In the confusion of the morning of D-Day, it received conflicting orders to assemble near Lisieux, east of the Orne River, before finally being called to the vicinity of Caen. Regiment was ordered to advance north of the city, where the thin defensive line of the 716th Infantry Division had been shattered by Allied bombardment and penetrated by British and Canadian troops. At 1600 hours, sixteen hours after the first enemy report, the reinforced 25th SS Panzer-Grenadier Regiment is given its operational orders.
Grenadiers jump onto their vehicles.
Dispatch riders roar down the streets on their motor-bikes, the fighting vehicles' engines are bellowing. In Poland, in Holland, Belgium and France, in the Balkans, in Russia, and now again in France. We, the old soldiers, face the future with anxiety. We sense what lies ahead. In comparison, the magnificent young grenadiers look at us with laughter in their eyes.