Kurt Adolph Wilhelm "Panzermeyer"
- Meyer, Kurt Adolph Wilhelm "Panzermeyer"
Obergruppenführer der Waffen SS. Kommandeur 12 SS LSSAH, “Hitlerjugend”.
- 23-12-1910, Jerxheim, Sachsen-Anhalt.
- Germany.
- 23-12-1961, heart attack, age 51.
Hagen, Stadtfriedhof.
Meyer, Kurt Adolph Wilhelm "Panzermeyer"
Kurt Adolph Wilhelm Meyer, born 23-12-1910 in Jerxheim, Sachsen Anhalt, came from a lower class family, his father being employed as a factory worker. In 1914, his father joined the Imperial German Army and served as an NCO in the First World War, obtaining the rank of Sergeant Major before being discharged for wounds received in battle. Meyer attended school in Jerxheim. After completing his education, Meyer found work as an apprentice shopkeeper, followed by a stint of road construction and then as a mailman. He applied to join the Mecklenburg Police force, seeing it perhaps as an escape from a labourer's life. He was accepted on 01-10-1929. Meyer's nickname, "Panzermeyer", has nothing to do with armoured warfare. While in training in the Police Academy at Schwerin, Meyer decided to play a prank on a fellow student. His plan was to throw a pail of water on his classmate from the roof of a two story building, but Meyer slipped and fell. He landed on his feet, but suffered over 20 fractures. He was expected to die, but he recovered to full health. After this, Meyer's classmates christened him "Panzer" because he was as tough as a battle tank. Meyer joined the NSDAP on 01-09-1930, three years before Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. He then applied to join the Schutzstaffel, commanded by Heinrich Himmler (see Himmler). He was accepted on 15-10-1931, his first posting being to 22nd SS-Standarte based in the town of Schwerin. Meyer was commissioned as an SS-Untersturmführer in 1932. In May 1934, he was transferred to the SS's most prestigious unit, the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) (see Adolf Hitler)(did you know). 
By September 1936, Meyer had again been promoted, this time to SS-Obersturmführer and had also taken command of the LSSAH's Anti-Tank unit, 14th Panzerabwehrkompanie. Meyer and the LSSAH took part in the bloodless annexation of Austria as a part of the XVI. Armeekorps and later, under General Heinz Guderian (see Guderian), in the occupation of Czechoslovakia. On 6 June 1944, D-Day, the Allies launched Operation Overlord, the amphibious invasion of France, which opened the long-awaited Western Front. After much confusion, the Hitlerjugend got moving at around 14.30 on 6 June, and several units advanced on Sword Beach, until they were halted by fierce naval and anti-tank fire, and by Allied air cover. Meyer's regiment was ready for combat by 22.00 on 7 June. Meyer set up his command post in Ardenne Abbey, whose towers provided an excellent view of the rolling fields of Normandy. His first orders were "more realistic" than those of the division; while the division was ordered to break through to the beach, Meyer himself ordered his regiment to take covering positions during 7 June and await reinforcements. During their first engagement, the Hitlerjugend of Meyer's regiment proved themselves brave soldiers, destroying 28 Canadian tanks while losing only "5 or 6 tanks" for their efforts, according to what Meyer could recollect when he appeared in court in Aurich after the war. The 27th Canadian Armoured Regiment 
reported 31 German tanks destroyed and German casualties were serious enough to halt the SS short of their ultimate objective of pushing back the Allies to the sea. It was during this period that the shooting of Canadian prisoners occurred. Meyer would later be charged with and convicted of ordering that no prisoners be taken, and also found guilty of responsibility for the shooting of eighteen prisoners of war. Days of furious fighting followed, and over the next two weeks, the regiment was to suffer badly in the battles for Carpiquet Aérodrome and the villages of Contest, Buron, and Authie. On 14 June, SS-Brigadeführer Fritz Witt (see Witt), a friend of Meyer, was killed when British naval gunfire hit his command post. Meyer, as the next highest ranking officer, was promoted to divisional commander; at 33 years of age, he was the youngest German divisional commander of the war. Meyer managed to hold the line north of Caen in spite of several British and Canadian offensives. Meyer made it out of the Falaise pocket. On 27 August, he became the 91st soldier to be awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. Meyer and the remnants of the Hitlerjugend joined the retreat across the Seine River and into Belgium. On 06-09-1944, in the town of Durnal near Namur in Belgium, he was captured by partisans and handed over to American forces disguised as a German Army captain, knowing he would likely otherwise have been identified as an SS officer and killed. Because he was missing and presumed dead, he was retroactively promoted to Brigadeführer und General Major der Waffen SS effective from September 1. Meyer served five years in Dorchester Penitentiary, in New Brunswick, Canada where he worked in the library and learned English. Released Meyer lived in Hagen but didn’t pursue a political career, partly due to ill-health; he needed a cane to walk, and suffered from heart disease and kidney problems. He remained friends with Joachim Peiper (see Peiper), Otto Günsche (see Günsche), Max Wünsche (see Wünsche) and Sepp Dietrich (see Dietrich). 
After a series of mild strokes, he died of a heart attack in Hagen, Westphalia on 23-12-1961, his 51st birthday.
Fifteen thousand people attended Kurt Meyer's funeral on the Stadtfriedhof of Hagen.
By September 1936, Meyer had again been promoted, this time to SS-Obersturmführer and had also taken command of the LSSAH's Anti-Tank unit, 14th Panzerabwehrkompanie. Meyer and the LSSAH took part in the bloodless annexation of Austria as a part of the XVI. Armeekorps and later, under General Heinz Guderian (see Guderian), in the occupation of Czechoslovakia. On 6 June 1944, D-Day, the Allies launched Operation Overlord, the amphibious invasion of France, which opened the long-awaited Western Front. After much confusion, the Hitlerjugend got moving at around 14.30 on 6 June, and several units advanced on Sword Beach, until they were halted by fierce naval and anti-tank fire, and by Allied air cover. Meyer's regiment was ready for combat by 22.00 on 7 June. Meyer set up his command post in Ardenne Abbey, whose towers provided an excellent view of the rolling fields of Normandy. His first orders were "more realistic" than those of the division; while the division was ordered to break through to the beach, Meyer himself ordered his regiment to take covering positions during 7 June and await reinforcements. During their first engagement, the Hitlerjugend of Meyer's regiment proved themselves brave soldiers, destroying 28 Canadian tanks while losing only "5 or 6 tanks" for their efforts, according to what Meyer could recollect when he appeared in court in Aurich after the war. The 27th Canadian Armoured Regiment 
reported 31 German tanks destroyed and German casualties were serious enough to halt the SS short of their ultimate objective of pushing back the Allies to the sea. It was during this period that the shooting of Canadian prisoners occurred. Meyer would later be charged with and convicted of ordering that no prisoners be taken, and also found guilty of responsibility for the shooting of eighteen prisoners of war. Days of furious fighting followed, and over the next two weeks, the regiment was to suffer badly in the battles for Carpiquet Aérodrome and the villages of Contest, Buron, and Authie. On 14 June, SS-Brigadeführer Fritz Witt (see Witt), a friend of Meyer, was killed when British naval gunfire hit his command post. Meyer, as the next highest ranking officer, was promoted to divisional commander; at 33 years of age, he was the youngest German divisional commander of the war. Meyer managed to hold the line north of Caen in spite of several British and Canadian offensives. Meyer made it out of the Falaise pocket. On 27 August, he became the 91st soldier to be awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. Meyer and the remnants of the Hitlerjugend joined the retreat across the Seine River and into Belgium. On 06-09-1944, in the town of Durnal near Namur in Belgium, he was captured by partisans and handed over to American forces disguised as a German Army captain, knowing he would likely otherwise have been identified as an SS officer and killed. Because he was missing and presumed dead, he was retroactively promoted to Brigadeführer und General Major der Waffen SS effective from September 1. Meyer served five years in Dorchester Penitentiary, in New Brunswick, Canada where he worked in the library and learned English. Released Meyer lived in Hagen but didn’t pursue a political career, partly due to ill-health; he needed a cane to walk, and suffered from heart disease and kidney problems. He remained friends with Joachim Peiper (see Peiper), Otto Günsche (see Günsche), Max Wünsche (see Wünsche) and Sepp Dietrich (see Dietrich). After a series of mild strokes, he died of a heart attack in Hagen, Westphalia on 23-12-1961, his 51st birthday. Fifteen thousand people attended Kurt Meyer's funeral on the Stadtfriedhof of Hagen. 
