Soldaten: On Fighting, Killing, and Dying (66 page)

724.
For example,
Wochenschau,
21 October 1942.

725.
Alberto Santoni, “The Italian Submarine Campaign,” in
The Battle of the Atlantic, 1939–1945,
Stephen Howarth and Derel Law, eds. (London: Greenhill, 1994), pp. 329–32.

726.
SRN 4797, 31 March 1945, TNA, WO 208/4157.

727.
SRA 2996, 14 August 1942, TNA, WO 208/4127.

728.
SRN 129, 15 November 1940, TNA, WO 208/4141. See also SRA 2178, 1 October 1941, TNA, WO 208/4125.

729.
SRA 5777, 1 February 1945, TNA, WO 208/4135. There were many variations on the joke about Göring’s fondness for decorations. See Hans-Jochen
Gamm,
Der Flüsterwitz im Dritten Reich: Mündliche Dokumente zur Lage der Deutschen während des Nationalsozialismus
(Munich: Piper, 1990), p. 165.

730.
Amedeo Osti Guerrazzi,
“Noi non sappiamo odiare” L´esercito italiano tra fascismo e democrazia
(Turin: UTET Libera, 2010), p. 166.

731.
SRIG 329, 17 October 1943, TNA, WO 208/4187. Ficalla was the commander of the 202nd Coastal Division and was captured on 21 July 1943 in Sicily. Salza was the chaplain of the 1st Italian Army and was captured on 1 May 1943 in Tunisia.

732.
CSDIC Middle East No. 662(I), 5 January 1943, TNA, WO 208/5574.

733.
SRIG 221, 11 August 1943, TNA, WO 208/4186.

734.
CSDIC Middle East No. 626(I), 15 November 1942, TNA, WO 208/5574.

735.
Italian soldiers were more interested in material rewards than decorations. A fighter pilot reported that he could earn 5,000 lire for every hit. CSDIC Middle East No. 488(I), 13 April 1942, TNA, WO 208/5518.

736.
CSDIC Middle East No. 713(I), 23 March 1943, TNA, WO 208/5574.

737.
See ISRM 49, 17 July 1943, TNA, WO 208/4188.

738.
Even members of Italian elite units showed more emotion than average German soldiers. See the description of a pursuit involving depth charges by an officer of the Italian submarine MS
Glauco
. I/SRN 76, 29 July 1941, TNA, WO 208/4189.

739.
I/SRN 68, 24 July 1941, TNA, WO 208/4189.

740.
CSDIC Middle East No. 489(I), 14 April 1942. See also CSDIC Middle East No. 471(I), 25 March 1942, TNA, WO 208/5518.

741.
CSDIC AFHQ No. 58(I), 31 August 1943, TNA, WO 208/5508.

742.
Ibid.

743.
I/SRN 70, 24 July 1941; I/SRN 90, 18 August 1941, TNA, WO 208/4189.

744.
I/SRN 65, 20 July 1941. See I/SRN 88, TNA, WO 208/4189.

745.
See I/SRN 54, 15 January 1941; I/SRN 72, 25 July 1941; I/SRN 97, 25 August 1941, TNA, WO 208/4189.

746.
SRIG 138, 17 July 1943, TNA, WO 208/4186.

747.
Michael E. Stevens,
Letters from the Front, 1898–1945
(Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1992), p. 135.

748.
Ulrich Straus,
The Anguish of Surrender: Japanese POW’s of World War II
(Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003), p. 48ff.

749.
Hirofumi Hayashi, “Japanese Deserters and Prisoners of War in the Battle of Okinawa,” in
Prisoners of War, Prisoners of Peace: Captivity: Homecoming and Memory in World War II,
Barbara Hately-Broad and Bob Moore, eds. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 54. Findings in Burma are similar. See Takuma Melber, “Verhört: Alliierte Studien zu Moral und Psyche japanischer Soldaten im Zweiten Weltkrieg,” in Welzer, Neitzel, and Gudehus, eds.,
“Der Führer.”

750.
Rüdiger Overmans,
Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg
(Munich: Oldenbourg Verlag, 1999), p. 215.

751.
SRM 1022, 15 November 1944, TNA, WO 208/4139.

752.
For the most recent research on the Waffen SS, see Martin Cüppers,
Wegbereiter der Shoah: Die Waffen-SS, der Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS und die Judenvernichtung, 1939–1945
(Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft,
2005); Carlo Gentile,
Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS und Polizei im Kampf gegen Partisanen und Zivilbevölkerung in Italien, 1943–1945
(Paderborn: Schoeningh Verlag, 2011); Lieb,
Konventioneller Krieg
; René Rohrkamp,
Weltanschaulich gefestigte Kämpfer:
Die Soldaten der Waffen-SS, 1933–1945: Organisation—Personal—Sozialstruktur
(Paderborn: Schoeningh Verlag, 2010); and above all, Jean-Luc Leleu,
La Waffen-SS
:
Soldats politiques en Guerre
(Paris: Editions Perrin, 2007). See also Jochen Lehnhardt, “Die Waffen-SS in der NS-Propaganda” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Mainz, 2011).

753.
SRM 8, 23 July 1940, TNA, WO 208/4136.

754.
Hartmann,
Wehrmacht im Ostkrieg,
pp. 106, 237.

755.
KTB SS Infanterie Regiment 4 (mot.), 9 December 1941–29 April 1942.

756.
Rohrkamp,
Weltanschaulich gefestigte Kämpfer
.

757.
SRGG 429, 22 September 1943, TNA, WO 208/4166; see also SRM 786, 12 August 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138.

758.
SRM 747, 3 August 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138; Kritik auch bei Lingner, SRM 1216, February 1945, TNA, WO 208/4140.

759.
SRM 1019, 14 November 1944, TNA, WO 208/4139; SRX 2055, 9 November 1944, TNA, WO 208/4164; SRGG 1024 (C), 2 September 1944, TNA WO 208/4168.

760.
SRM 786, 12 August 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138.

761.
SRGG 1034 (C), 8 September 1944, TNA, WO 208/4168.

762.
KTB Division Großdeutschland, Aktennotiz Ia, 6–7 January 1943, S. 2, BA/MA, RH 26—1005/10.

763.
SRM 786, 12 August 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138.

764.
SRGG 971, 9 August 1944, TNA, WO 208/4168. On the similarities between the Waffen SS and the “Hermann Göring” Division, see SRGG 39, 16 May 1943, TNA, WO 208/4165.

765.
SRA 2877, 5 August 1942, TNA, WO 208/4168; SRX 87, 9 June 1940, TNA, WO 208/4158; SRA 2621, 11 June 1942, TNA, WO 208/4126.

766.
SRA 3236, 5 October 1942, TNA, WO 208/4128.

767.
SRGG 39, 22 May 1943, TNA, WO 208/4165.

768.
Ibid.

769.
SRGG 971, 9 August 1944, TNA, WO 208/4165.

770.
Henry Dicks,
The Psychological Foundations of the Wehrmacht,
TNA, WO 241/1.

771.
Cited in Karl-Günter Zelle,
Hitlers zweifelnde Elite,
p. 209.

772.
Lieb,
Konventioneller Krieg,
p. 441.

773.
SRM 956, 10 October 1944, TNA, WO 208/4139.

774.
GRGG 262, 18–20 February 1945, p. 3, TNA, WO 208/4177.

775.
SRGG, 19 February 1944, TNA, WO 208/4168. The interrogation of Kurt Meyer on 15 November 1944 makes it clear how much he hated the “Bolshevists from the steppes.” SRM 1022, 15 November 1944, p. 8, TNA, WO 208/4139.

776.
SRM 1211, 12 February 1945, TNA, WO 208/4140.

777.
Room Conversation, Becker–Steiner, 14 February 1945, NARA, RG 165, Entry 179, Box 447.

778.
Overmans,
Deutsche militärische Verluste,
pp. 257, 293–96.

779.
Peter Lieb, “ ‘Rücksichtslos ohne Pause angreifen, dabei ritterlich bleiben’: Eskalation und Ermordung von Kriegsgefangenen an der Westfront 1944,” in Neitzel and Hohrath, eds.,
Kriegsgreuel,
pp. 346–50. See also Antony Beevor,
D-Day—Die Schlacht in der Normandie
(Munich: C. Bertelsman Verlag, 2010).

780.
Lieb,
Konventioneller Krieg,
pp. 435–48. There are numerous Allied reports in which SS men are described as “preferring to die, rather to give in.” Charles P. Stacey,
The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944–1945
(Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1960), p. 249.

781.
On the Eastern Front, SS troops inflicted heavy casualties on Soviet units without suffering disproportionate losses of their own. One example was Operation Zitadelle in summer 1943. See Roman Töppel, “Kursk—Mythen und Wirklichkeit einer Schlacht,”
VfZG
57 (2009), pp. 349–84, esp. p. 373ff.; Karl-Heinz Frieser et al.,
Das Deutsche Reich,
Vol. 8, pp. 104–38.

782.
SRGG 513, 29 October 1943, TNA, WO 208/4166.

783.
BA/MA, RH 20—8/95, 10 August 1943.

784.
“Panzergruppe Eberbach bei Alençon und beim Durchbruch aus dem Kessel von Falaise,” BA-MA, RH 20/7/149. This document is based on notes Eberbach made in Trent Park in October 1944.

785.
Lieb,
Konventioneller Krieg,
p. 426. Major Heimann reported about a battalion of the “Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler” fighting around Aachen in October 1944: “The Obersturmführer of the Leibstandarte—they were the remnants of Leibstandarte from Aachen—Obersturmführer Rink (?) served around the same battalion commander as I did. The battalion commander once came to me—three or four days before we surrendered—and said: ‘Tonight they’re taking off.’ And in fact, the SS intended to flee. We then cautioned them that there was a direct order from the Führer to defend the city to the last, and that this order applied to the SS as well.” SRM 982, 26 October 1944, TNA, WO 208/4139.

786.
SRM 640, 10 July 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138.

787.
SRM 968, 18 October 1944, TNA, WO 208/4139.

788.
In April 1944, the commanding general of the XXXXVIII Armored Corps, Hermann Balck, bitterly complained about the 9th SS Tank Division, protesting that the mid-level leadership was not up to its jobs. His anger at the commander, Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Bittrich, was such that Balck petitioned for him to be relieved of command, even though he praised Bittrich’s personal bravery. See Gert Fricke,
“Fester Platz” Tarnopol, 1944
(Freiburg: Rombach, 1969), pp. 107–11, 116–19. See also BA/MA, RH 19 IV/50.

789.
SRA 4273, 14 August 1943, TNA, WO 208/4130. On 1 February 1943 Hitler met with Field Marshal Erich von Manstein in the headquarters of Army Group South in Zaporizhia, Ukraine, and gave the go-ahead for a counteroffensive. The SS division “Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler” was also deployed.

790.
SRM 662, 19 July 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138.

791.
Lieb,
Konventioneller Krieg,
p. 428.

792.
Letter from Eberbach to his wife, 8 July, 11 July 1944, BA/MA, MSG 1/1010.

793.
SRA 3677, 18 February 1943, TNA, WO 208/4129.

794.
SRX 201, 22 March 1941, TNA, WO 208/4158.

795.
SRX 201, 22 March 1941, TNA, WO 208/4158. See also SRN 1013, 1 September 1942, TNA, WO 208/4143.

796.
SRA 2378, 9 December 1941, TNA, WO 208/4126.

797.
On war crimes committed in France, see Lieb,
Konventioneller Krieg,
pp. 15–20; on the Totenkopf division, see Charles W. Sydnor,
Soldaten des Todes: Die 3. SS-Division “Totenkopf,” 1933–1945
(Paderborn: Schoeningh Verlag, 2002), pp. 76–102; Jean-Luc Leleu, “La Division SS-Totenkopf face à la population civile du Nord de la France en mai 1940,”
Revue du Nord
83 (2001), pp. 821–40. On the murder of soldiers from French colonies, see Raffael Scheck,
Hitler’s African Victims: The German Army Massacres of French Black Soldiers, 1940
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006).

798.
See SRM 892, 15 September 1944, TNA, WO 208/4139.

799.
SRM 705, 28 July 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138.

800.
SRM 746, 3 August 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138. Both units fought in the same division between October 1943 and January 1944.

801.
SRM 746, 3 August 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138.

802.
SRX 1978, 13 August 1944, TNA, WO 208/4164.

803.
SRM 726, 30 July 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138.

804.
SRM 1150, 30 December 1944, TNA, WO 208/4140. The anti-Semitic commentary supposedly came from the division commander, SS brigade leader Heinz Lammerding.

805.
SRM 899, 15 September 1944, TNA, WO 208/4139. On plunder, see SRM 772, 1 August 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138.

806.
An NCO reported that ten English POWs had been shot in his unit. SRM 741, 4 August 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138. NCO Kaun reported that a Canadian POW was killed with a pickax. The perpetrator could have been a member of the SS division “Hitler Youth” or a regular army soldier. SRM 737, 3 August 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138.

807.
For a general overview, see Lieb,
Konventioneller Krieg
.

808.
SRM 892, 15 September 1944, TNA, WO 208/4139.

809.
SRM 855, 29 August 1944, TNA, WO 208/4139.

810.
Room Conversation, Hanelt–Breitlich, 3 April 1945, NARA, RG 165, Entry 179, Box 479. The mention of tanks destroying the village makes it seem likely that this incident was part of the battle against “partisans,” carried out by Waffen SS units and not by a Security Service commando.

811.
GRGG 225, 18–19 November 1944, TNA, WO 208/4364.

812.
See Neitzel,
Abgehört,
pp. 300–303, 572ff.

813.
SRX 1799, 23 June 1943, TNA, WO 208/4162.

814.
There is unfortunately only scant research on the topic of war crimes committed by the Waffen SS on the Eastern Front.

815.
SRN 3929, 10 July 1944, TNA, WO 208/4153.

816.
SRM 1079, 24 November 1944, TNA, WO 208/4139. On massacres of civilians in Belarus, see the statement by Rottenführer Otto Gregor. PWIS (H)LDC/762, TNA, WO 208/4295. Lieutenant Colonel Müller-Rienzburg told as a POW of how Standartenführer Kurt Meyer had bragged at a training session of how he took Charkow with only two casualties and then destroyed
the entire village, including “women, children and old people.” SRGG 832, 13 February 1944, TNA, WO 208/4168.

817.
SRM 648, 15 July 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138.

818.
SRM 643, 13 July 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138. On the execution of POWs by the SS Division “The Reich,” see SRM 764, 8 August 1944, TNA, WO 208/4138. Untersturmführer Karl-Walter Becker from 12th SS Division “Hitler Youth” recalled comrades telling him about the invasion: “In Russia, the standard operating procedure was that only the POWs who seemed most important would be transported. All others were usually murdered.” TNA, WO 208/4295.