Erich
the old Sage
A panzer w-ss offizier F. L. interviewed by noted author George Winter who has written several small booklets on some pretty unknown W-SS battles while in the Ardenne. For their size some of the best written and researched to date....
first page from the noted historynet article
Breakout From Normandy
In July 1944, panzer commander Fritz Langanke struggled to guide his tank out of the Roncey Pocket and the maelstrom enveloping German forces trapped in it.
By George J. Winter Sr.
An American halftrack rumbles through the wreckage of Roncey. During his escape, Langanke's column stumbled upon several halftracks, destroyed them and drove off their crews. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
Six weeks after the Normandy landings, the British Second Army still struggled to take Caen and the U.S. First Army was mired in the Cotentin Peninsula's dense hedgerow country. The American seizure of St. Lô on July 18, 1944, set the stage for Operation Cobra, which kicked off the breakthrough of the German lines on July 25.
By the evening of July 27, elements of the 3rd Armored Division's Combat Command B were near Camprond in a drive to cut off German units north of the Coutances-St. Lô Road. Farther south, elements of the 2nd Armored Division had reached Notre Dame-de-Cenilly. On July 28th, tanks of the 3rd Armored approached Savigny and Cerisy-la-Salle and elements of the 2nd Armored Division threatened St. Denis-le-Gast and Lengronne. The next day, spearheads of the 3rd Armored had flanked Roncey, which lay to their south, and cut the Coutances-Lengronne Road, while the 2nd Armored advance units entered St. Denis-le-Gast and reached Lengronne. American possession of those forward positions was tenuous at best, given the chaos of battle and the ebb and flow of territory gained and lost. Even though the Germans were now in full retreat, they resisted tenaciously as they withdrew.
Fritz Langanke was one of the German soldiers who fought against the Allies with great determination during the retreat. At the time of the Normandy campaign, the 25-year-old veteran of seven years' service in the SS was an officer cadet in the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich. It was during his efforts to bring his tanks out of the Roncey Pocket that he saw some of the most intense combat of his service in the SS and earned the respect of his senior officers, who would eventually award him the coveted Knight's Cross. Langanke was interviewed for World War II Magazine by George J. Winter Sr.
World War II: Where were you at the start of Operation Cobra?
Langanke: Early on the night of July 28, 1944, I was attached with my platoon of four Panthers of the 2nd Company, SS Panzer Regiment Das Reich, to the reinforced 3rd Battalion of SS Regiment Deutschland, which was part of our division. The American encirclement of the bulk of those German units that had been north of the main American breakout thrust from St. Lô was nearly complete. The Roncey Pocket was closing. Our task force, led by the commander of the 3rd Battalion, Major Helmut Schreiber, was ordered to take the route via Cerisy-la-Salle and Notre Dame-de-Cenilly toward Percy, where a new defense line was to be established. Many of the infantry fragments of divisions that roamed around in that area, as well as stragglers, were to be taken along. This was an absolutely unrealistic order.
WWII: Orders being orders, what did you do?
Langanke: I took the lead, and Schreiber sat on my tank. The lanes and roads were plugged with vehicles of all kinds. Eventually, we got things started. On the east side of Notre Dame-de-Cenilly we could hear the noise of battle. At the end of the night we had reached la Croix-Marie, close to the road that led from Villebaudon via Lengronne to Bréhal. This crossroads was already blocked, and there was some shooting. Schreiber ordered me to clear this junction so we could continue. In front of us vehicles had driven up close and packed the road. All of them were staff or maintenance cars; none were combat units. Most of the drivers and crews had left their vehicles in panic. I drove along the side of the vehicles and called out to make way for my tank. But whether I begged, swore or hollered, only a few drivers reacted. I pushed a car or a bus to the side here and there, and slowly proceeded. Then there were two or three open radio vehicles right in the middle of the road, and I had to drive over them. Being an old radio operator, I tore two or three radio sets out of their fastenings and tossed them on the rear of our hull before we flattened the cars.
WWII: Were you able to clear a route through?
Langanke: We reached the area of the one-sided fight and shortly drove off the American infantry into a field to the left. Back on the road we were hit by a round from an anti-tank gun and were deeply shocked. The driver and radio operator cried, "We are burning, we can't see anything anymore." Here, for the first time in the war, we experienced phosphorus shells. It must have been a towed gun, because I couldn't see any armor. We backed up a couple of meters and crawled into a small side lane. Just around the corner and out of sight we ran our tank up onto a big heap of ammunition boxes and other junk, thereby killing the motor. Several attempts by the driver to start the motor were in vain. We didn't dare let the Panther roll forward down that heap because we would be helpless in sight of the enemy. We had to crank up the motor. I jumped out of my turret and put some boxes together so I could stand on them. I stuck in the crank at such an angle that I could force down its handle with my stomach and push it up with my arms. I did this several times as quickly as possible, and finally the motor turned over. Fear increases your strength considerably; normally you needed two men for this action. We then rushed around the corner and, firing with cannon and machine guns, we eliminated the anti-tank gun. The way was now free, and we returned to the head of our column. All that had taken some time, and under the impression that we couldn't break through the roadblock, Schreiber had decided to turn back, swing to the west and try another route south. I pleaded with him not to do that, pointing out the traffic jams and the fact that, come daylight when aircraft were overhead, there would be no movement at all. He insisted, and I had to obey, of course. At the next corner, we talked to the leader of a small battle group that had already been in contact with the enemy. He was confident he could hold his position. He was too optimistic.
WWII: Was it still dark when you were done with all this?
Langanke: The night was gone by now, and we moved in full daylight. Pretty soon aircraft dotted the sky. First they were busy north and south of us, and we were able to drive another three to four kilometers in the next hour or so, thereby passing St. Martin-de-Cenilly. Then our route was taken care of -- after the first attacks, the road was blocked for good. The planes could then, quite calmly, pick target after target. Since there was no defense, it must have been a picnic for those guys in the air. For us on the ground it was terrible. To make it even worse, artillery started shelling us. Here we were with quite a bit of combat capacity and no chance to use it, just being smashed. Our division lost about two-thirds of its weapons and equipment in the pocket. When all was over in the afternoon, I guess the same number of vehicles as were destroyed could still have moved. But the jam on the road was complete. Just before the first attack on our column, we had reached a point some 200 meters from the Hambye-Roncey Road near la Valtolaine. In front of us a burned-out tractor with a big artillery piece and other vehicles blocked the way. Schreiber jumped off our Panther and tried to find out what was going on in front of us. He ran across the Hambye-Roncey Road, but American troops had established a roadblock at that point, and he couldn't come back. From then on, the rest of the men relied on me.
first page from the noted historynet article
Breakout From Normandy
In July 1944, panzer commander Fritz Langanke struggled to guide his tank out of the Roncey Pocket and the maelstrom enveloping German forces trapped in it.
By George J. Winter Sr.
An American halftrack rumbles through the wreckage of Roncey. During his escape, Langanke's column stumbled upon several halftracks, destroyed them and drove off their crews. (NATIONAL ARCHIVES)
Six weeks after the Normandy landings, the British Second Army still struggled to take Caen and the U.S. First Army was mired in the Cotentin Peninsula's dense hedgerow country. The American seizure of St. Lô on July 18, 1944, set the stage for Operation Cobra, which kicked off the breakthrough of the German lines on July 25.
By the evening of July 27, elements of the 3rd Armored Division's Combat Command B were near Camprond in a drive to cut off German units north of the Coutances-St. Lô Road. Farther south, elements of the 2nd Armored Division had reached Notre Dame-de-Cenilly. On July 28th, tanks of the 3rd Armored approached Savigny and Cerisy-la-Salle and elements of the 2nd Armored Division threatened St. Denis-le-Gast and Lengronne. The next day, spearheads of the 3rd Armored had flanked Roncey, which lay to their south, and cut the Coutances-Lengronne Road, while the 2nd Armored advance units entered St. Denis-le-Gast and reached Lengronne. American possession of those forward positions was tenuous at best, given the chaos of battle and the ebb and flow of territory gained and lost. Even though the Germans were now in full retreat, they resisted tenaciously as they withdrew.
Fritz Langanke was one of the German soldiers who fought against the Allies with great determination during the retreat. At the time of the Normandy campaign, the 25-year-old veteran of seven years' service in the SS was an officer cadet in the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich. It was during his efforts to bring his tanks out of the Roncey Pocket that he saw some of the most intense combat of his service in the SS and earned the respect of his senior officers, who would eventually award him the coveted Knight's Cross. Langanke was interviewed for World War II Magazine by George J. Winter Sr.
World War II: Where were you at the start of Operation Cobra?
Langanke: Early on the night of July 28, 1944, I was attached with my platoon of four Panthers of the 2nd Company, SS Panzer Regiment Das Reich, to the reinforced 3rd Battalion of SS Regiment Deutschland, which was part of our division. The American encirclement of the bulk of those German units that had been north of the main American breakout thrust from St. Lô was nearly complete. The Roncey Pocket was closing. Our task force, led by the commander of the 3rd Battalion, Major Helmut Schreiber, was ordered to take the route via Cerisy-la-Salle and Notre Dame-de-Cenilly toward Percy, where a new defense line was to be established. Many of the infantry fragments of divisions that roamed around in that area, as well as stragglers, were to be taken along. This was an absolutely unrealistic order.
WWII: Orders being orders, what did you do?
Langanke: I took the lead, and Schreiber sat on my tank. The lanes and roads were plugged with vehicles of all kinds. Eventually, we got things started. On the east side of Notre Dame-de-Cenilly we could hear the noise of battle. At the end of the night we had reached la Croix-Marie, close to the road that led from Villebaudon via Lengronne to Bréhal. This crossroads was already blocked, and there was some shooting. Schreiber ordered me to clear this junction so we could continue. In front of us vehicles had driven up close and packed the road. All of them were staff or maintenance cars; none were combat units. Most of the drivers and crews had left their vehicles in panic. I drove along the side of the vehicles and called out to make way for my tank. But whether I begged, swore or hollered, only a few drivers reacted. I pushed a car or a bus to the side here and there, and slowly proceeded. Then there were two or three open radio vehicles right in the middle of the road, and I had to drive over them. Being an old radio operator, I tore two or three radio sets out of their fastenings and tossed them on the rear of our hull before we flattened the cars.
WWII: Were you able to clear a route through?
Langanke: We reached the area of the one-sided fight and shortly drove off the American infantry into a field to the left. Back on the road we were hit by a round from an anti-tank gun and were deeply shocked. The driver and radio operator cried, "We are burning, we can't see anything anymore." Here, for the first time in the war, we experienced phosphorus shells. It must have been a towed gun, because I couldn't see any armor. We backed up a couple of meters and crawled into a small side lane. Just around the corner and out of sight we ran our tank up onto a big heap of ammunition boxes and other junk, thereby killing the motor. Several attempts by the driver to start the motor were in vain. We didn't dare let the Panther roll forward down that heap because we would be helpless in sight of the enemy. We had to crank up the motor. I jumped out of my turret and put some boxes together so I could stand on them. I stuck in the crank at such an angle that I could force down its handle with my stomach and push it up with my arms. I did this several times as quickly as possible, and finally the motor turned over. Fear increases your strength considerably; normally you needed two men for this action. We then rushed around the corner and, firing with cannon and machine guns, we eliminated the anti-tank gun. The way was now free, and we returned to the head of our column. All that had taken some time, and under the impression that we couldn't break through the roadblock, Schreiber had decided to turn back, swing to the west and try another route south. I pleaded with him not to do that, pointing out the traffic jams and the fact that, come daylight when aircraft were overhead, there would be no movement at all. He insisted, and I had to obey, of course. At the next corner, we talked to the leader of a small battle group that had already been in contact with the enemy. He was confident he could hold his position. He was too optimistic.
WWII: Was it still dark when you were done with all this?
Langanke: The night was gone by now, and we moved in full daylight. Pretty soon aircraft dotted the sky. First they were busy north and south of us, and we were able to drive another three to four kilometers in the next hour or so, thereby passing St. Martin-de-Cenilly. Then our route was taken care of -- after the first attacks, the road was blocked for good. The planes could then, quite calmly, pick target after target. Since there was no defense, it must have been a picnic for those guys in the air. For us on the ground it was terrible. To make it even worse, artillery started shelling us. Here we were with quite a bit of combat capacity and no chance to use it, just being smashed. Our division lost about two-thirds of its weapons and equipment in the pocket. When all was over in the afternoon, I guess the same number of vehicles as were destroyed could still have moved. But the jam on the road was complete. Just before the first attack on our column, we had reached a point some 200 meters from the Hambye-Roncey Road near la Valtolaine. In front of us a burned-out tractor with a big artillery piece and other vehicles blocked the way. Schreiber jumped off our Panther and tried to find out what was going on in front of us. He ran across the Hambye-Roncey Road, but American troops had established a roadblock at that point, and he couldn't come back. From then on, the rest of the men relied on me.
