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June 7th - World War

World War Two, saving private ryan, Second World War, W.W.II

JUNE-7: In Normandy , Radley-Walters was among the best, a shrewd and unflappable young tank officer who became a legend for the way he outfoxed superior German panzers. For him, the Battle of Normandy was a struggle against German tank regiments that had far better equipment, superior training and more experience.

When Radley-Walters and the Canadians finally headed inland, [June 7th, D-Day+1], the opposition was light. Their job was to get down this road and help the British capture the important city of Caen, and the path to Paris.

Kurt Meyer and Adolf Hitler

Rushing to meet the Canadians were the tanks of the 20,000 strong Hitler youth division...{the 12thh SS} commanded by SS Obersturmbannführer Kurt Meyer. Meyer would become the nemesis of the Canadian Army in Normandy. Meyer was a personal favorite of Adolf Hitler, not only because he was the best of Nazis, but because he was the best of soldiers.

He moved so quickly around the battlefield on his motorcycle, he was called "Schnellermeyer" - Speedy Meyer.

The 12th SS had marched all night to join the 21st Panzer that had been there since before D-Day. Shortly after Panzer Lehr joined them.

The Canadians' first encounter with German armour was at Authie, just North of the Caen-Bayeux road, the initial Canadian D-Day objective which they were unable to take. .... "On D-Day,...almost nothing other than the assault on the beaches went according to plan." (Decision in Normandy, Carlo D'Este, Harper Perennial,1994, p. 145)

The Germans were determined to hold Caen, the key to the route to Paris, at all costs. As long as they held it, the British and Canadians couldn't move south or east.

Kurt Meyer was commanding one of the lead units of one of Germany's most famous divisions - the 12th SS Hitler Youth, [Hitlerjugend]. They were all born in 1926, supposed incarnations of Hitler's master race. When they started training in 1943, they were all only 16 or 17 years old.

"They are so young. I tell them, no smoking, no drinking and no brothels. Platoon leaders are like older brothers. Training is realistic, war conditions, live ammunition, the casualties that result have to be accepted. For their motto, I gave them, "I am nothing, we are everything." In all my years of fighting, I never had a troop as good as this one.-"Valour and Horror" script

While they were not yet bloodied, they had been superbly trained, and many of their officers and NCOs were experienced veterans of the Russian front.

Hitler Youth-12th SS
Kurt Meyer coordinated the attack from his command post, the Abbaye Ardenne, an abandoned 13th century Norman Gothic abbey church.

"From the Abbey, I could see the coast and motorized columns heading towards us." ("Valour and Horror" script). "Did I see right? An enemy tank pushed through the orchards of St. Contest. Suddenly it stops. The commander open the hatch and scours the country side before him. Is the fellow blind? Has he not noticed that he stand barely 200 yards from the grenadiers of 2nd Battalion, and that the barrels of their anti-tank guns are pointed at him." ( George Kitching, Mud and Green Fields, Langely, British Columbia Battleline Books 1985, p. 219).

"My trap was set. I intended to slice through this brigade like a knife through a melon. My objective - the beaches. " My trap was set. I intended to slice through this brigade like a knife through a melon. My objective - the beaches. After our three years in Russia, these Canadians were to us "kleine fische" - little fish. I gave the order to open fire."-Kurt Meyer ("Valour and Horror" script).

© 2005, Mental Blocks

Valour and Horror, Second World War, Canadian history, World War II, W.W.II