Tanks, halftracks, and Bren carriers were spread before them like an enormous pride of lions, predators ready to close in for the kill. In the distance the spearheads of two British armored divisions were assembling to resume the Allied attack.
There they found a barn and climbed to its top carrying their binoculars. They drove to a gently sloping rise in the terrain near the village of Gaumesnil.
Soon after, Meyer met with Sturmbahnführer (Major) Hans Waldmuller, a member of his unit. Making a brave display, his urging succeeded and the men around him were restored to order. Alone, he exhorted to his men to stop running and rally to him. Taking up his carbine, the SS officer sprang from the staff car and waded into the midst of the fleeing men. The scene was one of utter chaos, something Meyer immediately set out to change.
Scores of German infantrymen were moving southward, retreating in disarray. As the two men proceeded north, a dismaying sight greeted them. A British attack was underway, and Meyer commanded the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitler Youth, directly in the enemy’s path. During the late morning of August 8, 1944, the day famed tank commander Michael Wittmann would meet his end in combat, German SS-Oberführer (Colonel) Kurt “Panzer” Meyer sat in his staff car as his driver made his way toward the town of Cintheaux, France, near the front lines.
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