… Continuing our landmark series, how a fatal mistake by Monty saw 200 tanks obliterated on a single day.
"An allied soldier in Normandy was urinating into a thick bush on the edge of an orchard when, to his alarm, a soaked German emerged. He grabbed the rifle he had leaned against a tree trunk, but the enemy was no threat, holding up his hands, waving photos of his wife and children and bleating: ‘Meine frau und meine kinder!'
But such an abject surrender was rare in the post- D-Day battle for Normandy, even though the Germans were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned and under constant bombardment from Allied artillery.
By the end of June 1944, Wehrmacht losses in Normandy had reached 80,000 men, including six generals. Yet their effectiveness in defence was astounding and provoked bitter admiration from their opponents. ‘The Germans haven't much left,' said one American officer, ‘but they sure as hell know how to use it.'…"
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