Written with the advantage of new materials from archives in the
former Eastern Bloc, this book is no whitewash of a Waffen SS division
and it does not shy away from confronting unpalatable facts or
controversies.
Raised in 1943 with seventeen-year-olds from the Hitler Youth movement,
and following the twin disasters of Stalingrad and 'Tunisgrad', the
Hitlerjugend Panzer Division emerged as the most effective German
division fighting in the West. The core of the division was a cadre of
offices and NCOs provided by Hitler's bodyguard division, the elite
Leibstandarte, with the aim of producing a division of 'equal value'
to fight alongside them in I SS Panzer Corps.
During the fighting in Normandy, the Hitlerjugend proved to be
implacable foes to both the British and the Canadians, repeatedly
blunting Montgomery's offensives, fighting with skill and a degree of
determination well beyond the norm. This they did from D+1 through to
the final battle to escape from the Falaise Pocket, despite huge
disadvantages, namely constant Allied air attack, highly destructive
naval gunfire and a chronic lack of combat supplies and replacements of
men and equipment.
Written with the advantage of new materials from archives in the former
Eastern Bloc, this book is no whitewash of a Waffen SS division and it
does not shy away from confronting unpalatable facts or controversies.
