12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend

▣ Unit · 1944 – 1944

The 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend was formed largely from young recruits of the Hitler Youth and was committed north of Caen in the first days of the invasion. It fought the Canadian and British forces in the repeated battles for Caen, earning a reputation for determined resistance at heavy cost to both sides. Through June and July it held positions around the Carpiquet airfield and the Odon, absorbing severe casualties that could not be made good. In August it was caught in the fighting around the Falaise pocket, and although part of the division escaped across the Seine, its armoured strength was destroyed. The positions shown here are schematic and follow the division's general area of operations around Caen and the Falaise road. Its resistance around Caen tied down Allied forces for weeks and made the battle for the city one of the most costly of the campaign. Its survivors were withdrawn to refit and later fought in Hungary and Austria.

Sources

• Wikimedia Commons — Charnwood (SVG, by EyeSerene)
• Wikimedia Commons — Operations Greenwood and Pomegranate, Normandy, July 1944 (EN.svg)
• Wikimedia Commons — Operation Tractable (SVG, by EyeSerene)
• Wikipedia — 352nd Infantry Division (CC BY-SA 4.0)
• Wikipedia — Falaise pocket (CC BY-SA 4.0)
• Wikipedia — Normandy landings (CC BY-SA 3.0)
• Wikipedia — Operation Overlord (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Related

• Normandy landings

Reuse this data: open dataset (GeoJSON / CSV, CC BY 4.0)