As announced by [General] Feuchtinger, my combat group was consider ably strengthened at the beginning of July:

• Tiger Battalion 503 was transferred to my sector. Because of its dreaded "eighty-eight" and its heavy armor, the Tiger was regarded as invulnerable and superior to all enemy tanks.
• Major Becker, with all five companies of his Assault-gun Battalion 200, was attached to me and was to work closely with the grenadiers.
• I was given the remaining battalion of our panzer regiment (the other battalion had been transferred to Germany to re equip with the Panzer V "Panther").
• A detachment of rocket-launchers was attached to me.
• A battalion of the Luftwaffe's Field Division No. 16 came under my command, to form a weak line in front of my positions.
• As Feuchtinger had told me, on and behind the hills at Bourgebus three antitank sections with 8.8cm guns were being brought into position.
• Added to these were the division's artillery.

We thus set up a graduated defense about 15 kilometers in depth, which would be able, sooner or later, to bring any enemy attack to a standstill.

In spite of strong protests from the corps commander, an infantryman, the two panzer battalions were placed close behind the most forward positions.

In the late afternoon of 14 July, I was summoned to the HQ of Obergruppenfuehrer Sepp Dietrich, our recently appointed corps commander. ... Also at the corps command post, where Sepp Dietrich greeted me, was Feuchtinger.

"Luck," said Dietrich, "in the six weeks since the landing you have led your combat group with distinction and prevented an early breakthrough by the British on our threatened eastern flank. Your commander has put you in for the Knight's Cross.

"I know also that tomorrow is your birthday and that your fiancee works in Paris. To give you a few days' rest, I have decided to send you instead of one of my staff officers on a special mission to Paris. "You will leave tonight and return early on the 18th. I wish you happy days."

"Obergruppenfuehrer," I cried, "I can't accept this, tempting though it is. I can't leave my men on their own in this critical situation. I reckon the British will try their next breakout, or even breakthrough, in my sector. Thank you for the offer, but let me stay here, please."

"Luck," replied Sepp Dietrich, "according to our information there's little likelihood of a fresh attack for the next ten to fourteen days. After their costly 'Epsom' offensive, the British will first have to regroup and build up appropriate supplies, so it's all right to go."

I finally let myself be persuaded, after prompting also from Feuchtinger. The prospect of seeing Dagmar again was too enticing. When I returned to my command post, I went to I Battalion and told its commander to take over leadership of the combat group during my absence.

[Adventures in Paris deleted...]

On 18 July, I set off while it was still dark, in order to reach my command post before dawn, before the Spitfires and Hurricanes arrived. The journey took longer than expected, because of the nightly supply traffic. It was not until just before nine that I was on the hills east of my combat sector. Only a few kilometers now separated me from my command post. I stopped and we searched the sky for fighters. It was very hazy over the area of operations. Everything seemed to be in order.

Shortly after nine, I arrived at my command post and was looking forward to a Normandy breakfast, after which I intended changing from my uniform of the day into combat attire. The commander of I Battalion greeted me briefly. I sensed that something was not right, for all the men at the command post seemed nervous.

Then came the report that almost took my breath away. "Since five o'clock this morning the British have been bombing our sector, especially the area of I Battalion, endlessly with thou sands of bombers. This bombing was followed by a creeping barrage from the artillery. The firing stopped barely half an hour ago."

"How are things with your I Battalion, have you any news?" was my first question. "Not yet, we've no radio contact," came the answer.

"How about the Tigers and the panzer battalion of our regiment?"

Answer: "No radio contact. I don't know how things look there."

"And II Battalion? Major Becker's assault-guns? Have you told division?" My questions became more and more pressing, but it was clear that nothing had been done.

This was of course the renewed attempt at a breakout. Yet nothing, nothing at all, had been done! My deputy appeared to be in shock. He seemed absolutely helpless. I ordered him to be at my disposal. After a few days I instructed my adjutant to go in person to Army Personnel and demand that the commander be relieved. This was granted at once.

I had become the richer by experience: I had witnessed anew how officers and NCOs, who in peacetime had been outstanding instructors, popular with their superiors and comrades, lost their nerve in an emergency and were unable to cope with reality. General Pip Roberts, as he told me later, had undergone the same experience. For the same reasons as mine with the battalion commander, he had been forced to have the commanders of a brigade and a regiment relieved. The experience had shown, moreover, that the relief had to be made at once, if the unit was not to be affected and demoralized.

So there I was at my Command Post. No one knew what had happened, although it was obvious that the enemy was mounting a decisive attack.