| 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen |
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|---|---|
Insignia of 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen |
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| Active | 1943–1945 |
| Country | Nazi Germany |
| Allegiance | Adolf Hitler |
| Branch | Waffen SS |
| Role | Panzergrenadier |
| Size | Division |
| Nickname | LMA[nb 1] |
| Engagements | Normandy Moselle River Metz Alsace Pfaelzer Forest Heilbronn Crailsheim Nuremberg |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Werner Ostendorff |
The 17. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen was a German SS panzergrenadier division which saw action on the Western Front during World War II.
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The division was raised near Poitiers, France as the Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Götz von Berlichingen" in October 1943. It was formed from scratch, with the majority of its original cadre coming from replacement units and conscripts, many of whom were Romanian Germans and French volunteers.[1] The division was granted the honour-title Götz von Berlichingen.[nb 2] Obersturmbannführer Otto Binge oversaw the formation of the division, with the newly promoted Brigadeführer Werner Ostendorff taking command in January 1944. The Götz von Berlichingen was placed under the LXXX Army Corps, a part of Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt's Heeresgruppe D.
As part of a plan to number all named SS divisions in early 1944, the division was re-titled the 17. SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Götz von Berlichingen". In February 1944, the division still lacked vehicles. On orders of the LXXX Army Corps, the division began to round up French vehicles in an attempt to complete its mobilization. By March, most of the major combat formations were fully motorised, although only four of the six infantry battalions were (the remaining two were on bicycles). On 1 June the Götz von Berlichingen found itself at Thouars in France, with no tanks (although the tankers were fully equipped with 42 Sturmgeschütz IV (assault guns), only a few month's training, and below strength in officers and NCOs.
After the D-Day allied invasion, the Götz von Berlichingen was ordered to Normandy to take part in the efforts to reduce the Allied beachhead. On 11 June, the division first met the enemy in combat. The reconnaissance battalion engaged in combat with the paratroopers of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division near the town of Carentan.
The Americans secured the town and were advancing south by the morning of 13 June.
SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 37, supported by the assault guns of the division's Panzer battalion and Oberst Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte's 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment, attacked the advancing paratroopers. In what the Americans dubbed The Battle of Bloody Gulch, the Germans routed two paratroop companies before their attack was stopped by the arrival of Combat Command A of the U.S. 2nd Armored Division.
For the rest of the month, the division was engaged in heavy fighting for the bocage country near Saint Lô and Coutances. During this period the Götz von Berlichingen suffered heavy losses, and by the beginning of July its strength was reduced to 8,500 men. The division was in the line of advance for Operation Cobra, and suffered heavy losses attempting to halt the Allied offensive. It was then ordered to take part in the Mortain Offensive, codenamed Operation Lüttich. After the failure of this offensive, the division was split into four Kampfgruppes, KG Braune, Gunter, Fick and Wahl. These small units managed to escape the encirclement in the Falaise Pocket, but suffered heavy losses and remained in almost constant combat with the advancing Americans until the end of the month, when the division was transferred to Metz for a much needed rest and refit.
In early September, the division absorbed what was left of the SS Panzergrenadier Brigade 49 and SS Panzergrenadier Brigade 51, raising its infantry strength. However, replacements for missing tanks and assault guns were arriving slowly. On 8 September, the division was put back into the line and was tasked with destroying the newly formed bridgehead over the Moselle River held by the U.S. 5th and 80th Infantry Divisions. After heavy fighting for the U.S. bridgeheads at Dornot and Arnaville, the division fell back and began to prepare to defend Metz itself.
Over the next two months, the division saw heavy fighting to the south and east of Metz, suffering very heavy casualties. On 8 November, a USAAF bomb raid hit the divisional command post. With the Götz von Berlichingen's combat units in tatters (the 38th SS Regiment had been reduced to a strength of about 800 men by 15 November 1944[2]) and now with no command structure, Hitler authorized the division to withdraw from Metz. The 38th SS Regiment was largely destroyed at Metz and reformed in November with troops from the SS training regiment "Kurmark".[3] The remnants of the division pulled back to the Maginot Line, near Faulquemont to rest and refit. During this time, the Götz von Berlichingen was transferred to SS-Gruppenführer Max Simon's XIII SS Corps. U.S. forces liberated Metz on 22 November 1944.
Elements of the 38th SS Regiment defended Hilsprich against an advance of the U.S. 35th Infantry Division on 23 November and succeeded in cutting up two American rifle companies that made an ill-advised attack against stronger German forces. Hilsprich fell to another, better supported, American attack the following day.[4] During 28–29 November, elements of the 17th SS Division successfully defended Farébersviller against an attack by the U.S. 80th Infantry Division. By 1 December, the SS division was deployed along a line extending from the Rosselle River to just south of Puttelange. The Götz von Berlichingen was caught by surprise when the U.S. forces attacked again on 4 December, capturing both Farébersviller and Puttelange.[5] Seriously weakened, the SS division fell back to Sarreguemines, which it defended for five days before the town's liberation by U.S. forces on 11 December.
Subsequently, the 17th SS Division retreated across the German border and went into a defensive posture along the Blies River. Attacks by the U.S. 35th Infantry Division against this line started on 12 December, resulting in heavy fighting for the control of Habkirchen (southeast of Frauenberg) and the high ground overlooking the valley of the Blies. The U.S. 134th Infantry loss half its strength in this clash with the 17th SS Division, but captured Habkirchen by 15 December.[6] Under serious pressure because of infantry losses, the SS division was granted a reprieve when the Americans moved into defensive posture on 18 December. The Ardennes Offensive by Germany had begun to the north and U.S. units from General George Patton's Third Army were ordered to either hold fast or move north to assist in the defense of the Ardennes.[7]
When the division pulled back to the Maginot Line in mid November, its strength had been reduced to around 4,000 men (of which about 1,700 were infantry) and 20 armoured vehicles. Throughout the early months of December 1944, the Götz von Berlichingen received resupply and reinforcement, although the armored strength was only 17 assault guns by 10 December 1944, with a further 17 that were sent from Germany on 28 December.[8] The Panzergrenadier regiments were brought up to full strength with the addition of Volksdeutsche replacements. The quality of these replacements was far below that of the division's original cadre. Despite this, on paper, the division was back up to strength by the end of 1944.
As a part of Simon's XIII SS Corps, the division participated in Operation Nordwind, the ill-fated last German offensive in the West. The Götz von Berlichingen, together with 36th Volksgrenadier Division, attacked the U.S. 44th and 100th Infantry Divisions around the town of Rimling. For this attack the division had been reinforced with a Panther tank company from 21st Panzer-Division, two companies of Flammpanzer 38(t)s (Panzer-Flamm Companies 352 & 353), and the 653rd Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion, equipped with Jagdtigers. The German attacks did not gain much terrain and were fought in extreme weather conditions. After engaging in heavy combat with the U.S. 7th Army, with little success and having the divisional commander replaced five times,[9] the majority of the divisional staff was relieved on 3 January. Replacements, in the form of Heer officers, were received on the next day. On 10 January, the divisional commander, Standartenführer Hans Lingner, was captured by a patrol from the 114th Infantry, 44th Infantry Division, when his car overturned on the slippery roads. The driver was machine gunned on the spot and Lingner, his aide-de-camp Untersturmführer Jund and another of his staff brought to U.S. lines where they were interrogated. Oberst Gerhard Lindner, one of the Heer officers recently transferred to the division, took command on 15 January. The division remained engaged with the divisions of the U.S. XV Corps until Operation Nordwind ended on 25 January.
The Götz von Berlichingen took part in the defence of the West Wall until March 1945, when on the 18 March the Americans broke through. Armored vehicle strength was high, with 62 assault guns (of which 47 were operational) as well as two Model IV medium tanks.[10] On 22 March, division commander SS-Oberführer Fritz Klingenberg was killed in action. That day, the division abandoned all its vehicles and began a retreat, but only some 500 to 600 men escaped U.S. encirclement in the Pfaelzer Forest and reached Wiesloch on the east bank of the Rhine.[3]
By 1 April, the division's strength was rebuilt to roughly 7,000 men. The division then took part in the Battle of Heilbronn. Subsequently, the division defended the Jagst and Tauber River valleys, as well as Bad Mergentheim. Although greatly reduced in numbers, it then took part in the defence of Nuremberg, where the 38th SS Regiment was destroyed by 20 April. The rest of the division continued fighting until 24 April, and then fell back to Donauwörth on the Danube.
The last organized engagement fought by the division was on 29 April at Moosburg, Germany. There, the division's commanders attempted to use Stalag VII-A, the largest POW camp in Germany, as a sort of hostage to buy time to escape across the Isar River. Their effort was frustrated when the commander of the 14th Armored Division learned of their plan, and ordered his Combat Command A to take Moosburg, capture the bridge across the Isar River, and most importantly, secure and protect the Allied Prisoners of War at all costs. The American infantry and tank force advanced to Moosburg, and without delay attacked the defensive positions of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division in front of the town.[11][12] The town fell following a brief, but ferocious battle. That same day the 14th Armored Division took over 7,000 German POWs, mostly SS.[13]
On 6 May 1945, the remaining division troops surrendered to the U.S. 101st Airborne Division at Rottach-Egern, south of Kufstein.[3]
File Number: US0018
Review Date: 470404
Case Nr.: 11-18 (U.S. vs. Erwin Wilhelm Konrad Schienkiewitz)
Crime Category: War Crimes
Accused: Schienkiewitz, Erwin (Wilhelm Konrad) - Life Sentence
Court: General Military Government Court at Dachau, Germany 470213
Country where the crime had been committed: France
Crime Location: Montmartin en Craignes
Crime Date: 440617
Victim: POW’s
Nationality: American
Office: SS; 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division, 38th Regiment
Subject of the proceeding:
The accused participated in the execution of two American airmen out of a group of seventy, in retaliation of the death of German soldiers who had been killed a few days earlier. The accused was a member of an organization declared illegal by the International Military Tribunal.[14]
Case Nr.111
Crime Category: Final Phase Crimes
Accused: Küster, Friedrich Erich 10 Years 3 Months
Court: LG Ellwangen 490120
OLG Stuttgart 490527
Country where the crime was committed: Germany
Crime Location: Ellwangen/Jagst
Crime Date: 4504
Victims: Prisoners, Civilians
Nationality: unknown, German
Agency: Waffen-SS SS-Bataillon 'Götz von Berlichingen'
Subject of the proceeding: Shooting of a number of foreign concentration camp prisoners, in part for trying to escape; mishandling of civilians, who had made derogatory remarks about Hitler, and demolition of the 'Josefinum' in Ellwangen
Case Nr.201
Crime Category: Final Phase Crimes
Accused: Ba., Nikolaus Acquittal, Bu., Heinz Acquittal
Court: LG Ellwangen 500316
Country where the crime was committed: Germany
Crime Location: Dalkingen
Crime Date: 450407
Victims: Prisoners
Nationality: unknown
Agency: Waffen-SS SS-Ersatz- und Ausbildungsbataillon 5 'Götz von Berlichingen'
Subject of the proceeding: Shooting of 8 exhausted concentration camp prisoners, who, while being part of a prisoners' transport, had stayed behind at the railway station grounds of Ellwangen
Case Nr.251
Crime Category: Final Phase Crimes
Accused: B., Peter Acquittal, E., Theodor Acquittal, H., Heinz Acquittal
Court: LG Ellwangen 501025
Country where the crime was committed: Germany
Crime Location: Dalkingen
Crime Date: 450407
Victims: Prisoners
Nationality: German
Agency: Waffen-SS SS-Ersatz- und Ausbildungsbataillon 5 'Götz von Berlichingen'
Subject of the proceeding: Shooting of 8 exhausted concentration camp prisoners, who, while being part of a prisoners' transport, had stayed behind at the railway station grounds of Ellwangen
Case Nr.466
Crime Category: Final Phase Crimes
Accused: M., Heinz Proceeding suspended
Court: LG Nürnberg-Fürth 581001
BGH 571022
Country where the crime was committed: Germany
Crime Location: Burgthann
Crime Date: 450417
Victims: Civilians
Nationality: German
Agency: Waffen-SS 17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 'Götz von Berlichingen'
Subject of the proceeding: Shooting of the mayor of Burgthann, who, summoned by the Americans, had ordered to have white flags hoisted in the town
Case Nr.315
Crime Category: Final Phase Crimes
Accused: H., Walter Acquittal
Court: LG Regensburg 520505
Country where the crime was committed: Germany
Crime Location: Dietfurt (Mittelfranken)
Crime Date: 450425
Victims: Jews
Nationality: German
Agency: Waffen-SS SS-Division 'Götz von Berlichingen'
Subject of the proceeding: Shooting of a Jewish dentist during the final days of the war
Case Nr.243
Crime Category: Final Phase Crimes
Accused: H., Walter 5 Years, M., Ludwig 3 Years
Court: LG Landshut 500924
Country where the crime was committed: Germany
Crime Location: Ebrantshausen, Holz (near Bad Wiessee)
Crime Date: 450428, 450502
Victims: Civilians, Prisoners
Nationality: German, unknown
Agency: Waffen-SS SS-Division 'Götz von Berlichingen'
Subject of the proceeding: Killing of a civilian, who had a white flag held available in order to hoist it at the church at the arrival of the Americans, as well as summons to shoot concentration camp prisoners
The Götz von Berlichingen has also been accused of killing wounded American paratroopers as well as French civilians during the summer of 1944.