Operation "Epsom" details

I am on my side loving Normandie diorama and work not at your level, i m quite well documented on 1ss
Anyway great achievement

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By the way the instruction of 12 ss was given by veterans of the lssah with a whole experience of the east front that s meaby why.

Furthrermore on the instruction of the German soldiers a huge place was given to initiativ and a corporal was able to take the lead, do not Forget also the esprit de corps as an elite army protect his comrad more than a fanatism and the 12ss was One of the most trained division of the West front prior the allies landing.

Anyway i am impress about this diorama

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First of all, welcome to this forum! Nice to see you.
Yes,I think your assessment is correct. I believe the HJ was the most effective Division the Germans had on the Invasion Front. They completed their training and were almost finished with being equipped when the alert came and so it was just about the perfect time for them to be used. After that point, no other German unit had the chance to get trained and equipped as well as the HJ did. Plus, the cadre of combat experienced Officers and NCOs meant their training was no-nonsense and combat oriented.
It should also be noted that the 15th Scottish Div had the vast majority of its’ troops experiencing combat for the first time. Given that they performed in a professional and excellent manner, even when “out on a limb” at Hill 112.

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Fine work Jerry, love the AB fig!

Thanks a bunch Ski

Yes, 12SS Pz “HJ” was one of the best divisions the Germans had in the West in 1944. Interestingly, the commander of Panzer Group West, Geyr von Schweppenberg, judged the abilities of his divisions by putting them into four groups of effectiveness:
A (the best) consisted of 2PD (Heer), 9SS PD “Hohenstaufen”, 12SS PD “Hitler Jugend” and Panzer Lehr (Heer).
B 11PD (Heer), 2SS PD “Das Reich”, 21PD (Heer).
C 9PD (Heer), 17SS PGD and 116 PD “Windhund”.
D (least effective) 10SSPD “Frundesburg” and 1SS PD “Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler”.
His reasoning was that the leadership was poor in the latter two (I’d take issue with this, as Heinz Harmel of 10SS was one of the best late war German divisional commanders, I think v Schweppenberg was referring to Von Truefeld who commanded in the Ukraine). “Frundesberg” also suffered from having only one battalion of tanks, mixed Panzer IV and Stugs, as the Panther battalion was still working up. He thought, correctly, that “LAH” had lost too many of it’s best leaders to “HJ” and it’s ranks were made up of scarcely trained recruits. By contrast, “Das Reich”, although it’s commander Heinz Lammerding was a political appointee, retained enough of its original personnel to still be effective. “Hohenstaufen” was, like “Frundesberg”, just back from the Eastern Front. Although it was understrength, its commander, “Willi” Bittrich was possibly the most able SS officer in Normandy (apart from Hausser, commanding II SS Pz Kp).
(Much of this info came from Yves Buffetant, “The Waffen SS in Normandy”, but is born out by extensive reading elsewhere.)
Within II SS Pz Kp (9SS & 10SS), many of the regimental officers came from the old “Das Reich” division (including the commander, Bittrich, his replacement when Bittrich took over the Korps, Stadler and Harmel of 10SS; they were all very competent).

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Geyrs’ assessment was much on the mark IMHO.
The LAH was a shadow of its’ former self having just been re-staffed with newbies and re-equipped for I believe the third time? Then not having the time to train properly befog the invasion hit. That is why they spent a good long time in reserve in that large forest to the south of the front. Hopefully to give them time to keep training a bit more. The HJ had the perfect luck of the draw. Plenty of time to train and excellent raw material. Very good basic training leadership cadre and still at a time during the war the industrial capacity enabled it to be fairly fully equipped to the 1944 PzDiv model. Even so they were lacking specialist vehicles like schleppers and beobachtung tanks and bergepanthers,etc. Also they never had the allotted truck capacity for carrying supplies. Still,they were better off at that point than a lot of armored units.

You are bang on about the trucks Jerry. All the panzer division were desperately short of trucks which not only had an effect on personnel, but especially on supply. As the railways were being constantly disrupted by Allied “Jabos” and the Resistance, much of the resupply was undertaken by trucks, which were of course also subject to being shot up by “Jabos”. It was both end against the middle and German mobility was seriously limited by lack of petrol as well as ammunition due to the difficulty of getting it forward. A case in point, the counter attacks of II SS Pz Kps were delayed by two days during Epsom. Had they been delivered when planned, the outcome for 15th Scottish, 11th Armoured and 49th Division could have been far more serious.

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Great thanks and my best wishes

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You are true it wasnt the lssah anymore, recruits from the luftwaffe and krirgmarine, not specially the chosen affectation and not that much volontary as it used to be shortage of training and despite the fact that it was lssah shortage of tanks, automatic and demi automatic weapons, délayer of arriving on the Normandie battlefield due to constant dutch résistant harcÚlement and constant allied bombing to all the train track after Rouen by consequencies lssah has to arrive by road with night-club trip l.

Si the lssah sont never recouvered his precious level of 1941/1942

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yessir,all true,
J

Beautiful work JR , love it !!!

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I agree with Glenn, your pics are capturing the realism. It’s astounding the way you’ve been able to have them interact within the scene in such a natural way.

Ruck On, I say!

Thanks for the B$W conversion Laddie! Someday I will get to learn that. heheheh But not today,not today,
J

Thanks Ski,
Very nice thing to write bro,
J

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Your dio is impressive as an action depiction hour by hour

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Thank you Sir!

Outstanding job on figures, vehicle and groundwork Jerry, :+1: :slightly_smiling_face:, and the B&W image of the advancing Stug created by Glenn gives a very realistic feel, :+1: :slightly_smiling_face:.

G, :beer:

Looks excellent, one scene best than the other, your imagination to make this history is incredible. You must follow in this line. Regards, Omar

Thanks G,
I wish I knew how to do the black and white thing. But then again, it would be yet another distraction. Heheheheh
J