NORMANDY 17 JUNE – 7 JULY 1944
“OUR OWN ARTILLERY CAN ONLY FIRE ONE-TENTH OF THE AMOUNT FIRED BY THE ENEMY, SUCCESS CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED BY CLOSEST COOPERATION AND BEST POSSIBLE GROUND OBSERVATION”
In the Summer of 1944, the Allies captured and translated a German battlefield report written by Generalleutnant Freiherr (Baron) von Lüttwitz commander of 2 Panzer Division. This report was dated 14 July 1944 and covered the fighting between 17 June and 7 July. Lüttwitz’s unit was being relieved by the 362 Infantry Division, and he was required to appraise its commanding officer of what the situation was like on the front line. Copies of the translated report were then circulated to Allied units in a document called ‘Weekly Intelligence Summary No.42’. The document makes fascinating reading, as it is a primary source document written during the battle for Normandy from the German point of view.
The division was not ordered to attack the Allied troops in Normandy following D-Day as German High Command believed that the main assault would still be in Calais, due to misinformation and deception tactics used by the Allies. When they were eventually ordered into Normandy to “push the invading forces back into the sea” they engaged in combat with British troops of the 50th Infantry Division
