SS UNTERSTURMFUHRER FRITZ LANGANKE. Fritz Langanke, one of the most successful Panzer Commanders in Panzer Regiment 2nd SS "Das Reich", was awarded the Knight's Cross on August 7, 1944 for his many tank-killing feats during the month of July in the Normandy battles of France 1944 at the command of his Panther tank. In the month of July alone, during these four weeks of combat in France, SS Panzer Regiment 2 "Das Reich" knocked out over 200 allied tanks. The great strength of Das Reich's Panzer force was the superb leadership at the highest level which it received on the platoon and company level. The striking power of the Division 2nd SS Das Reich was initially augmented by the power of the Panzer Mark V Panther tank, and the iron men who served in their steel hulls. The Panther tank was a formidable armored weapon of advanced design which overmatched and totally out-classed the American Sherman. Fritz Langanke's first clash with American armor was on July 9, 1944, south of Sainteny France, in which he destroyed 9 Sherman tanks in less than 15 minutes with his Panther tank. Once off the beaches of Normandy, both British and American tankers entered the Hedgerow country of France. The battle of the Hedgerows in Normandy was confused, sudden and point-blank. The primary allied tank, the 34-ton Sherman, with its notoriously weak gun and thin armor and very high silhouette, was easy and fragile prey for German Panzers waiting for them. The Sherman had the nasty habit of burning to quickly, the moment the Sherman was hit, it would go up in flames in an instant. The Sherman was nicknamed "Cigarette-lighter" by the British, and "Tommy Cooker" by the Germans. The Sherman was the piece of bread and the Panzers were the knife that would go just straight through it. In the battle for Europe, German tankers had a field day obliterating and laying waste to countless Sherman tanks raining shells of destruction upon them with their crews being lost as well. The Sherman tank was ridiculed by friend and foe alike. The allies made the philosophical error when they were planning the industrial production for their war in Europe. The industrialized capitalist powers believed that if you had enough quantity, they could out-weigh any quality vehicle. For them, it did not matter whether the German weapons were better. But on the battlefields, the men found out that it did matter.....In a post-war interview Fritz Langanke stated that he just simply could not understand that the allied capitalist country with the highest degree of industrialization, sitting apart from those European powers killing each other for so many years would not come to Normandy with the very best tank in the world, that he simply just could not understand it. He recalled how easily the Sherman tank could be knocked-out at 3000meters. He even felt pity for the unfortunate crews. To the British the Sherman tank became known as a rolling junk, to the Germans the Sherman tank became known as a rolling joke, It was the quality, not the quantity, of the German Panzers that proved to be extremely lethal. And had earned general admiration and respect by their foes. And also uniquely capable of having built-up a reputation to the level of legend.
