12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend, Volume 2
From Operation Goodwood to April 1946
Reeks: Casemate Illustrated
Massimiliano Afiero ; Raphael Riccio
- An
- account
- of
- the
- infamous
- 12th
- SS
- Panzer
- Division
- Hiterjugend,
- from
- Operation
- Goodwood
- through
- to
- the
- end
- of
- the
- war.
- Packed
- with
- over
- 150
- photographs,
- maps
- and
- diagrams.Formed
- in
- 1943
- with
- the
- express
- purpose
- of
- blocking
- the
- forthcoming
- Allied
- invasion
- in
- the
- West,
- the
- 12th
- SS
- Panzer
- Division
- Hitlerjugend
- carved
- out
- a
- reputation
- as
- one
- of
- the
- Wehrmacht’s
- foremost
- panzer
- divisions,
- as
- witnessed
- by
- its
- tenacious
- defense
- of
- Caen
- following
- the
- Allied
- invasion
- of
- Normandy.
- The
- British
- Operation
- Goodwood
- against
- Caen
- in
- July
- 1944
- was
- followed
- by
- Totalize
- in
- August,
- which
- bypassed
- Caen
- and
- attacked
- the
- Hitlerjugend
- positions.
- Within
- a
- week
- thousands
- of
- German
- troops
- were
- encircled
- in
- the
- Falaise
- Pocket.
- Around
- ten
- thousand
- Hitlerjugend
- soldiers
- escaped
- piecemeal,
- regrouping
- to
- fight
- in
- the
- battles
- along
- the
- Maas
- and
- the
- ill-fated
- Ardennes
- offensive
- of
- December
- 1944.
- Deployed
- to
- Hungary
- in
- 1945
- to
- stem
- the
- Red
- Army
- advance,
- the
- division
- fought
- against
- overwhelming
- odds
- until
- the
- final
- battles
- in
- Austria,
- on
- Reich
- soil,
- in
- late
- April
- 1945.
- There
- the
- soldiers
- of
- the
- Hitlerjugend,
- despite
- the
- desperate
- situation
- and
- the
- superiority
- of
- the
- enemy,
- managed
- to
- achieve
- local
- success
- and
- launch
- desperate
- counterattacks
- even
- into
- the
- last
- weeks
- of
- the
- war.
- Packed
- with
- photographs,
- maps
- and
- profiles,
- this
- Casemate
- Illustrated
- follows
- the
- actions
- of
- the
- 12th
- SS
- Panzer
- Division
- throughout
- its existence.
