A Man Of His Word

Generalleutnant Karl von Schlieben was an officer of the old school. A scion of a German military family, he was commissioned as a Fahnenjunker (the Imperial German equivalent of a cadet) in 3 Garde Regiment zu Fuß at the start of the First World War. In just over a year, he comanded his own company. By the end of the war, he had been wounded two times and risen to the rank of Lieutenant and put in charge of ordnance for Generalkommando 60.

During the interwar period, he managed to remain in the substantially reduced Wehrmacht of the Weimar Republic. In 1939, he was the commander of a rifle regiment attached to a panzer division. He would later be transferred to the Western Front in 1941, where he would command 4th Schützen Brigade of the 4th Panzer Division and then the 208th Infantry Division. For his command of the 208th Infantry Division, he was awarded the Knight's Cross.

Despite this, he was eventually ordered to take command of the 709th Infantry Division (Static). Essentially, it was a unit meant for occupation duty. Static divisions of the Wehrmacht were intended to build and occupy defensive position while Infantry, Panzer, and Panzergrenadier Divisions were better equipped to fight in a variety of situations. In addition to not having the same firepower as other formations, its men were considered to be lower quality recruits. By and large, they were on the average older if they were Germans. In many cases, they would be drawn from conquered territories, the Rhineland or Westphalia. In fact, by the time of the Normandy campaign, the 709th had lost one of its regiments and was being ordered to hold its sector with only 11 battalions.

On 6 June 1944, the combined Allied forces seized the five beachheads in Normandy. From the westernmost beach captured by the U.S. forces, Utah, the VII Corps under Major General Collins struck out to cut off the Cotentin peninsula. The object of this was to cut off and force the surrender of the German forces holding the port of Cherbourg. Cherbourg was critical in the minds of the SHAEF planners. It was only deep water port in the Normandy region that was not Calais. To be able to supply the Allied effort in Northwest France, the staff at SHAEF believed that a deep water port was absolutely necessary. Without it, they were afraid that they simply could not bhring in enough supplies to keep the men fighting.

Which brings us back to Generalleutnant von Schlieben. Von Schlieben and the 709th were the primary defenders of Cherbourg. Starting on June 18, after the U.S.'s 9th Infantry Division finished cutting off the base of the peninsula, he was faced with an attack by elements of three divisions (4th, 9th, and 79th Infantry Divisions). Essentially, he was outnumbered 27 battalions to 11 battalions. The VII Corps had about 40,000 men at the time of the Battle of Cherbourg. At full strength, which is had not been since one of its regiments was transferred prior to D-Day, the 709th would have had approximately 13,000.

To compound his problems, Hitler was overruling his field commanders, demanding that Wehrmacht units in Normandy, including on the Contentin peninsula, contest the Allied advance at every opportunity and counter-attack. Instead of being able to retreat behind the prepared Atlantic Wall fortifications, he was forced to fight. Within two days, von Schlieben's men were encircled in Cherbourg. In all, with the addition of Kriegsmarine men stationed there, von Schlieben had approximately 21,000 men. However, he was almost totally outclassed in artillery. Most of the artillery, some of which his men had held participate in the construction of battery fortifications for, could only fire on targets at sea. Like Singapore, the massive coastal cannons could not be turned on targets inland. Finally, he had no tanks and almost no antitank weapons.

Beginning on June 22, 1944, the U.S. 79th Division began the slow, arduous task of clearing the German bunker systems defending the city. On June 26, the Fort de Roule, one of the key points of the landward defense was captured. At St. Sauveur, on the outskirts of Cherbourg, the 9th Infantry Division had found von Schlieben's headquarters.

Realizing that the end was near, and under orders to deny the use of the port to the Allies, von Schlieben began stalling for time while Kriegsmarine personnel went about the task of destroying the port facilities. When called upon to surrender, he stated that he could surrender while he still had the ability to resist an infantry attack.

Noting how he had answered the surrender demand, the American commander apparently asked something along the lines of "Well, can you resist an armored attack?" To which von Schlieben responded that he could not since he had no antitank weapons left.

As soon as one could be found, a single tank was sent moving up towards von Schlieben. True to his word, von Schlieben surrendered along with the 709th on June 26, 1944.

The Battle of Cherbourg continued until June 30, when the final units, including the Kriegsmarine detachments sabotaging the harbor surrendered. Von Schlieben's defense had stalled the U.S. long enough for them to wreck the harbor so badly that it would not be able to use the harbor in even a limited fashion until the middle of August.