The Germans in Normandy - 12th Hitlerjugend

The most implacable opponents of the British and Canadians fighting in Normandy were the largely teenage soldiers of the Hitlerjugend. From D+1 through to attacking back into the Falaise Pocket, this unique division constantly thwarted Montgomery’s plans and exacted a terrible price on the Allies for every mile gained.

Formed from ‘volunteers’ (many weren’t) from the Hitler Youth Movement in the aftermath of Stalingrad, this division of boys aged 17 on recruitment into the SS, came of age and were declared fully operational just before D Day. Coming from a highly militarized society they made exceptional and highly committed soldiers but with officers and non-commissioned officers from the Leibstandarte commanding them, they were inculcated with Nazi brutality and the standards of the Eastern Front from the outset.

Both Hitlerjugend’s alleged atrocities and their remarkable doggedness in battle made them a loathed but grudgingly respected opponent to all who fought them, in some cases in what was tantamount to a private war. This program will be a factual and impartial coverage of a controversial subject, avoiding both glorification and vilification. The story of the fighting very much speaks for its self and covers virtually all the main British and Canadian operations from a German perspective.