre war time when I was an infantryman showed up. He was in charge of the infantry gun unit of 'DF' ('Grillen' Self Propelled Guns). He established his command post right under my Panther. Since he had direct contact to the artillery observer and the Infantry platoon leader was close to my tank too, there was excellent cooperation for the next (better than) two weeks, while we kept this position. The foxholes were directly behind the hedgerows and the Grenadiere had pierced holes through to be able to stick their weapons through.
Next morning, we had just renewed our camouflage with fresh bushes, when the C.O. of III Bn 'DF' appeared. He was checking the defense line and personally finding out the details of the layout. Our greeting was buoyant. 1937 we had been recruits in the same Battalion and hadn't seen each other since 1939. He was one of the young CO's of our troop who combined highest efficiency with self discipline and the best Prussian attitude: "Mehr sein als scheinen" (Be more than one appears to be"). His men would swear by him.
When the Americans had found out about our new defense line, artillery fire set in that temporarily reached the intensity we never before had experienced on any battlefield; and this day after day, sometimes for over an hour. Only during the night for a more or less extended period of time there was no shooting. Then you could hear traffic noise. Supply was coming up, etc. We used this time for the same activities. The top Sgt or motor transport Sgt drove with their cars right up to our tanks with food and ammunition. One night when they drove back, we heard loud explosions on the road.
Rushing over we saw that one of our vehicles had been blown up by mines, two men were dead. The Americans had found out about our supply timing. In a most daring way, some of them had used the span between arrival and departure of our cars and mined the road. They had managed to get behind our lines and back again unnoticed. From now on, our supply vehicles didn't drive up to us and the crews had to carry all the stuff some 400 meters to our Panther. Very cumbersome!
The second or third day, the shelling reaches a new climax. The impacts are frequent and close by, so incessantly that we feel a light tremble in the tank. Of course it is minor, but when you are sitting in the turret and think about nothing else but the shelling, you feel it like a real swaying.
By Fritz Langanke (In his own words, transcribed by Mark Bando)
(Herr Langanke was a Mark V Panther tank commander and officer candidate in 2d company, 2nd SS Panzer Regiment 'Das Reich' in June-July of 1944 in Normandy)
The beginning of 1944 saw the Division "Das Reich" in the Bordeau-Toulouse area. Here, Ostuf. Schlomka took over 2nd company of SS Pz Rgt 2 and I was leader of 1st platoon of that company. We were the last ones to take over new tanks at the Magdeburg depot. While there, Invasion in Normandy started. We were supposed to go straight to that battle area.
But bombing of the bridges and railroad facilities in Northern France had made that impossible. On the rail we therefore nearly surrounded the whole country. We drove to the Saar down along the Rhone, close to the Mediterranean, up the Atlantic coast via Nantes to Alencon. There we detrained and from there took the road north to the area north of Percy.
Later we moved north and bivouacked at St Sebastian de Raids, south of the road from Carentan to Periers as operational reserve.
Several times we have minor engagements. And then, in the afternoon of July 9, alarm! An American breakthrough at Sainteny! I get the order to block the road with my platoon and stop the enemy under all circumstance. We have no map, no further information, don't know anything about our own troops. Hastily, we start and reach the road at Raids that is under heavy fire. One thing is clear, if the American advance succeeds, they have overcome the swamp and can move freely via Periers to Coutances the way they did it north toward Cherbourg.
With my V Panther I am driving along Route Nationale D971, Carentan-Periers up north. We don't reach Sainteny. At the point where the side road takes off to l'Oseraie larger groups of parachutists can be seen moving in the meadows beside the road. It's a little bit misty and dusk is falling and I'm not sure if they are Germans or Americans. So I hold fire fortunately, because the next day we learned they were Germans.
My order says block the road. Since I am alone with my vehicles and during the night rather helpless against infantry, I draw back a short distance and find a better position along some hedgerows (on both sides of the road), where we stay over night. The enemy did move up but only to the next hedgerow in front of us.
Probably none of us did sleep that night because sitting in a tank in a dark night in broken country without infantry protection is very nasty. Fortunately the Americans carried out night attacks very seldom. Mostly, come dark, they called it a day.
Next morning shelling set in, but was not too strong. Unmolested, slow, low flying American artillery observers moved for hours in those days, over our position. We could now see that the Americans had dug in at the next or over next hedgerows.
(Das Reich Panther in France before D-Day)
Being so close together was in one respect advantageous.
Artillery and fighter bombers were reluctant to aim straight at us for fear of endangering their own troops. So the main concentration of that fire was a bit behind us although bad enough anyhow. During the day we finally could breathe freely. III Bn 'DF' took over a section of the main line of resistance of which our position was a part. They had moved down from la Haye du Puits area.
The Grenadiere from 10th Company 'DF' dug their foxholes right beside our tanks. An old comrade of mine from pre war time when I was an infantryman showed up. He was in charge of the infantry gun unit of 'DF' ('Grillen' Self Propelled Guns). He established his command post right under my Panther. Since he had direct contact to the artillery observer and the Infantry platoon leader was close to my tank too, there was excellent cooperation for the next (better than) two weeks, while we kept this position. The foxholes were directly behind the hedgerows and the Grenadiere had pierced holes through to be able to stick their weapons through.
Next morning, we had just renewed our camouflage with fresh bushes, when the C.O. of III Bn 'DF' appeared. He was checking the defense line and personally finding out the details of the layout. Our greeting was buoyant. 1937 we had been recruits in the same Battalion and hadn't seen each other since 1939. He was one of the young CO's of our troop who combined highest efficiency with self discipline and the best Prussian attitude: "Mehr sein als scheinen" (Be more than one appears to be"). His men would swear by him.
When the Americans had found out about our new defense line, artillery fire set in that temporarily reached the intensity we never before had experienced on any battlefield; and this day after day, sometimes for over an hour. Only during the night for a more or less extended period of time there was no shooting. Then you could hear traffic noise. Supply was coming up, etc. We used this time for the same activities. The top Sgt or motor transport Sgt drove with their cars right up to our tanks with food and ammunition. One night when they drove back, we heard loud explosions on the road.
Rushing over we saw that one of our vehicles had been blown up by mines, two men were dead. The Americans had found out about our supply timing. In a most daring way, some of them had used the span between arrival and departure of our cars and mined the road. They had managed to get behind our lines and back again unnoticed. From now on, our supply vehicles didn't drive up to us and the crews had to carry all the stuff some 400 meters to our Panther. Very cumbersome!
The second or third day, the shelling reaches a new climax. The impacts are frequent and close by, so incessantly that we feel a light tremble in the tank. Of course it is minor, but when you are sitting in the turret and think about nothing else but the shelling, you feel it like a real swaying.
