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~SOLD~ SKORZENY Otto
Standartenführer der Reserve
Skorzeny Dipl.Ing., Otto
* 12.06.1908 Wien
+ 05.07.1975 Madrid
Awarded Knights Cross: 13.09.1943
as: Hauptsturmführer der Reserve Kommandeur Sonderverband z.b.V. Friedenthal
Awarded Oakleaves as the 826th Recipient : 09.04.1945 as Obersturmbannführer der Reserve Kommandeur SS-Jagdverbände und der Division Schwedt an der Oder
Otto Skorzeny was born in Vienna into a middle-class Austrian family which had a long history of military service. In addition to his native German, he spoke excellent French.
In his teens, Otto once complained to his father of the austere lifestyle that his family was suffering from, by mentioning he had never tasted real butter in his life, because of the depression that plagued Austria after its defeat in World War I. His father prophetically replied, "There is no harm in doing without things. It might even be good for you not to get used to a soft life." Thus his underprivileged upbringing helped make him the feared commando that he became.[2] He was a noted fencer as a university student in Vienna. He engaged in thirteen personal combats. The tenth resulted in a wound that left a dramatic dueling scar - known in academic fencing as a Schmiss (German for smite or hit)- on his cheek.
In 1931 Skorzeny joined the Austrian Nazi Party and soon became a member of the Nazi SA. A charismatic figure, Skorzeny played a minor role in the Anschluss on 12 March 1938, when he saved the Austrian President Wilhelm Miklas from being shot by Austrian Nazis
After the 1939 invasion of Poland, Skorzeny, then working as a civil engineer, volunteered for service in the German Air Force (the Luftwaffe), but was turned down because he was considered too tall and too old for aircrew training. He then joined Hitler's bodyguard regiment, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) as an officer-cadet.
In 1940, as an SS Untersturmführer (Second Lieutenant), he impressed his superiors by designing ramps to load tanks on ships. He then fought in Holland, France, and the Balkans, where he achieved distinction by forcing a large Yugoslav force to surrender, following which he was promoted to Obersturmführer (First Lieutenant) in the Waffen-SS.
Skorzeny went to war in Russia with the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich and subsequently fought in several battles on the Eastern Front. In October 1941, he was in charge of a "technical section" of the German forces during the Battle of Moscow. His mission was to seize important buildings of the Communist Party, including the NKVD headquarters at Lubyanka, and the Central Telegraph and other high priority facilities, before they could be destroyed. He was also ordered to capture the sluices of the Moscow-Volga Canal because Hitler wanted them used to turn Moscow into a huge artificial lake by opening them.The missions were canceled as the German forces failed to capture the Soviet capital.
In December 1942, Skorzeny was hit in the back of the head by shrapnel from Russian Katyusha artillery rockets. He refused all first aid except for a few aspirin, a bandage, and a glass of schnaps. A few hours later Skorzeny rejoined his unit but his health deteriorated, and continuous headaches and stomach pains forced him to evacuate for proper medical treatment. He was awarded the Iron Cross for bravery under fire and was hospitalized in Vienna. While recuperating from his injuries he was given a staff role in Berlin, where he read all the published literature he could find on commando warfare, and forwarded to higher command his ideas on unconventional commando warfare.
Skorzeny's proposals were to develop units specialized in such unconventional warfare, including partisan-like fighting deep behind enemy lines, fighting in enemy uniform, sabotage attacks, etc. In April 1943 Skorzeny's name was put forward by Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the new head of the RSHA, and Skorzeny met with SS-Brigadeführer Walter Schellenberg, head of Amt VI, Ausland-SD, (the SS foreign intelligence service department of the RSHA). Schellenberg charged Skorzeny with command of the schools organized to train operatives in sabotage, espionage, and paramilitary techniques. Skorzeny was appointed commander of the recently created Waffen Sonderverband z.b.V. Friedenthal stationed near Berlin. (The unit was later renamed SS Jagdverbände 502, and in November 1944 again to SS Combat Unit "Center", expanding ultimately to five battalions.)
Sonderverband z.b.V. Friedenthal's first mission was in summer 1943. Operation Francois saw Skorzeny send a group by parachute into Iran to make contact with the dissident mountain tribes to encourage them to sabotage Allied supplies of material being sent to the Soviet Union via the Trans-Iranian Railway. However, commitment among the rebel tribes was suspect, and Operation Francois was deemed a failure.
The liberation of Mussolini
Skorzeny with the liberated Mussolini – Sept. 12 1943In July 1943, he was personally selected by Hitler from among six German Air Force (Luftwaffe) and German Army (Wehrmacht Heer) special agents to lead the operation to rescue Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who had been overthrown and imprisoned by the Italian government.
Almost two months of cat-and-mouse followed as the Italians moved Mussolini from place to place to frustrate any rescuers. There was a failed attempt to rescue Mussolini on 27 July 1943. The Ju 52 that the crew was aboard was shot down in the area of Pratica di Mare. Otto Skorzeny and his crew managed to bail out, except for one young Oberjäger. For reasons unknown, he was not able to make it out of the plane. He perished in the crash and is now buried in the war cemetery in Pomezia. Mussolini was first held in a villa on La Maddalena, near Sardinia. Skorzeny was able to smuggle an Italian-speaking commando onto the island, and a few days later he confirmed Mussolini was in the villa. Skorzeny then flew over in a Heinkel He 111 to take aerial photos of the location. The bomber was shot down by Allied fighters and crash-landed at sea, but Skorzeny and the crew were rescued by an Italian destroyer. Mussolini was moved soon after.
Information on Mussolini's new location and its topographical features were finally secured by Herbert Kappler. Kappler reported Mussolini was held in the Campo Imperatore Hotel at the top of the Gran Sasso mountain, and only accessible by cable car from the valley below. Skorzeny flew again over Gran Sasso and took pictures of the location with a handheld camera. An attack plan was formulated by General Kurt Student, Harald Mors (a paratrooper battalion commander), and Skorzeny.
On September 12, Gran Sasso raid (a.k.a. Operation Oak and Unternehmen Eiche), was carried out perfectly according to plan. Mussolini was rescued without firing a single shot. Flying out in a Storch airplane, Skorzeny escorted Mussolini to Rome and later to Berlin. The exploit earned Skorzeny fame, promotion to Sturmbannführer and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
Mussolini created a new Fascist regime in northern Italy, the Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana
Raid on Drvar
In the spring of 1944, Sonderverband z.b.V. Friedenthal was re-designated SS-Jäger-Bataillon 502 with Skorzeny staying on as commander. They were assigned to Operation Rösselsprung, known subsequently as the Raid on Drvar. Rösselsprung was a commando operation meant to capture the Yugoslav commander-in-chief, Marshal Josip Broz Tito, who was also recently recognized by the Allies as the Yugoslav prime minister. Marshal Tito led the Yugoslav Partisans resistance army from his headquarters near the Bosnian town of Drvar, in the center of a large non-occupied area held by the Partisans. Hitler knew that Tito was receiving Allied support and was aware that either British or American troops might land in Dalmatia along the Adriatic coastline with support from the Partisans. Killing or capturing Tito would not only hinder this, it would give a badly needed boost to the morale of Axis forces engaged in the Yugoslav Front in occupied Yugoslavia.
Skorzeny was involved in planning Rösselsprung and was intended to command it. However, he argued against implementation after he visited Zagreb and discovered that the operation had been compromised through the carelessness of German agents in the Independent State of Croatia (a German puppet state on occupied Yugoslav territory).
Rösselsprung was put into action nonetheless, but it was a complete disaster. The first wave of paratroopers, following heavy bombardment by the Luftwaffe, jumped between Tito's hideout in a cave and the town of Drvar; they landed on open ground and many were promptly shot by members of the Partisan headquarters Escort Battalion, a unit numbering fewer than a hundred soldiers. The second wave of paratroopers missed their target and landed several miles out of town. Tito was gone long before paratroopers reached the cave; a trail at the back of the cave led to the railway tracks where Tito boarded a train that took him safely to Jajce. In the meantime, the Partisan 1st Brigade, from the 6th Lika Partisan Division, arrived after a twelve-mile (nineteen-kilometer) forced march and attacked the Waffen-SS paratroopers, inflicting heavy casualties.
The 20 July 1944 plot against Hitler
On 20 July 1944, Skorzeny was in Berlin when an attempt on Hitler's life was made. Anti-Nazi German Army officers tried to seize control of Germany's main decision centers before Hitler recovered from his injuries. Skorzeny helped put down the rebellion, spending 36 hours in charge of the Wehrmacht's central command centre before being relieved. He got to the Bendlerstrasse offices a half hour after Claus Von Stauffenberg and the others were executed.
Hungary and Operation Panzerfaust
Skorzeny (left) and Adrian von Fölkersam (right) in Budapest, 16 October 1944 .In October 1944, Hitler sent Skorzeny to Hungary after receiving word that Hungary's Regent, Admiral Miklós Horthy, was secretly negotiating with the Red Army. The surrender of Hungary would have cut off the million German troops still fighting in the Balkan peninsula. Skorzeny, in a daring "snatch" codenamed Operation Panzerfaust (known as Operation Eisenfaust in Germany), kidnapped Horthy's son Miklós Horthy, Jr. and forced his father to resign as head of state. A pro-Nazi government under dictator Ferenc Szálasi was then installed in Hungary. In April 1945, after German and Hungarian forces had already been driven out of Hungary, Szálasi and his Arrow Cross Party-based forces continued the fight in Austria and Slovakia. The success of the operation earned Skorzeny promotion to Obersturmbannführer.
Operation Greif and Eisenhower
Skorzeny in Pomerania, February 1945.As part of the German Ardennes offensive in late 1944 ("The Battle of the Bulge") Skorzeny's English speaking troops were charged with infiltrating Allied lines dressed and equipped as American soldiers in order to produce confusion to support the German attack. For the campaign, Skorzeny was the commander of a composite unit; the 150th SS Panzer Brigade.
As planned by Skorzeny, Operation Greif involved about two dozen German soldiers, most of them in captured American Jeeps and dressed as American soldiers, who would penetrate American lines in the early hours of the Battle of the Bulge and cause disorder and confusion behind the Allied lines. A handful of his men were captured and spread a rumour that Skorzeny personally was leading a raid on Paris to kill or capture General Eisenhower, who was not amused by having to spend Christmas 1944 isolated for security reasons. Eisenhower retaliated by ordering an all-out manhunt for Skorzeny, with "Wanted" posters distributed throughout Allied-controlled territories featuring a detailed description and a photograph.
Skorzeny spent January and February 1945 commanding regular troops in the defence of the German provinces of East Prussia and Pomerania, as an acting major general. Fighting at Schwedt on the Oder River, he received orders to sabotage a bridge on the Rhine at Remagen. His frogmen tried but failed. For his actions in the East, primarily in the defence of Frankfurt, Hitler awarded him one of Germany's highest military honours, the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross. He was then sent on an inspection tour along the rapidly deteriorating Eastern front.
Operation Werwolf and surrender
With German defeat inevitable, Skorzeny played an instrumental role in selecting and training recruits for a stay-behind Nazi organization, the Werwölfe (Werewolves), who would engage in guerrilla warfare against the occupying Allies. However, Skorzeny quickly realized that the Werewolves were too few in number to become an effective fighting force and instead used them to set up the "ratlines", a secret "underground railroad" that helped leading Nazis escape after Germany's surrender.
Besides organising the "ratlines," which would form the basis of the supposed ODESSA network after the war, Skorzeny had been employed since August 1944 by high-ranking Nazis and German industrialists to hide money and documents, some of which was buried in the mountains or dropped in the lakes of Bavaria, and some shipped overseas.
Skorzeny surrendered on 16 May 1945, feeling that he could be useful to the Americans in the forthcoming Cold War. He emerged from the woods near Salzburg, Austria, and surrendered to a Lieutenant of the US 30th Infantry Regiment.
Post World War II
Dachau Trials
Waiting in a cell as a witness at the Nuremberg trials – Nov. 24 1945.He was held as a prisoner of war for more than two years before being tried as a war criminal at the Dachau Trials in 1947 for allegedly violating the laws of war in the Battle of the Bulge. He and officers of the Panzer Brigade 150 were charged with improperly using American uniforms to infiltrate American lines. Skorzeny was brought before a US military court in Dachau on 18 August 1947. He and nine fellow officers of the 150th Panzer Brigade would face charges of improper use of military insignia, theft of US uniforms, and theft of Red Cross parcels from prisoners of war. The trial lasted over three weeks. The charge of stealing Red Cross parcels was dropped for lack of evidence. Skorzeny admitted to ordering his men to wear American uniforms, but his defence argued that providing that enemy uniforms were discarded before combat started such a tactic was a legitimate ruse de guerre. On the final day of the trial, 9 September, Wing Commander F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas, recipient of the George Cross and the Croix de guerre, and a former British Special Operations Executive agent, testified that he had worn German uniforms behind enemy lines. Realising that to convict Skorzeny could expose their own agent to the same charges, the tribunal acquitted the ten defendants, the military tribunal drawing a distinction between using enemy uniforms during combat and for other purposes including deception. They could not prove that Skorzeny had given any orders to actually fight in a US uniform.
Escape from prison and ODESSA
Skorzeny was detained in an internment camp at Darmstadt awaiting the decision of a denazification court. On July 27, 1948 he escaped from the camp with the help of three former SS officers dressed in US Military Police uniforms who entered the camp and claimed that they had been ordered to take Skorzeny to Nuremberg for a legal hearing. Skorzeny afterwards maintained that the US authorities had aided his escape, and had supplied the uniforms.
Skorzeny hid out at a farm in Bavaria which had been rented by Countess Ilse Lüthje, the niece of Hjalmar Schacht (Hitler's former finance minister), for around 18 months, during which time he was in contact with Reinhard Gehlen, and together with Hartmann Lauterbacher (former deputy head of the Hitler Youth) recruited for the Gehlen Organization.
Skorzeny was photographed at a café on the Champs Elysées in Paris on 13 February 1950. The photo appeared in the French press the next day, causing him to retreat to Salzburg, where he met up with German veterans and also filed for divorce so that he could marry Ilse Lüthje. Shortly afterwards, with the help of a Nansen passport issued by the Spanish government, he moved to Madrid, where he set up a small engineering business which helped serve as a front for his operations with the ODESSA network as he had become the Spanish coordinator. On April 1950 the publication of Skorzeny's memoirs by French newspaper Le Figaro caused 1500 communists to riot outside the journal's headquarters.
Middle East
Skorzeny had also been spending time in Egypt. In 1952 the country had been taken over by General Mohammed Naguib. Skorzeny was sent to Egypt the following year by former General Reinhard Gehlen, who was now working for the CIA, to act as Naguib's military advisor. Skorzeny recruited a staff made up of former SS officers to train the Egyptian army. Among these officers were SS General Wilhelm Farmbacher, Panzer General Oskar Munzel, Leopold Gleim, head of the Gestapo Department for Jewish Affairs in Poland, and Joachim Daemling, former chief of the Gestapo in Düsseldorf joined Skorzeny in Egypt. In addition to training the army, Skorzeny also trained Arab volunteers in commando tactics for possible use against British troops stationed in the Suez Canal zone. Several Palestinian refugees also received commando training, and Skorzeny planned their initial strikes into Israel via the Gaza Strip in 1953-1954. One of these Palestinians was Yasser Arafat.He would eventually serve as an adviser to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Die Spinne
Using the cover names of Robert Steinbacher and Otto Steinbauer, and supported by either Nazi funds (or according to some sources Austrian Intelligence), he set up a secret organization named Die Spinne which helped as many as 600 former SS men escape from Germany to Spain, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, and other countries. As the years went by, Skorzeny, Gehlen, and their network of collaborators gained enormous influence in Europe and Latin America. Skorzeny traveled between Franquist Spain and Argentina, where he acted as an advisor to President Juan Perón and bodyguard of Eva Perón,[while fostering an ambition for the "Fourth Reich" centered in Latin America.
CEDADE
Skorzeny also acted as an advisor to the leadership of the Spanish neo-Nazi group CEDADE, which had been established in 1966, and which counted him as one of its founding fathers.
Spain and Ireland
Like thousands of other former Nazis, Skorzeny was declared entnazifiziert (denazified) in absentia in 1952 by a West German government arbitration board, which now meant he could travel from Spain into other Western countries. He spent part of his time between 1959 and 1969 in Ireland, where he bought Martinstown House, a 200-acre (0.81 km2) farm in County Kildare in 1959. He also had property in Mallorca.
Paladin Group
In the 1960s Skorzeny set up the Paladin Group, which he envisioned as "an international directorship of strategic assault personnel [that would] straddle the watershed between paramilitary operations carried out by troops in uniforms and the political warfare which is conducted by civilian agents". Based near Alicante, Spain, the Paladin Group specialized in arming and training guerrillas, and their clients included the South African Bureau of State Security and Muammar al-Gaddafi. They also carried out work for the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 and some of their operatives were recruited by the Spanish Interior Ministry to wage clandestine war against Basque separatists. The Soviet news agency TASS alleged that Paladin was involved in training US Green Berets for Vietnam missions during the 1960s, but this is considered unlikely.
Death
In 1970, a cancerous tumor was discovered on Skorzeny's spine. Two tumors were removed in Hamburg, but the surgery left him paralyzed from the waist down. Vowing to walk again, Skorzeny spent long hours with a physical therapist, and within six months was back on his feet.
Otto Skorzeny finally succumbed to cancer on 5 July 1975 in Madrid. He was 67. He was cremated and his ashes were later brought to Vienna to be interred in the Skorzeny family plot at Döblinger Friedhof.
Information from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BITTRICH Wilhelm
Obergruppenführer
Bittrich, Wilhelm
* 26.01.1894 Wernigerode
+ 19.04.1979 Wolfratshausen/Oberbayern
Awarded Knights Cross: 14.12.1941
as: Oberführer Kommandeur SS-InfRgt "Deutschland"
Awarded Oakleaves as the 563rd Recipient : 28.08.1944 as Obergruppenführer
Kommandierender General II.SS-Panzerkorps
Awarded Swords as the 153rd Recipient: 06.05.1945 as Obergruppenführer
Kommandierender General II.SS-Panzerkorps
Wilhelm Bittrich (26 February 1894 – 19 April 1979) was a general in the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II. Between August 1942 and February 1943, Bittrich commanded 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer, in anti-partisan operations (Bandenbekämpfung, bandit fighting) in the Soviet Union.
After his arrest in May 1945, Bittrich was extradited to France on charges of having ordered the execution of 17 members of the French Resistance. He was tried and as the commander in charge of the troops who committed the crimes, convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. Following his release from prison, Bittrich became active in HIAG, a revisionist organization and a lobby group of former Waffen-SS members and served as chairman during the 1970s.
World War I
Born in 1894 into a family of a clerk and later travelling salesman, Bittrich volunteered for military service after the outbreak of World War I.[1] On 30 July 1914, Bittrich joined the Magdeburgisches Jäger-Battaillon Nr. 4 (4th Magdeburg Rifle Battalion) in Naumburg. From 10 September 1914, he served with Reserve-Jäger-Bataillon 19, Jäger-Battaillon 8 and Infanterie-Regiment 77. With these units he fought on the Western and Italian Front and was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross. On 15 October 1915, Bittrich was promoted to Leutnant (second lieutenant). In 1916, Bittrich transferred to the Luftstreitkräfte and was trained as a pilot. He served with Feldflieger-Abteilung 27, Flieger-Abteilung A 266 and Jagdstaffel 37 (Jasta 37—37th Fighter Squadron).
Between the wars
From 15 March to July 1919, Bittrich served in the Freikorps under the General Bernhard von Hülsen during the German Revolution of 1918–19. From March to June 1920, Bittrich served in the Schutz-Regiment "Groß-Berlin" (Protection Regiment of Greater Berlin). On 1 January 1923, Bittrich was accepted into the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic as a Leutnant. There he served as a flight instructor at the Sportfliegerschule in Oberschleissheim.[4] For five years, he then worked as an instructor at the Lipetsk fighter-pilot school in the Soviet Union, officially he was assigned to the Reichswehr-Bataillon "Berlin". From 1930 to 1932, Bittrich worked as a civil employee for the Reichswehr.[2] Also during that time, Bittrich was a flight instructor at the Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule (DVS—German Air Transport School) at Schleißheim.[4]
On 1 December 1931, Bittrich joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) (Nr. 829,700).[1][5][Note 1] From March until June 1932, he served in the Sturmabteilung (SA). On 1 July 1932, Bittrich joined the Schutzstaffel (SS) (Nr. 39,177) and became an SS-Anwärter (candidate) with the SS-Fliegerstaffel Ost (Flying Squadron East).[4] From 31 October 1932 to August 1933, Bittrich served as leader of SS-Fliegerstaffel Ost, then became leader of the SS-Fliegerstürme (assault flyers) and Fliegerreferent (head of flyers) with the SS-Oberabschnitt Ost "Berlin" (SS-Senior District). From 1 November 1933 to 31 January 1934, Bittrich transferred and became an instructor with the SS-Abschnitt XIII (71st SS-District). On 9 February 1934, Bittrich was appointed leader of the 71. SS-Standarte.In this function, Bittrich advanced in rank to SS-Obersturmführer on 12 April 1934 and to SS-Hauptsturmführer on 17 June 1934.
Bittrich was posted to the Politische Bereitschaft (Political Readiness Detachment) in Hamburg on 7 August 1934.[4] On 17 August 1934, effective as of 25 August 1934, Bittrich took the leadership of the Politische Bereitschaft in Hamburg. This unit later became the I. Sturmbann of the SS-Standarte "Germania" within the SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT). On 21 March 1935, Bittrich became a leader within the I. "Germania"/SS-Standarte taking charge of the 2./SS-Standarte "Germania". Bittrich was then made leader of the 2. Kompanie/SS "Deutschland" on 17 May 1935. Following two postings to the Truppenübungsplatz Königsbrück (22 September – 23 October 1935) and Truppenübungsplatz Grafenwöhr (22–29 January 1936), Bittrich was appointed leader of the II. Bataillon/SS-Standarte ""Deutschland"" on 1 October 1936.
On 1 October 1936, Bittrich was promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer. Bittrich was next promoted to the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer on 30 January 1938.[6] He was given command of the II. Bataillon/SS-Regiment "Deutschland", this unit later became I./SS-Standarte 3.[2] With this unit he participated in the Anschluss, annexing of Austria into Nazi Germany in March 1938.[1] In Vienna, Bittrich was commander of the SS-Standarte 3 as of 28 April 1938. On 1 May 1938, Bittrich became commander of I. Bataillon/SS-Regiment 3 of the SS-VT. This unit later was renamed to I. Bataillon/SS-Regiment "Der Führer". From 17 to 27 January 1939, Bittrich attended a training course for battalion commanders at Döberitz. Immediately following this assignment, Bittrich participated in an equestrian tournament (27 January – 5 February 1939) held in Berlin. On 30 May 1939, Bittrich was posted to the Stab (headquarters unit) of the "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" (LSSAH) and was promoted to SS-Standartenführer on 1 June 1939. On 28 August 1939, Bittrich's official role within the LSSAH was Oberst beim Stabe (colonel with the staff).
World War II
He took part in the fighting in Poland (1939), assigned as LSSAH Chief of Staff to Sepp Dietrich.[7] In January 1940 through October 1941, he was commander of the Deutschland Regiment and fought in the battle of France.[7] From the summer of 1942 through February 1943, Bittrich commanded 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer, that was tasked with anti-partisan operations (Bandenbekämpfung) in the Soviet Union. On 9 July 1942 Bittrich attended a conference called to convey the principles of the Bandenbekämpfung to senior police and security leaders. Organized by Heinrich Himmler, the conference included Kurt Daluege, Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, Odilo Globocnik, Bruno Streckenbach and others. The policies included collective punishment against villages suspected of supporting partisans, automatic death penalty for immediate families of suspected partisans, deportation of women and children, and confiscation of property for the state.
He assumed temporary command of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich from 14 October 1941 through 12 December 1941, after Paul Hausser had been wounded. He then was given command over the 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen effective February 1943 until 1 July 1944. On 1 July 1944, he was appointed commander of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps. The 2nd Panzer Corps fought in Normandy, at Arnhem and later in Hungary.
He was listed as a contributor to Cornelius Ryan's book A Bridge Too Far. Bittrich died in Wolfratshausen, Bavaria on 19 April 1979.
Conviction for war crimes
After his arrest on 8 May 1945 he was extradited to France on charges of having ordered the execution of 17 members of the Resistance in Nîmes. The trial revealed that Bittrich had not given such an order and had even opened procedures against the responsible officers. As the commander in charge of the troops who committed the execution, he was held responsible for their misconduct and sentenced to five years in prison. The sentence was considered as served after a long pretrial detention. He was put on trial for a second time in 1953 and sentenced to five years in prison for countenancing hangings, pillage and arson,[13] but was acquitted by the French court in Bordeaux again and released in 1954.He was never brought to trial for any actions and war crimes of the 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer in the Soviet Union.
Information from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hauptmann
Delica, Egon
* 04.01.1915 Stettin/Pommern
+ 26.04.1999 München
Awarded Knights Cross: 12.05.1940
as: Leutnant stellv. Führer SturmGrp "Granit" i. d. FschJägSturmAbt "Koch"
Major
Prentl, Josef
* 14.10.1916 Fürstätt bei Rosenheim/Oberbayern
+ 16.07.1994 Mittenwald
Awarded Knights Cross: 21.10.1942
as: Oberleutnant Chef 2./FlakRgt 231
Awarded Oakleaves as the 851st recipient : 28.04.1945 as Major
Kommandeur FlakRgt 116
Served in the Bundeswehr: 24.04.1956 until 01.10.1974
Last rank: Oberst
ACHGELIS Gerd
Gerd Achgelis (16 July 1908 – 18 May 1991) was a German aviator, test pilot, and pioneer in the development of helicopters
Achgelis was born in Golzwarden in Oldenburg, and after an apprenticeship as an electrician, began working as a stunt pilot in 1928. In 1930 he flew inverted for an hour over London, and in 1931 he was the German aerobatic champion. Flying a Fw 44 Stieglitz, Achgelis was placed third in the 1934 World Aerobatic Championships in Paris, and was 5th at the 1936 event in Berlin.[1]
From April 1932, he also worked as a flying instructor at the Technikum Weimar, and in 1933 became chief test pilot for the Focke-Wulf company in Bremen. On 26 June 1936 he flew the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, considered the first practical helicopter, on its maiden flight. On 27 April 1937, together with Henrich Focke, he founded the company Focke-Achgelis to develop and manufacture helicopters at Hoykenkamp.
In 1933 Hermann Goering proposed that Achgelis take a post as an instructor at the Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule ("German Air Transport School"), to establish and train an aerobatic team. Achgelis turned down the offer, and he also refused Goering's request to take the position of Generalluftzeugmeister ("Luftwaffe Director-General of Equipment") after the death of Ernst Udet in November 1941. He worked as a test pilot at an aircraft factory in Graudenz until the end of World War II.
After the war, Achgelis retired to his family farm, and from 1952 had commercial interests in Hude. However he remained connected to flying. In 1961, he was one of the founders of the airfield Flugplatz Oldenburg-Hatten[2] at Hatten, and in 1975, he received the légion d'honneur from France for his achievements in aviation. He also donated the Kavalier der Lüfte trophy, which is presented annually every November.
Achgelis died at his home in Hude in 1991.
Unknown signatory pilot in KG 30 assume he is a KC recipient
Very rare postal cover signed by these combination of men
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