Das Reich: The March of the 2nd Panzer Divisio

The book is not about the 2nd SS panzer division, they just happen to be in France during Normandy. He clearly writes about the SAS and French Resistance, the author and publisher know this and anyone reading it would know as well. It could only be titled Das Reich to sell books. Very misleading book, poor ethics by those involved.

I originally read this book years ago, but my appreciation of Max Hastings' work after reading "Armageddon" and "Retribution" gave me the urge to re-read "Das Reich". In my opinion, Hastings is a brilliant writer with an incredible ability to convey a rare, non-linear view of history ... he paints a portrait, provides voluminous detail, but allows the reader to discern his or her opinion of the facts. This is the case with "Das Reich". The premise of the book is the journey of the 2nd SS "Das Reich" Panzer division from southern France to Normandy. The division, pulled from the hell of the Eastern Front to the French town of Montauban for rest and refitting, was ordered to travel north to stop the Allied advance from the Normandy beachheads. The division is harassed from the start of its journey by bands of french resistance groups aided by British SAS forces intent on disrupting the German timetable. The attacks are initially "shrugged off" by the division. However, mounting casualties and the eventual kidnapping of a much-respected commander, compells the Das Reich division to exact a terrible revenge on the villages/towns suspected of harboring resistance fighters. Hastings' book shines a light on just one of the myriad of atrocities that define the nature of the Second World War. While names like Nanking, Leningrad, Dresden, Hiroshima and Auschwitz are firmly entrenched in most peoples' minds as terrible events, iconic in the way they evoke thoughts of destruction and mass death of innocent people. "Das Reich" illuminates places like Tulle and Oradour-sur-Glane, almost to serve as a reminder that the widescale suffering, atrocity and destruction wasn't relegated to those places so well-documented in history volumes.

I originally read this book years ago, but my appreciation of Max Hastings' work after reading "Armageddon" and "Retribution" gave me the urge to re-read "Das Reich". In my opinion, Hastings is a brilliant writer with an incredible ability to convey a rare, non-linear view of history ... he paints a portrait, provides voluminous detail, but allows the reader to discern his or her opinion of the facts. This is the case with "Das Reich". The premise of the book is the journey of the 2nd SS "Das Reich" Panzer division from southern France to Normandy. The division, pulled from the hell of the Eastern Front to the French town of Montauban for rest and refitting, was ordered to travel north to stop the Allied advance from the Normandy beachheads. The division is harassed from the start of its journey by bands of French resistance groups aided by British SAS forces intent on disrupting the German timetable. The attacks are initially "shrugged off" by the division. However, mounting casualties and the eventual kidnapping of a much-respected commander, compels the Das Reich division to exact a terrible revenge on the villages/towns suspected of harboring resistance fighters. Hastings' book shines a light on just one of the myriad of atrocities that define the nature of the Second World War. While names like Nanking, Leningrad, Dresden, Hiroshima and Auschwitz are firmly entrenched in most peoples' minds as terrible events, iconic in the way they evoke thoughts of destruction and mass death of innocent people. "Das Reich" illuminates places like Tulle and Oradour-sur-Glane, almost to serve as a reminder that the wide scale suffering, atrocity and destruction wasn't relegated to those places so well-documented in history volumes.

I've read this book three times over the years, and always get something new with each reading. The author has written other books I've enjoyed, but he is able to bring this account of the 2nd SS Panzer division, and their march enroute to the Allied landings in Normandy to full focus. His coverage is even handed and un-biased. And the march of this unit, and being mauled on the eastern front, was a death warrant, as they faced vastly superior forces in the Allies. Hastings covers it all, from the OSS and Maqui, networking to create delaying actions, to keep the panzers away from the Allies, to the German reservists occupying towns in the interior, to the Panzers themselves, French collaborators, etc. Most powerful is the account of the destruction of the little town of Oradur sur Glane. To this day, what exactly happened their is not fully understood. There were many factors in play that day. The SS troops responding to the town were a mixture of Alsatian conscripts, and battle toughened cadre from the battles in the East. When in the East, the SS routinely destroyed villages and their occupants to deal with partisan threats. In response to a real, or imagined crime the town of Oradur was methodically searched, and then destroyed. The bulk of the population was either rounded up and shot, or piled into the main church and burned alive. Close to 700 people perished in the action. One particularly moving account is of people on the local tram coming into town, starting across the bridge. Suddenly SS troops run and wade towards them, and stop them in their tracks. The soldiers are very keyed up, frantic. Some are crying, and men in the tram can smell burnt powder, indicating their guns have been fired. The soldiers keep the guns on the people. An argument insues, and then in French a soldier tells the conducter to get the hell out of here. Later it was thought that some of these soldiers were Alsatians, who were doing their duty, but when the chance came, saved some of their fellow citizens. Oradur was never rebuilt, remaining as a monument to the brutality of the Nazi regime. Oradur, and other actions were and exception. France got through the war with some discomfort, but nothing like the horrific destruction and displacement of peoples in the Eastern countries. A really excellent book, well worth a look