Hitler's Werewolves: The story of the Nazi resistance movement, 1944-1945

by Charles Whiting

In the last days of the Third Reich, the Nazis organized a "Werewolf" underground organization to wage a guerrilla war against the Allies. The most treasured relics of the Third Reich were hidden to serve as the spiritual center of a new underground (the Nazi Party "Blood Banner" has never been found). Largely unsuccessful, the Werewolves did succeed in killing several Allied officers and anti-Nazi Germans.

Charles Whiting's suspenseful narrative concentrates on a small Werewolf team assigned to kill the pro-American mayor of Aachen. The tension builds as terror and counter-terror units move toward a fatal confrontation.

Genres: History, World War II, Military Fiction, Military History, Nonfiction, Germany

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Charles Whiting was a British writer and military historian and with some 350 books of fiction and non-fiction to his credit, under his own name and a variety of pseudonyms including Ian Harding, Duncan Harding, K.N. Kostov, John Kerrigan, Klaus Konrad, and Leo Kessler.

Born in the Bootham area of York, England, he was a pupil at the prestigious Nunthorpe Grammar School, leaving at the age of 16 to join the British Army by lying about his age. Keen to be in on the wartime action, Whiting was attached to the 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment and by the age of 18 saw duty as a sergeant in France, Holland, Belgium and Germany in the latter stages of World War II. While still a soldier, he observed conflicts between the highest-ranking British and American generals which he would write about extensively in later years.

After the war, he stayed on in Germany completing his A-levels via correspondence course and teaching English before being enrolled at Leeds University reading History and German Language. As an undergraduate he was afforded opportunities for study at several European universities and, after gaining his degree, would go on to become an assistant professor of history. Elsewhere, Whiting held a variety of jobs which included working as a translator for a German chemical factory and spells as a publicist, a correspondent for The Times and feature writer for such diverse magazines as International Review of Linguistics, Soldier and Playboy.

His first novel was written while still an undergraduate, was published in 1954 and by 1958 had been followed by three wartime thrillers. Between 1960 and 2007 Charles went on to write over 350 titles, including 70 non-fiction titles covering varied topics from the Nazi intelligence service to British Regiments during World War II.

One of his publishers, Easingwold-based Rupert Smith of GH Smith & Son said he was a quiet man and prolific writer.

"He's one of a band of forgotten authors because he sold millions of copies and still, up to his death was doing publishing deals.He was the kind of man who was very self-effacing, one of Britain's forgotten authors, still working at 80 years of age, with his nose down and kicking out books."

Charles Henry Whiting, author and military historian died on July 24 2007, leaving his wife and son.

Reviews

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story about the one mission the clandestine Nazi group the "Werewolves" executed. The one mission that we know of anyway. Six operatives were dropped behind allied lines toward the end of the war and walked back into the first German city captured by the Americans and executed the German acting as mayor and collaborating with the Americans.

After the war the operatives were captured and put on trial by German authorities after the allies declined to prosecute. The shooter died while they were walking back to German occupied Germany when he stepped on a mine. One more changed his name and discretely vanished from history. One was to young to be placed on trial and the other three (including the one female operator) were given short prison sentences that were commuted on appeal.

The story here appears well researched and reads like a novel in parts. The female operative was the most candid in sharing her story and how the op happened and that is reflected in the story.

[NET7 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book a month ago but forgot to do a review for it. The Nazi Werewolves, were a unit of young, dedicated Nazis, mostly young men from the Hitler Youth as well as a few female members and members of the SS, who were trained in sabotage, assassination, weapons training, and stealth, for the purpose of going behind enemy lines to disrupt the Allies as best they could, to help protract the war until the Western allies could be forced to the negotiation table. This book details the only successful mission, the assassination of the Mayor of Aachen, Franz Oppenhoff, by the Allies in Western Germany, detailing the members of Werewolves who participated in it, the Battle of Aachen, as well as the mayor himself. While the organization was itself only successful in 1 noteworthy incident, the assassination of the mayor triggered fears among Western allied leaders that there was a German resistance/guerrilla movement, as as a result they adjusted/shifted their tactics from going to Berlin, to get there before the Communists, and instead focused on conquering Southern Germany. The fact that the murderers only served at most a couple years in prison shows that we did not do enough to rid Nazi Germany of former pro-Nazi elements in Germany among the Judiciary. If it had been me, I would have had them all executed via firing squad.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

During the final months of World War II the Reich ordered the creation of a secret unit of men women and children to operate behind Allied and Soviet lines as a guerrilla force, modeled after the British Commandos. They where referred to as "Werewolves".

This quick read covers the history and training of the Werewolves as well as their first mission, the assassination of the Chief Burgomaster of Aachen (the first German city to fall) who was working with the Allies. We also see the Burgomasters last days as he struggles to rebuild Aachen and the machinations in the Nazi command that doomed the Werewolf organization from the start (different factions and a lack of clarity on the organizations purpose meant that it was caught between a being a commando force similar to the SOE and an underground resistance movement akin to the Polish Home Army, as such it was unable to become ether and was largely used for propaganda purposes).

An interesting, if non essential, read.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book that highlights a sensational, but fairly inconsequential episode in the closing months of World War Two. Whiting focuses entirely on Operation Carnival and its five murderers, until the end when the story widens to discuss the efforts of various high level nazi officials to disappear into the population and avoid justice. It is structured in a way to make the relatively thin material stretch and to inject some drama into the known outcome of the mission. The structure is effective, the alternating storylines late in the book do make it more interesting, but I felt like it cheapened the scholarly aspect of the book. Overall I recommend it for history lovers, but it will have limited appeal with others because of its reliance on the background knowledge of the reader to make sense of the details.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skillfully told tale of how the sentiment (on the Nazi side) that led to the World War II - of unquestioning obedience to orders and a visceral hatred against anyone stepping out of the line - still persisted well into the last days of the conflict

[Jim]

A bit dry, especially in consideration of the fascinating topic. Still, it is an interesting read for those interested in the post war years and how they shaped the modern era.

[Darren Sapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, Whiting provides story details not found elsewhere. One issue, this is a very light telling of the history of the Werewolves and only focuses on one operation.