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Michael Wittmann and the Waffen SS Tiger Commanders of the Leibstandarte in WWII #1
Михаел Витман и командирите на танкове "Тигър" от СС дивизията "Лейбщандарт"
Тази книга е уникалната история на най-успешния танков ас през Втората световна война хауптщурмфюрер Михаел Витман, кавалер на „Рицарски кръст с дъбови листа и мечове“, и неговите бойни другари от танковата СС дивизия „Лейбщандарт“. На Източния и Западния фронт Михаел Витман и неговият екипаж унищожават в бой 138 вражески танка и 132 противотанкови оръдия със своя „Тигър“.
За първи път е проследена подробно историята на танковата рота тигри и 101-ви тежък танков батальон от 1-ва СС дивизия „Лейбщандарт“.
В книгата подробно са описани всички кавалери на „Рицарски кръст“, „Германски златен кръст“ и „Почетен знак на лента“ от дивизията „Лейбщандарт“ и причините за награждаването им с тях.
Включени са много карти, извадки от бойни дневници, тогавашни вестници и официални документи, както и спомени на оцелели танкисти от СС войските.
Над 100 снимки, голяма част от които неизвестни досега, са взети предимно от частни архиви.
За първи път е проследена подробно историята на танковата рота тигри и 101-ви тежък танков батальон от 1-ва СС дивизия „Лейбщандарт“.
В книгата подробно са описани всички кавалери на „Рицарски кръст“, „Германски златен кръст“ и „Почетен знак на лента“ от дивизията „Лейбщандарт“ и причините за награждаването им с тях.
Включени са много карти, извадки от бойни дневници, тогавашни вестници и официални документи, както и спомени на оцелели танкисти от СС войските.
Над 100 снимки, голяма част от които неизвестни досега, са взети предимно от частни архиви.
360 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 22, 2019
A thoroughly engrossing story covering the life and times of one of Germany’s top tank aces in World War Two.
One cannot fathom the bravery, courage or fool-hardiness he showed on that day in Villers-Bocage when he came up against the British 7th Armored Division and single handedly destroyed over twenty-nine units before his tank was incapacitated.
Five stars
One cannot fathom the bravery, courage or fool-hardiness he showed on that day in Villers-Bocage when he came up against the British 7th Armored Division and single handedly destroyed over twenty-nine units before his tank was incapacitated.
Five stars
July 6, 2024
Много добра книга за историята не само на носителя на Рицарски кръст с дъбови листа хаупщурмфюрер Михаел Витман, но и на Тежък СС-Танков-батальон 101/501. Макар че Витман е централния персонаж, така да се каже, са споменати формирането на тежката 4., впоследствие 13. рота на танковия полк на 1. СС-Дивизия "Лайбщандарт" и последващето им увеличение до батальон както и функционирането му. Упоменати са и много от другите панцер асове напр. отличния мерач на Витман Балтазар Вол, Франц Щаудегер, Хелмут Вендорф и много други. Включени са кратки биографии на почти всички членове на ротата/батальона. Тук трябва да спомена, че на някой може да им се стори суховато и донякъде е. Описанията на битките са доста по кратки в сравнение, но всеки, който иска да вникне в същносттта на функционирането на танковите части тази информация е безценна.
Един от малкото недостатъци е, че авторът явно не е проверил текста и описания на постиженията на Витман се повтарят на две места.
Също при превода имам забележка за името на Дивизията. Според мен трябва да е "Лайбщандарт". Каквото е произношението на немски. Знам, че в българския се е наложило буквалното превеждане напр. Лейбгвардейски полк, но това не значи, че не може да се поправи.
Също мисля, че сигнален взвод трябва да се преведе като свързочен на български. Тук няма смисъл да сме буквални, щом има термин.
Като цяло книгата ще бъде оценена от всеки, който се интересува от немските танкови части. А и всеки фен на Вафен СС.
Напред към втора книга.
Един от малкото недостатъци е, че авторът явно не е проверил текста и описания на постиженията на Витман се повтарят на две места.
Също при превода имам забележка за името на Дивизията. Според мен трябва да е "Лайбщандарт". Каквото е произношението на немски. Знам, че в българския се е наложило буквалното превеждане напр. Лейбгвардейски полк, но това не значи, че не може да се поправи.
Също мисля, че сигнален взвод трябва да се преведе като свързочен на български. Тук няма смисъл да сме буквални, щом има термин.
Като цяло книгата ще бъде оценена от всеки, който се интересува от немските танкови части. А и всеки фен на Вафен СС.
Напред към втора книга.
May 20, 2024
Too many names, too little action.
Awful book, just a tedious and eternal list of units and soldiers shifting companies, battalions and divisions, with very little actual details of the battles of World War II.
Less than 25% of the book is about Michael Wittmann.
It has some very nice pictures of the war and the Tiger tank.
Awful book, just a tedious and eternal list of units and soldiers shifting companies, battalions and divisions, with very little actual details of the battles of World War II.
Less than 25% of the book is about Michael Wittmann.
It has some very nice pictures of the war and the Tiger tank.
June 22, 2026
History of Tiger corps. And good one.
In 1942, the Waffen SS planned to create a heavy armored battalion for the emerging SS Panzer Corps. However, in December 1942, this plan was abandoned, and each of the divisions of the Panzer Corps—Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, Das Reich, and Totenkopf—received a single Tiger company, though these were positioned differently within their structures. At that time, the Tiger companies also included Panzer III tanks, which were to be used as light platoons to provide cover against direct armored combat.
After the formation of subsequent SS Panzer Corps, the Waffen SS also organized Tiger battalions into independent battalions, which from then on served as an independent element of each corps. In the Leibstandarte and Das Reich Divisions, the Tiger companies were removed from their armored regiments and attached to the emerging I. and II. Panzer Battalions. The SS Panzer Corps' Tiger battalions were incorporated into the I., II., and III. SS-Panzerkorps, while the IV. SS-Panzerkorps, with the Wiking and Totenkopf Divisions, did not receive such a battalion. In the Totenkopf Division's armored regiment, the Tiger company fought until the end of the war.
At the beginning of the Eastern Campaign, the IV. Infantry Battalion joined the Leibstandarte, so from then on, SS-Obergruppenführer Sepp Dietrich commanded four infantry battalions, a heavy battalion with a light and heavy field gun company, a 5 cm anti-tank gun company, and Abteilung Schöneberger, which consisted of a 4.7 cm self-propelled anti-tank gun company and an assault gun battery. In addition, there was a light anti-aircraft artillery battalion and an artillery regiment composed of two battalions. Thanks to this, in June 1941, the Leibstandarte gained the strength of a reinforced regiment.
The company commander was Kling, with Schütz, Philipsen, Wendorff, and Wittmann reporting directly to him. The tank crews had not yet been selected, and all exercises were conducted in a somewhat chaotic manner. On December 25, 1942, Christmas Day, fifteen Panzerschützen, Sturmmann, the squad leader, and the platoon commander were summoned. Early in the morning, immediately after breakfast, the order came: "Report within an hour, with only your haversacks, that is, with supplies for a few days, to collect tanks from the army arsenal." At noon, we went to Hannover (Hannover) to the personnel department, and then to the Army Arsenal in Magdeburg-Königsborn. However, the Arsenal didn't issue us the Panzer III tanks waiting for us because they ran out of brake fluid for tanks with long-barreled 5cm guns. We were billeted in an old restaurant, where an iron stove with a chimney protruding out the window was set up in the center. There were about a hundred of us there. In the morning, we washed in the yard under the only frost-free pump. We received ration coupons. Every morning, we had lectures on the operation of motor vehicles in winter conditions. These lectures were held in one of the restaurant's rooms. In the afternoons, we were allowed to travel to Magdeburg. There, I met my then-fiancée, with whom I corresponded until January 1948, six years later.
On Christmas Day 1942, SS-Hauptsturmführer Kling was posted to the company. Heinz Kling was born on September 10, 1913, in Kassel. On August 27, 1935, he entered service in the 7th Company of the SS Germania Regiment in Arolsen. After graduating from officer training school in Bad Tölz, immediately after the end of the Sudetenland operation, he was promoted to the rank of SS-Untersturmführer on November 9, 1938, and took command of a platoon in the 10th/Germania.12 He survived the Polish campaign with the 9th Company and was soon transferred to the 12th SS-Totenkopf-Standarte, where he took command of the 6th Company. As SS-Obersturmführer, he later commanded the 3rd Company, and on August 20, 1940, he received the Iron Cross 2nd Class. After the regiment was disbanded in the summer of 1940, he was assigned to the 15th/SS-Totenkopf-Standarte, where he commanded the 10th Company. In December 1940, he took over the 1st/SS-Totenkopf-Infanterieregiment 5. With almost all its personnel, the company was transferred from Rastenburg to Wischau near Brünn in June 1941, where it was redesignated the 18th Company of the 4th Leibstandarte Battalion. Shortly thereafter, the Russian campaign began, where Kling was wounded twice. On July 16, 1941, he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class, and on November 9, he was promoted to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer. Due to illness...
Heinz Kling contracted severe enteritis (often described in documents as particularly acute cystitis and enteritis or intestinal dysentery/catarrh), which forced him to temporarily leave the front in late 1941 and undergo prolonged hospital treatment.
The SS Motorized Regiment "Germania" (including its 9th Company, part of the 3rd Battalion) crossed the border into Poland on September 1, 1939, advancing from the Gliwice region towards Upper Silesia.
In the initial phase of the campaign, the unit achieved no spectacular military successes, and was noted primarily for pacification and police operations. SS men from this regiment, cooperating with SD and police operational groups (Einsatzgruppen), carried out mass arrests and executions of Polish citizens, including the murder of over 150 people in the Panewickie Forest near Katowice.
However, the regiment learned a tangible and painful "lesson" less than two weeks later.
Rout at the Battle of Jaworów: On the night of September 15-16, 1939, units of the 3rd Battalion of the "Germania" Regiment (including the 9th Company) quartered in the village of Mużyłowice were completely defeated by the Polish 11th Carpathian Infantry Division under the command of Colonel Bronisław Prugar-Ketling.
The SS soldiers were well-trained in modern motorized warfare and ranged combat, but they were unprepared for brutal hand-to-hand combat in the dark.
When Polish riflemen began clearing houses with bayonets and grenades, panic broke out among the Germans.
Many SS men fled the villages in their underwear, barefoot, abandoning their personal weapons and heavy equipment in the forests and fields.
Waldemar Schütz was born on October 9, 1913, in Dausenau, Unterlahn district. From 1937, he was a cadet in SS officer training schools.13 After the Polish campaign, the Leibstandarte was relocated via Prague (Prag) to the lower Lahn Valley, and the staff and some companies took up quarters in Bad Ems. On December 7, 1939, the local mayor invited Obergruppenführer Sepp Dietrich, several staff officers, and his friend Waldemar Schütz to an evening reception. During the reception, Sepp Dietrich immediately arranged Schütz's request for a transfer to the Leibstandarte. He first asked his chief of staff, "Keilhaus, can we do that?", to which he received the answer: "We can't, but you can do anything!" Schütz was assigned to the 13th Light Infantry Gun Company (13. leichte Infanteriegeschützkompanie). On December 8, 1939, he removed his cadet uniform and donned the gray uniform of the Waffen SS. In March 1940, Schütz, on the orders of Sepp Dietrich, was assigned to the officer training course at the Junkerschule Tölz. On November 9, 1940, he was promoted to the rank of SS-Untersturmführer. During the Balkan Campaign and in Russia, he served again with his former company (now the 1./V. schweres Bataillon).
Waldemar Schütz suffered five serious wounds in the latter stages of World War II.
Winter fighting 1941/1942: He then served with the 13th Infantry Gun Company of the LSSAH. He was seriously wounded during brutal defensive fighting on the Mius River in Ukraine.
Battle of Kharkov and Kursk (1943): After recovering from his wounds and transferring to armor (he commanded, among other things, a platoon in the 13th Heavy Tank Company of the LSSAH, equipped with Tiger tanks), Schütz participated in the Battle of Kharkov and on the Kursk Salient (near Prokhorovka). There, he sustained further wounds that temporarily eliminated him from service.
Battle of the Falaise Pocket: In August 1944, during dramatic attempts to break the encirclement in the so-called Falaise Pocket, Schütz was again seriously wounded.
In mid-August 1944, the Allies trapped over 100,000 German soldiers in the Falaise Pocket. This area became known as the "corridor of death" due to the constant artillery fire, which was conducted by, among others, the Germans. by the Polish 1st Armored Division under General Maczek.
The Poles found themselves completely encircled. They became a "cork" in a bottle – elite SS corps (including the Hohenstaufen and Das Reich Divisions) attacked them from the east and north.
August 21: At noon, tanks from the Canadian Grenadier Guards regiment reached the exhausted Polish soldiers on the hill, finally sealing the encirclement and ending the operation.
Over these five days, the Polish division captured over 5,600 German soldiers, destroyed 55 tanks and hundreds of other vehicles, paying the price of over 1,400 dead, wounded, and missing.
Das Schwarze Korps (official SS weekly)
SS-Unterscharführer Staudegger. SS Propaganda Company.
The appearance of a strong Soviet armored formation was reported. Unterscharführer Franz Staudegger, a tall, broad-shouldered Carinthian, jumped into the turret of his Tiger and raced toward the front line. Along the way, a grenadier informed him that five Soviet tanks had already breached. He then saw two of them blown up, destroyed by individual soldiers using individual anti-tank weapons. A few minutes later, the Tiger's tank gun destroyed the remaining three T 34s. Staudegger now turned his tank toward no man's land.
Behind the railway embankment, two more T 34s appeared. Within a minute, they turned into two columns of smoke standing in the field. Five more emerged from the small forest behind the railway embankment. After a fierce firefight, they too were destroyed. Moving forward, Staudegger spotted an armored formation in one of the ravines, of whose presence he had been informed. Taking advantage of the advantageous position, he quickly aimed his gun and opened sustained fire. After downing a total of 22 tanks, the regiment ran out of armor-piercing ammunition. The remaining tanks were hit with fragmentation shells, damaging a number of them. Then, using his Tiger's reverse gear, Staudegger began to retreat toward his own lines, constantly monitoring the enemy's movements. It was high time for this, as almost all the ammunition had been used up, the engine had begun to misfire, and the fuel was running low. The grenadiers were already cheering from afar for the approaching Tiger. The regimental commander spontaneously pinned the Iron Cross 1st Class to the brave tank commander's uniform. The Führer decorated him for his extraordinary courage and willingness to sacrifice himself with the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. War correspondent Wondratsch."
Twenty-year-old Franz Staudegger was a powerfully built, nearly 1.90 cm tall, brunette with blue eyes. While his crew members respected him, no one particularly liked him. He always kept his distance, sometimes offending others with his somewhat overly stiff demeanor. The young Carinthian was very confident, and despite his arrogance, he was never rejected by his company mates.
According to historian Christopher A. Lawrence, the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Corps attacked in this sector, losing 28 T-34 tanks and 9 T-70 light tanks that day.
417 Uscha. Hans Höld
The word Held in Middle High German means "hero" or a valiant person.
Held means "hero" in German. Hold (or Old German Höld) means "gracious," "faithful," "faithful."
In Polish, the German hard l after the vowel o naturally became the letter ł in pronunciation and spelling. To a Polish official, the word Hold sounded identical to the Polish word "hołd" (e.g., lenny).
The addition of the "-a" ending to the word Hold (which became Hołd) and the creation of the form Hołda occurred through a process of natural grammatical assimilation in the Polish language, which took place during the Middle Ages (from the 14th to the 15th centuries).
Remember, my last name is Hołda.
1333 Uscha. Hans Höld
Hans Höld's conversion from Tiger tank with tactical number 417 to Tiger tank number 1333 was a direct result of the reorganization and change in company naming in the 1st SS Panzer Regiment of the elite "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" (LSSAH) division.
In the following months of the war (after the Battle of Kursk), the same unit and its crews underwent another reform, changing their designations to the "S" series (Höld then received the number S12). Ultimately, they became part of the independent 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion. They took part in one of the most important and spectacular armored engagements on the Western Front of World War II – the Battle of Villers-Bocage in Normandy (June 13, 1944). Completely destroying the vanguard of the British 7th Armored Division ("Desert Rats") and inflicting catastrophic losses on it in just a few minutes.
Around 23 to 27 tanks were lost – including British Cromwells, Sherman Fireflies with powerful 17-pounder guns, and Stuart light tanks.
Several dozen British soldiers from the prestigious 4th County of London Yeomanry were killed and over 100 captured.
Tactically, however, this raid brought the Germans an operational victory – the Allied attack on the key city of Caen was completely halted, and the British were forced to retreat from Villers-Bocage.
Hans Höld commanded Tiger tank number S12 (and previously number 1333) at, among other places, Kharkov and Kursk. According to German personnel records, Höld was killed on the Eastern Front on November 22, 1943, near Brusilov.
The S12 tank itself was withdrawn from Russia, reorganized, and assigned the new number 112 in Normandy. During the battle of June 13, 1944, its commander was Oberscharführer Karl Skerbinz. Tank No. 112 covered Wittmann's raid and later entered the city, where it participated in the destruction of the British blockade.
In November 1943, the city of Brusilov (now Zhytomyr Oblast in Ukraine) was the site of extremely bloody and fierce armored and infantry fighting.
On November 22, 1943, the German armored attack in the Brusilov area reached its climax. The Germans then managed to encircle and inflict heavy losses on some Soviet forces (including the 4th Guards Tank Corps) before the counteroffensive finally fizzled out in December due to mud and depleted supplies.
During the Battle of Kursk, Hold's wagon was heavily hit and damaged by Soviet artillery and tanks.
"Holden" (Faithful Vassals) In medieval Germany and Austria, the word Holden or Holde did not refer to a specific family, but rather to a group of people who had sworn allegiance to their lord (senior).
These were free peasants or knights who enjoyed the ruler's protection in exchange for absolute loyalty.
The Duchy of Masovia, ruled by the Masovian Piast dynasty, was officially incorporated into the Kingdom of Poland only in 1526, after the death of the last duke, Janusz III.
Polish kings – especially Władysław I the Elbow-high and Casimir III the Great – brought massive numbers of settlers, craftsmen, knights, and officials from Germany (primarily Silesia, Saxony, and Bavaria) to the depopulated country. These colonists founded new villages or towns under Magdeburg Law.
On September 6, 1943, awards were presented. The Iron Cross 1st Class was awarded to SS-Untersturmführer "Bubi" Wendorff, as well as SS-Unterscharführer Hans Höld. "SS-Höld," as his company colleagues jokingly called the tank commander, was particularly proud of this.
He ruthlessly carried out the orders of company commander Heinrich Kling, earning a reputation as an "exemplary, tough SS soldier."
The political situation in Italy became critical (Mussolini had been overthrown). Hans Höld, "Bubi" Wendorff, Michael Wittmann, and the rest of the crews set off for Italy on passenger trains, without armored vehicles.
S22 Uscha, Hans Höld
When Italian infantrymen from the 14th Infantry Regiment raised the alarm and put up armed resistance, Höld's tank was sent to spearhead the attack. Using the powerful armor of the Tiger, it drove directly into the machine gun zone to cover the SS Panzergrenadiers. Höld created a physical, mobile armored screen for his own infantry
On November 22, 1943, the armored group attacked the heavily built-up enemy defenses in the village of Jastrebenka. Here, too, Kling's company, attacking again in the first wave, bore the brunt of the battle against the extremely strong enemy anti-tank position. Despite numerous disabled vehicles and taking numerous hits, Kling managed not only to put the enemy's flanking attack out of action and thus secure the following units, but also, thanks to the bold and efficient execution of the subsequent attack, continued forward and crushed the well-established anti-tank defense point on the southern edge of the village, thus opening the battle group's path to the village center. SS-Sturmmann Rolf Schamp, gunner in a Tiger tank commanded by SS-Unterscharführer Hans Höld, remembered the attack on Jastrebenka: "The sun was shining, and in front of us was a small, sloping meadow from which we surveyed the surrounding area. We could see a plain, I think 800 to 1,000 meters wide, and beyond it was a wide grove of trees. The enemy's positions were unknown. We were attacking towards the grove. Several tanks were participating in the attack. It was a medium-scale operation. We turned around and took our places in the tanks, and Höld ordered, 'Tanks, march!' We willingly went together, he as commander and I as gunner, because we were a well-coordinated pair.
We drove the tank to the top of the slope, until the machine tumbled forward over its ridge. We advanced a few more meters, and then the grove suddenly turned into a sea of flames. We were shot down! There was a flash like a firework. A loud bang, somewhere high up in the tank, a jolt, and silence. My forehead was bleeding. I turned back. Höld was sitting hunched over. I asked him, "Unterscharführer, what do we do now?" Two mucus bubbles formed near his nostrils. Höld didn't answer. There was something between his eyebrows that looked like a pin. As the thunder continued to rumble, my first reaction was to turn to the driver and say, "Back, march!" The tank was still moving. In reverse, we crested the slope and descended. Then I looked at Höld. He was dead."
In 1942, the Waffen SS planned to create a heavy armored battalion for the emerging SS Panzer Corps. However, in December 1942, this plan was abandoned, and each of the divisions of the Panzer Corps—Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, Das Reich, and Totenkopf—received a single Tiger company, though these were positioned differently within their structures. At that time, the Tiger companies also included Panzer III tanks, which were to be used as light platoons to provide cover against direct armored combat.
After the formation of subsequent SS Panzer Corps, the Waffen SS also organized Tiger battalions into independent battalions, which from then on served as an independent element of each corps. In the Leibstandarte and Das Reich Divisions, the Tiger companies were removed from their armored regiments and attached to the emerging I. and II. Panzer Battalions. The SS Panzer Corps' Tiger battalions were incorporated into the I., II., and III. SS-Panzerkorps, while the IV. SS-Panzerkorps, with the Wiking and Totenkopf Divisions, did not receive such a battalion. In the Totenkopf Division's armored regiment, the Tiger company fought until the end of the war.
At the beginning of the Eastern Campaign, the IV. Infantry Battalion joined the Leibstandarte, so from then on, SS-Obergruppenführer Sepp Dietrich commanded four infantry battalions, a heavy battalion with a light and heavy field gun company, a 5 cm anti-tank gun company, and Abteilung Schöneberger, which consisted of a 4.7 cm self-propelled anti-tank gun company and an assault gun battery. In addition, there was a light anti-aircraft artillery battalion and an artillery regiment composed of two battalions. Thanks to this, in June 1941, the Leibstandarte gained the strength of a reinforced regiment.
The company commander was Kling, with Schütz, Philipsen, Wendorff, and Wittmann reporting directly to him. The tank crews had not yet been selected, and all exercises were conducted in a somewhat chaotic manner. On December 25, 1942, Christmas Day, fifteen Panzerschützen, Sturmmann, the squad leader, and the platoon commander were summoned. Early in the morning, immediately after breakfast, the order came: "Report within an hour, with only your haversacks, that is, with supplies for a few days, to collect tanks from the army arsenal." At noon, we went to Hannover (Hannover) to the personnel department, and then to the Army Arsenal in Magdeburg-Königsborn. However, the Arsenal didn't issue us the Panzer III tanks waiting for us because they ran out of brake fluid for tanks with long-barreled 5cm guns. We were billeted in an old restaurant, where an iron stove with a chimney protruding out the window was set up in the center. There were about a hundred of us there. In the morning, we washed in the yard under the only frost-free pump. We received ration coupons. Every morning, we had lectures on the operation of motor vehicles in winter conditions. These lectures were held in one of the restaurant's rooms. In the afternoons, we were allowed to travel to Magdeburg. There, I met my then-fiancée, with whom I corresponded until January 1948, six years later.
On Christmas Day 1942, SS-Hauptsturmführer Kling was posted to the company. Heinz Kling was born on September 10, 1913, in Kassel. On August 27, 1935, he entered service in the 7th Company of the SS Germania Regiment in Arolsen. After graduating from officer training school in Bad Tölz, immediately after the end of the Sudetenland operation, he was promoted to the rank of SS-Untersturmführer on November 9, 1938, and took command of a platoon in the 10th/Germania.12 He survived the Polish campaign with the 9th Company and was soon transferred to the 12th SS-Totenkopf-Standarte, where he took command of the 6th Company. As SS-Obersturmführer, he later commanded the 3rd Company, and on August 20, 1940, he received the Iron Cross 2nd Class. After the regiment was disbanded in the summer of 1940, he was assigned to the 15th/SS-Totenkopf-Standarte, where he commanded the 10th Company. In December 1940, he took over the 1st/SS-Totenkopf-Infanterieregiment 5. With almost all its personnel, the company was transferred from Rastenburg to Wischau near Brünn in June 1941, where it was redesignated the 18th Company of the 4th Leibstandarte Battalion. Shortly thereafter, the Russian campaign began, where Kling was wounded twice. On July 16, 1941, he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class, and on November 9, he was promoted to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer. Due to illness...
Heinz Kling contracted severe enteritis (often described in documents as particularly acute cystitis and enteritis or intestinal dysentery/catarrh), which forced him to temporarily leave the front in late 1941 and undergo prolonged hospital treatment.
The SS Motorized Regiment "Germania" (including its 9th Company, part of the 3rd Battalion) crossed the border into Poland on September 1, 1939, advancing from the Gliwice region towards Upper Silesia.
In the initial phase of the campaign, the unit achieved no spectacular military successes, and was noted primarily for pacification and police operations. SS men from this regiment, cooperating with SD and police operational groups (Einsatzgruppen), carried out mass arrests and executions of Polish citizens, including the murder of over 150 people in the Panewickie Forest near Katowice.
However, the regiment learned a tangible and painful "lesson" less than two weeks later.
Rout at the Battle of Jaworów: On the night of September 15-16, 1939, units of the 3rd Battalion of the "Germania" Regiment (including the 9th Company) quartered in the village of Mużyłowice were completely defeated by the Polish 11th Carpathian Infantry Division under the command of Colonel Bronisław Prugar-Ketling.
The SS soldiers were well-trained in modern motorized warfare and ranged combat, but they were unprepared for brutal hand-to-hand combat in the dark.
When Polish riflemen began clearing houses with bayonets and grenades, panic broke out among the Germans.
Many SS men fled the villages in their underwear, barefoot, abandoning their personal weapons and heavy equipment in the forests and fields.
Waldemar Schütz was born on October 9, 1913, in Dausenau, Unterlahn district. From 1937, he was a cadet in SS officer training schools.13 After the Polish campaign, the Leibstandarte was relocated via Prague (Prag) to the lower Lahn Valley, and the staff and some companies took up quarters in Bad Ems. On December 7, 1939, the local mayor invited Obergruppenführer Sepp Dietrich, several staff officers, and his friend Waldemar Schütz to an evening reception. During the reception, Sepp Dietrich immediately arranged Schütz's request for a transfer to the Leibstandarte. He first asked his chief of staff, "Keilhaus, can we do that?", to which he received the answer: "We can't, but you can do anything!" Schütz was assigned to the 13th Light Infantry Gun Company (13. leichte Infanteriegeschützkompanie). On December 8, 1939, he removed his cadet uniform and donned the gray uniform of the Waffen SS. In March 1940, Schütz, on the orders of Sepp Dietrich, was assigned to the officer training course at the Junkerschule Tölz. On November 9, 1940, he was promoted to the rank of SS-Untersturmführer. During the Balkan Campaign and in Russia, he served again with his former company (now the 1./V. schweres Bataillon).
Waldemar Schütz suffered five serious wounds in the latter stages of World War II.
Winter fighting 1941/1942: He then served with the 13th Infantry Gun Company of the LSSAH. He was seriously wounded during brutal defensive fighting on the Mius River in Ukraine.
Battle of Kharkov and Kursk (1943): After recovering from his wounds and transferring to armor (he commanded, among other things, a platoon in the 13th Heavy Tank Company of the LSSAH, equipped with Tiger tanks), Schütz participated in the Battle of Kharkov and on the Kursk Salient (near Prokhorovka). There, he sustained further wounds that temporarily eliminated him from service.
Battle of the Falaise Pocket: In August 1944, during dramatic attempts to break the encirclement in the so-called Falaise Pocket, Schütz was again seriously wounded.
In mid-August 1944, the Allies trapped over 100,000 German soldiers in the Falaise Pocket. This area became known as the "corridor of death" due to the constant artillery fire, which was conducted by, among others, the Germans. by the Polish 1st Armored Division under General Maczek.
The Poles found themselves completely encircled. They became a "cork" in a bottle – elite SS corps (including the Hohenstaufen and Das Reich Divisions) attacked them from the east and north.
August 21: At noon, tanks from the Canadian Grenadier Guards regiment reached the exhausted Polish soldiers on the hill, finally sealing the encirclement and ending the operation.
Over these five days, the Polish division captured over 5,600 German soldiers, destroyed 55 tanks and hundreds of other vehicles, paying the price of over 1,400 dead, wounded, and missing.
Das Schwarze Korps (official SS weekly)
SS-Unterscharführer Staudegger. SS Propaganda Company.
The appearance of a strong Soviet armored formation was reported. Unterscharführer Franz Staudegger, a tall, broad-shouldered Carinthian, jumped into the turret of his Tiger and raced toward the front line. Along the way, a grenadier informed him that five Soviet tanks had already breached. He then saw two of them blown up, destroyed by individual soldiers using individual anti-tank weapons. A few minutes later, the Tiger's tank gun destroyed the remaining three T 34s. Staudegger now turned his tank toward no man's land.
Behind the railway embankment, two more T 34s appeared. Within a minute, they turned into two columns of smoke standing in the field. Five more emerged from the small forest behind the railway embankment. After a fierce firefight, they too were destroyed. Moving forward, Staudegger spotted an armored formation in one of the ravines, of whose presence he had been informed. Taking advantage of the advantageous position, he quickly aimed his gun and opened sustained fire. After downing a total of 22 tanks, the regiment ran out of armor-piercing ammunition. The remaining tanks were hit with fragmentation shells, damaging a number of them. Then, using his Tiger's reverse gear, Staudegger began to retreat toward his own lines, constantly monitoring the enemy's movements. It was high time for this, as almost all the ammunition had been used up, the engine had begun to misfire, and the fuel was running low. The grenadiers were already cheering from afar for the approaching Tiger. The regimental commander spontaneously pinned the Iron Cross 1st Class to the brave tank commander's uniform. The Führer decorated him for his extraordinary courage and willingness to sacrifice himself with the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. War correspondent Wondratsch."
Twenty-year-old Franz Staudegger was a powerfully built, nearly 1.90 cm tall, brunette with blue eyes. While his crew members respected him, no one particularly liked him. He always kept his distance, sometimes offending others with his somewhat overly stiff demeanor. The young Carinthian was very confident, and despite his arrogance, he was never rejected by his company mates.
According to historian Christopher A. Lawrence, the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Corps attacked in this sector, losing 28 T-34 tanks and 9 T-70 light tanks that day.
417 Uscha. Hans Höld
The word Held in Middle High German means "hero" or a valiant person.
Held means "hero" in German. Hold (or Old German Höld) means "gracious," "faithful," "faithful."
In Polish, the German hard l after the vowel o naturally became the letter ł in pronunciation and spelling. To a Polish official, the word Hold sounded identical to the Polish word "hołd" (e.g., lenny).
The addition of the "-a" ending to the word Hold (which became Hołd) and the creation of the form Hołda occurred through a process of natural grammatical assimilation in the Polish language, which took place during the Middle Ages (from the 14th to the 15th centuries).
Remember, my last name is Hołda.
1333 Uscha. Hans Höld
Hans Höld's conversion from Tiger tank with tactical number 417 to Tiger tank number 1333 was a direct result of the reorganization and change in company naming in the 1st SS Panzer Regiment of the elite "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" (LSSAH) division.
In the following months of the war (after the Battle of Kursk), the same unit and its crews underwent another reform, changing their designations to the "S" series (Höld then received the number S12). Ultimately, they became part of the independent 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion. They took part in one of the most important and spectacular armored engagements on the Western Front of World War II – the Battle of Villers-Bocage in Normandy (June 13, 1944). Completely destroying the vanguard of the British 7th Armored Division ("Desert Rats") and inflicting catastrophic losses on it in just a few minutes.
Around 23 to 27 tanks were lost – including British Cromwells, Sherman Fireflies with powerful 17-pounder guns, and Stuart light tanks.
Several dozen British soldiers from the prestigious 4th County of London Yeomanry were killed and over 100 captured.
Tactically, however, this raid brought the Germans an operational victory – the Allied attack on the key city of Caen was completely halted, and the British were forced to retreat from Villers-Bocage.
Hans Höld commanded Tiger tank number S12 (and previously number 1333) at, among other places, Kharkov and Kursk. According to German personnel records, Höld was killed on the Eastern Front on November 22, 1943, near Brusilov.
The S12 tank itself was withdrawn from Russia, reorganized, and assigned the new number 112 in Normandy. During the battle of June 13, 1944, its commander was Oberscharführer Karl Skerbinz. Tank No. 112 covered Wittmann's raid and later entered the city, where it participated in the destruction of the British blockade.
In November 1943, the city of Brusilov (now Zhytomyr Oblast in Ukraine) was the site of extremely bloody and fierce armored and infantry fighting.
On November 22, 1943, the German armored attack in the Brusilov area reached its climax. The Germans then managed to encircle and inflict heavy losses on some Soviet forces (including the 4th Guards Tank Corps) before the counteroffensive finally fizzled out in December due to mud and depleted supplies.
During the Battle of Kursk, Hold's wagon was heavily hit and damaged by Soviet artillery and tanks.
"Holden" (Faithful Vassals) In medieval Germany and Austria, the word Holden or Holde did not refer to a specific family, but rather to a group of people who had sworn allegiance to their lord (senior).
These were free peasants or knights who enjoyed the ruler's protection in exchange for absolute loyalty.
The Duchy of Masovia, ruled by the Masovian Piast dynasty, was officially incorporated into the Kingdom of Poland only in 1526, after the death of the last duke, Janusz III.
Polish kings – especially Władysław I the Elbow-high and Casimir III the Great – brought massive numbers of settlers, craftsmen, knights, and officials from Germany (primarily Silesia, Saxony, and Bavaria) to the depopulated country. These colonists founded new villages or towns under Magdeburg Law.
On September 6, 1943, awards were presented. The Iron Cross 1st Class was awarded to SS-Untersturmführer "Bubi" Wendorff, as well as SS-Unterscharführer Hans Höld. "SS-Höld," as his company colleagues jokingly called the tank commander, was particularly proud of this.
He ruthlessly carried out the orders of company commander Heinrich Kling, earning a reputation as an "exemplary, tough SS soldier."
The political situation in Italy became critical (Mussolini had been overthrown). Hans Höld, "Bubi" Wendorff, Michael Wittmann, and the rest of the crews set off for Italy on passenger trains, without armored vehicles.
S22 Uscha, Hans Höld
When Italian infantrymen from the 14th Infantry Regiment raised the alarm and put up armed resistance, Höld's tank was sent to spearhead the attack. Using the powerful armor of the Tiger, it drove directly into the machine gun zone to cover the SS Panzergrenadiers. Höld created a physical, mobile armored screen for his own infantry
On November 22, 1943, the armored group attacked the heavily built-up enemy defenses in the village of Jastrebenka. Here, too, Kling's company, attacking again in the first wave, bore the brunt of the battle against the extremely strong enemy anti-tank position. Despite numerous disabled vehicles and taking numerous hits, Kling managed not only to put the enemy's flanking attack out of action and thus secure the following units, but also, thanks to the bold and efficient execution of the subsequent attack, continued forward and crushed the well-established anti-tank defense point on the southern edge of the village, thus opening the battle group's path to the village center. SS-Sturmmann Rolf Schamp, gunner in a Tiger tank commanded by SS-Unterscharführer Hans Höld, remembered the attack on Jastrebenka: "The sun was shining, and in front of us was a small, sloping meadow from which we surveyed the surrounding area. We could see a plain, I think 800 to 1,000 meters wide, and beyond it was a wide grove of trees. The enemy's positions were unknown. We were attacking towards the grove. Several tanks were participating in the attack. It was a medium-scale operation. We turned around and took our places in the tanks, and Höld ordered, 'Tanks, march!' We willingly went together, he as commander and I as gunner, because we were a well-coordinated pair.
We drove the tank to the top of the slope, until the machine tumbled forward over its ridge. We advanced a few more meters, and then the grove suddenly turned into a sea of flames. We were shot down! There was a flash like a firework. A loud bang, somewhere high up in the tank, a jolt, and silence. My forehead was bleeding. I turned back. Höld was sitting hunched over. I asked him, "Unterscharführer, what do we do now?" Two mucus bubbles formed near his nostrils. Höld didn't answer. There was something between his eyebrows that looked like a pin. As the thunder continued to rumble, my first reaction was to turn to the driver and say, "Back, march!" The tank was still moving. In reverse, we crested the slope and descended. Then I looked at Höld. He was dead."
April 23, 2014
too many names... not enough action
June 4, 2017
Het is een zeer interessant boek. Maar het is ook wel een boek voor mensen met een zeer specifieke niche. Ik ben er zeker van dat nagenoeg niemand anders in mijn taalgroep dit boek ook zou lezen. Het onderwerp vraagt een aanzienlijke voorkennis over militaire termen, geschiedenis en geografie. Het boek is in het Engels geschreven. Maar omdat het over een Duitse eenheid gaat komen er veel ingewikkelde Duitse termen in voor zoals: Panzerzerstörungtrupp, sonderkraftfahrzeug, kampfgruppe. Dit zijn enkele van de Duitse militaire termen die aan bod kwamen. Allemaal een mond vol. De plaatsen waar er werd gevochten worden ook vermeld, zoals: kharkov, Zhitomir, Cherkassy. Dit zijn allemaal steden en dorpen in het huidige Oekraïne en Rusland. Een basiskennis van deze termen is dus nodig om de verhalen te kunnen volgen. Het boek is opgemaakt uit verschillende militaire verslagen en passages uit de dagboeken van de soldaten. Enkele van de overlevenden werden ook nog geïnterviewd. Hierdoor is het boek dus vrij volledig en gedetailleerd. Het is een interessant verhaal dat loopt van 1938 tot 1944. Dit omslaat dus de acties van 1. SS-Panzer-Divisie Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler aan het oostfront. Maar vooral de wapenfeiten van het 13de panzer regiment is in de kijker gezet. Het boek heeft een 2de deel dat de periode 1944-1945 beschrijft. Michael Wittman en al de andere soldaten die samen met hem vochten hebben elk hun eigen ervaringen, sommige wat donkerder of spectaculairder dan anderen. Ik zou het boek wel enkel aanraden als de 2de wereldoorlog je echt interesseert.
October 9, 2025
Доста подробно описание на бойния път на батальон тежки танкове съм 1ва СС дивизия.
Разказва се накратко за десетки от участниците там - от командирите на танкове до зъболекаря.
На моменти книгата е като справочник, но моите уважения към автора, че се е постарал да я направи подробна. Има и много (черно-бели) снимки.
Надявам се скоро да прочета и втората част.
Разказва се накратко за десетки от участниците там - от командирите на танкове до зъболекаря.
На моменти книгата е като справочник, но моите уважения към автора, че се е постарал да я направи подробна. Има и много (черно-бели) снимки.
Надявам се скоро да прочета и втората част.
November 29, 2018
Great book for history of the Leibstandarte SS during the early war. The author covers Wittmann and other tank aces.
September 5, 2022
Well written and author uses various accounts from newspaper articles as well as members testimonies. Lack of end notes is why I cannot give it five stars.
February 14, 2016
An interesting view to the simple soldiery behind the Tiger divisions of WWII. In many ways all soldiers are enforcing someone else's political will. This book is about those commanders simply as leaders of men and metal. It's not political or apologetic, just historical. The Tiger was an amazing and also limited tank. There just weren't enough of them to change the outcome, but a lot of death and destruction occurred in the trying.
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