Richter, Joachim.

Joachim Richter, born 28-07-1896 in Magdeburg, was a SS Standartenführer SS-Nr.: 56.182 // NSDAP-Nr.: 3.553.548, in the Waffen SS during World War II who was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross , which was awarded to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership by Nazi Germany during World War II. He was the commander of the II Battalion of the 5^th SS Panzer Artillery Regiment from 01-12-1940 until 09-02-1942. Appointed as commander of the IV Battalion of the 5^th Panzer Artillery Regiment to 01-06-1943 and commander of the 5^th SS Panzer Division Wiking to 05-02-1945. Richter was awarded the Knight’s Cross in February 1944 while in command of the 5^th SS Panzer Division Wiking , Artillery Regiment. The 5^th SS Panzer Division Wiking was one of the elite Panzer Divisions of the thirty eight Waffen SS Divisions. It was recruited from foreign volunteers, from Scandinavia, Finland, Estonia, The Netherlands (see About), and Belgium under the command of German officers. During the course of World War II, the division progressed from a Motorized Infantry Division to a Panzer Division and served on the Eastern Front during World War II. It surrendered in May 1945 to the advancing American forces in Austria. His last command was of the 32^nd SS Grenadier Division 30 January, he succeeded SS Standartenführer, Johannes Mühlenkamp,  which was formed in January 1945 from what remained of other units and staff and pupils from SS schools and various other troops. The title of the Division comes from the date when Adolf Hitler (did you know) became the chancellor of Germany on 30-01-1933.

 The Division fought as part of the V SS Mountain Corps, on the Oder front, just north of Furstenburg  and in the Battle of Berlin, Josef Goebbels (did you know) was the Gauleiter of Berlin.

V SS Mountain Corps was a Waffen SS formation that existed in later periods of World War II. The Corps fought against partisans in Yugoslavia as part of 2nd Panzer Army  from October 1943 to December 1944. In 1945, the Corps fought on the Oder line as part of the 9th Army under command of General Theodor Busse,   in the Frankfurt am Oder area and in the Battle of Berlin that followed. Throughout the corp’s history, its commanders were SS Obergruppenführer Artur Phleps ,  SS Obergruppenführer Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger , SS Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln . and SS Oberführer Walter Harzer  served as Chief of Staff. Phleps  Artur Phleps had been listed as missing in action since 22-09-1944, age 62, when he did not show up for his meeting with Heinrich Himmler. Krüger at the end of the war committed suicide on 10-05-1945, aged 51, in Eggelsberg, Allied occupied in Upper Austria. Jeckeln was convicted for his crimes by a Soviet military tribunal in Riga, Latvia and executed on 26-02-1946, age 51.

By February, 1945, the division had close to 12.000 men in its ranks from many varied sources. The division saw action fighting against the Soviets along the Oder River mainly near Frankfurt/Oder. The division was destroyed in the Halbe pocket, but part of the unit surrendered to the Americans at Tangermünde. He was commander from 05-02-1945 until 17-02-1945 and was succeeded by SS Oberführer, Führer 15^th SS-Freiwilligen Division  , Adolf Ax.  Total casualties amongst the Waffen-SS will probably never be known, but one estimate indicates that they suffered 180.000 dead, 400.000 wounded, and 40.000 missing. World War II casualties indicates that the Waffen-SS suffered 314.000 killed and missing, or 34.9 per cent. By comparison, the United States Army suffered 318.274 killed and missing in all theatres of the war.

Death and burial ground of Richter, Joachim.

Richter on the right.

Joachim Richter living in Bad Arolsen died at the age of 73, on 19-03-1970 and is buried with his wife Margarete, who died at the very old age of 98, in 2006, on the Hauptfriedhof of Bad Arolsen SS Brigadeführer and Himmler’s Rasputin, alias Weisthor Karl Maria Wiligut,   is also buried there close by.

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