Canadians versus 12th SS HJ

The 17th SS PzGr was deployed against the Americans advancing from Utah. I'm not sure about the deployment of Frundsberg (10th SS) in Normandy, but the forces defending Caen were mostly 12th and 2nd SS Panzer divisions.

 

Thanks Roel.

You're right that the 17 SS PzGr along with the 5th Para Div
faced the US forces south of Carentan.

I wasn't being clear. What I was trying to say, was the situation the Canadians faced was fairly common amoung the Allies in Normandy
even if the combat tended to be very intense as the Canadiens opposed the VERY dedicated soldiers of the 12th SS.

The 10th SS arrived at the front around or after june 25 and opposed the British west of Caen.

 

Another thing with teenagers , there easier to manipulate (adults can be manipulated too , but if you want to manipulate someone , people generally try to manipulate teenagers) the teenagers in the SS thought Hitler was God , and they fought to the death ,

 

The Canadians failed to secure their first day objective (along with all the Allied forces). The forces defending Juno beach on D-day were second rate units and it wasn't until June 7 that higher quality German units were brought forward to oppose the Canadians. The Canadians lost only 356 dead on D-day out of ~14,000 landed.

 

Arguably the only real "mistake" that resulted in the large loss of life at Omaha beach is the decision to have minimal air and naval preparatory fire. That decision was made by the British commander (Tedder ?)AFAIK over the objections of the American division commander who requested extensive pre-invasion prep fire. He decided that it wasn't needed (ignoring the extensive American experience with pre-invason bombardment in the Pacific) and did not want to chance compromising the secrecy of the landing location.
In retrospect it wasn't necessarrily a bad decision despite the higher losses it caused. Had the Germans guessed the location of the main effort (Normany) and prepared properly the losses could have been staggering for all Allied units.

 

Grieg wrote originally that most of the soldiers of the 12th SS Panzer Div only received 10 months training before going into combat. Wouldn't it be more accurate to say they also had several years basic taining provided by the organization they were named after. These soldiers were the cream of the Hitler Youth after all, and were probably some of the most highly motivated troops that fought in Europe in 1944.

 

DCM wrote:

There is some truth to that. How much such basic training and political indoctrination adds to combat effectiveness is unknown. The 10 months refers to field training. The Canadians had been training in England for about 3 years prior to D-day.