The Perfect Soldiers?

One of the more fascinating aspects of World War II is the role that ideologically fanatical troops played in perpetuating their nation’s militaristic and murderous policies, and the incredibly difficult task they posed for the democratic allied nations to overcome.

Germany and Japan had evolved into states where militarism and fanaticism had metastasized. Both evinced a belief in the power and necessity of military conquest and developed capabilities to act on that belief. By 1944, the war was going very badly for both nations which created a suicidal, fatalistic fanaticism that took a horrendous toll on their enemies.

Germany’s Waffen SS had ballooned into a nearly million-man force by 1945. To be sure, many of these hastily thrown together units were a far cry from the 1941 hardcore ideological warriors of Adolf Hitler’s National Socialism. But one Waffen SS division in particular embodied Hitler’s maniacal faith in the power of the will to overcome all difficulties on the battlefield: The 12th SS Panzer Division, better known as the Hitlerjugend division.

The brainchild of Reichsführer Henrich Himler and heartily approved by Hitler, the division was constituted in 1943 from 17-year-old boys born in 1926. These boys had come of age during Hitler’s ascension to all-powerful leader and warlord. They were absolutely inculcated with the cult of the Führer. To them, Hitler was Germany, and Germany was Hitler. They were ready to take up arms and prove themselves in the ultimate crucible of manhood: Combat.

Unlike many army replacements, the HJ youths were trained extensively in 1943 before deploying to France in May 1944. The youthful SS grenadiers received the wisdom of a veteran cadre schooled in the realities of merciless combat on the Ostfront. Officers and NCOs in the Waffen SS had a close relationship with their young grenadiers, quite unlike the rigid hierarchy of Das Heer, or regular German army.

The HJ division’s first taste of combat came a day after the Allied landings on the Normandy beaches. Now 18 years old, the new panzer grenadiers were brash and eager to take on “Tommy”. Their wary officers looked on, knowing full well that they faced an enemy with vast resources and total air superiority. By that time, German forces were used to fighting without replacements or adequate resupply and without air cover.

To make matters worse, the 12th’s regiments were committed piecemeal into the battle in a desperate attempt to halt the Canadian and British troops before Caen. The British expected to take Caen on Day 1, June 6, of the invasion. It took them until mid-July.

The 12th fought with skill, tenacity and fanaticism, and defeated several attempts to take Caen. The panzer regiment was armed with Panzer IVs and Panther tanks. The SS tankers were expertly trained and used their 75mm guns to devastating effect. The combat was remorseless. Surrendering soldiers on both sides were often murdered on the spot.

The massive material wealth of the allies grew daily as the beachhead ports expanded. The 12th, on the other hand, was being ground down daily by the triple threat of artillery, air and naval bombardment, with no hope of reinforcement. The Royal Navy’s big guns thundered down on the SS grenadiers with horrifying results.

Despite the dogged, some would say heroic, defense by the Hitlerjugend division, the outcome was preordained. There was simply no way any unit could overcome the odds the 12th division regiments faced on those battlefields just south of the Normandy beaches.

It is difficult not to admire the courage and skill of these young grenadiers who faced such terrible odds. Their commitment to Fuhrer, Volk und Vaterland was absolute. But it is always necessary to remember for what these valiant grenadiers were fighting. They were fighting to uphold a regime that was enslaving and brutalizing most of Europe and murdering thousands of non-Germans every day.

Yes, in some ways their training and fanaticism made them militarily superior to their conscripted opponents, though certainly no less courageous. The Canadian and British infantrymen and tankers battled hard, and hundreds died in vicious combat around Caen. Their sacrifice must be remembered and honored eternally. They gave their lives selflessly in the Herculean effort to free Europe from the awful grasp of the Hitler Reich.

Were the Hitlerjugend grenadiers and their officers the embodiment of the perfect soldiers? Were they the perfect combination of discipline, morale and training? If not, they were very close. Unfortunately, these young men wasted their valor.

They were fighting for the wrong side.