Bittrich, Wilhelm “Willi”.

Bittrich, Wilhelm “Willi”, born on 16-02-1894 in Wernigerode in the Harz mountains of Germany, into a family of a traveling salesmen, Bittrich enlisted in 1914 as a war volunteer and  He was seriously injured. Wilhelm began his military career during the First World War at Jägerbataillon No. 7. On 01-09-1915, he was promoted to reserve second lieutenant. In 1916 he was transferred to the brand new air force. He was awarded the Iron Cross 1914 second class and first class as a pilot with the Jagdstaffel 37 and the Fliegerabteilung der Artillerie 226. Immediately after the war he became a member of the Freikorps Hülsen of General Bernhard Franz Karl Adolf von Hülsen.

In the aftermath of World War I and during the German Revolution of 1918–19, Freikorps consisting largely of World War I veterans were raised as paramilitary militias. They were ostensibly mustered to fight on behalf of the government against the Soviet-backed German communists attempting to overthrow the Weimar Republic. However, many Freikorps also largely despised the Republic and were involved in assassinations of its supporters, later aiding the Nazis in their rise to power

Wilhelm Bittrich then worked for some time in a securities firm. He married Käte Blume on 29-12-1922 and joined the Reichswehr the following year. He joined the NSDAP, NSDAP-nr.: 829 700, on 01-12-1932. He joined the SS, SS-nr.: 39 177, in 1932 with SS Fliegerstaffel “Ost”  (SS Flying Echelon “East”) and later took command of 74^th Standarte, before leaving the Allgemeine SS  in August 1934. He entered the enthusiastic   Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler (did you know) in 1939 and was a Nazi from the first hour. When the Austria-based Regiment “Der Führer” was created, Bittrich led 1/Der Führer after 1938. Bittrich moved to the “Leibstandarte”  on 01-06-1939, serving as SS Oberstgruppenführer, Josef Sepp Dietrich´s HQ Adjutant.

   Bittrich remained there through the Polish campaign. He transferred to the replacement section of the SS-VT in early February, 1940. He returned to the 2^nd SS as Regimentskommandeur “Deutschland”  on 14-12-1940, Bittrich was awarded the Knights Cross while at this position. As senior Regimental Commander, Bittrich replaced SS Oberstgruppenführer, Paul “Papa” Hausser

  when the latter was wounded. During his tour with II.SS-Panzer Korps, Bittrich was in large part responsible for one of the final “victories” for the Waffen SS, that being the successful defence and subsequent defeat of the Allied attacks at Arnhem during Operation Market Garden. (see About). See Frost, John Dutton “Johnny”,

 Lieutenant Colonel and leader of the small group of airborne forces that actually got to Arnhem bridge during the Battle for Arnhem.

The Battle of Arnhem was a battle of the Second World War at the vanguard of the Allied Operation Market Garden. It was fought in and around the Dutch city of Arnhem, the town of Oosterbeek, the villages Wolfheze and Driel and the vicinity from 17 to 26 September 1944. The Allies were poised to enter the Netherlands after sweeping through France and Belgium in the summer of 1944, after the Battle of Normandy. Operation Market Garden was proposed by Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, who favoured a single push northwards over the branches of the Lower Rhine River, allowing the British Second Army to bypass the Siegfried Line and attack the Ruhr. US Airborne troops were dropped in the Netherlands to secure bridges and towns along the line of the Allied advance. Farthest north, the British 1st Airborne Division under command of Generaal-Majoor Roy Urquhart  landed at Arnhem to capture bridges across the Nederrijn (Lower Rhine), supported by men of the Glider Pilot Regiment and the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade. under command of General Stanisław Sosabowski. The British XXX Corps under General Brian Gwynne “Jorrocks” Horrocks, were expected to reach the British airborne forces in two to three days.

Total casualties among 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.

Other visits showed that efforts were being made on the Western Front to arrive at understandings with the enemy on special problems. At Arnhem, General Bittrich of the Waffen-SS was a state of fury and had a fierce deliberation with the other commanders in the region, Generalfeldmarschall der Panzertruppe, Kommandeur XXXXI Panzergruppe, Walter Model,  General der Flieger, Kommandeur der 1^st Fallschirmjäger Regiment , Kurt Student, SS Brigadeführer, “Kampfgruppe Harmel”, Heinz Harmel  he died very old age 94, on 02-09-2000 in Krefeld Heinz Harmel and Oberleutnant der Panzertruppe, Kommandeur “Kampfgruppe Knaust” Battle of Arnhem, Hans Peter Knaust.   The day before, as Lieutenant John Frost   with his 2^nd Parachute Battalion , had the reached the bridge, his Second Tank Corps had virtually wiped out a British airborne division. During the fighting the General had made an arrangement permitting the enemy to run a field hospital situated behind the German lines. But party functionaries had taken it upon themselves to kill British and American pilots and Bittrich was cast in the role of a liar. His violent denunciation of the party was all the more striking since it came from an SS General.  One of his pronouncement was: the things Reichsführer SS, Heinrich Himmler  says are sheer nonsense! Things will go badly for us if we don’t change our ways and he is a fool if he does not understand this. However, he also led the 8^th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer , involved in war crimes in the USSR from August 1942 until 15-02-1943. The division was called after Florian Geyer  , a Franconian nobleman, who lived from 1490 until 1525  Geyer was also considered a heroic figure by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist Party. Bittrich’s II SS Panzer Corps was allocated to the new Sixth Panzer Army  under Josef “Sepp”Dietrich, being formed for the Ardennes offensive. It now consisted of the Hohenstaufen  under Brigadeführer Silvester Stadler and Das Reich divisions, and was one of the strongest formations available for the offensive. The Sixth Panzer Army was posted on the right flank of the German attack, where it was to make the main effort. I SS Panzer Corps  under  SS-Obergruppenführer Hermann Priess,  was to capture bridges of the Meuse, allowing II SS Panzer Corps to cross over and capture Antwerp, splitting the Allied armies in half.Once the battle began on 16 December the SS troops performed unexpectedly poorly, and the most threatening German advances were made on their left flank. Bittrich’s corps wasn’t engaged until 21 December, by which time the 1 SS Panzer Corps attack had failed. Bittrich was ordered to split his corps in half, and advance to the north and south of the American strong point at St. Vith. If the attack had succeeded 20,000 prisoners might have been taken, but the Americans were able to hold off the advancing Germans and evacuate the town. Das Reich did achieve a temporary success at Manhay, but was soon forced to retreat. After only a week the Sixth Panzer Army’s offensive was over, and the Allied counterattack about to begin.

 

The Division was destroyed in the fighting for Budapest and by the end of the siege of the 30.000 men of the SS Corps only about 800 survived to reach the German lines. Obergruppenführer of the SS and Waffen SS, Wilhelm Bittrich, survived the war and after his arrest on May 8, 1945 he was extradited to France on charges of having ordered the execution of 17 members of the Resistance in Nimes, France. The trial revealed that Bittrich had not given such an order and had even opened procedures against the responsible officers. As the commander in charge of the culprits, he was held responsible for the misconduct of his subordinate troops and sentenced to five years in prison. The sentence was considered as served after a long pretrial detention. He was put on trial for a second time in 1953 and sentenced to five years in prison for countenancing hangings, pillage and arson, but was acquitted by the French court in Bordeaux again and released in 1954. He was never brought to trial for any actions and war crimes of the 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer

in the Soviet Union.

  Wilhelm Bittrich remained  friends with several General comrades like Paul Hausser and Sepp Dietrich. Dietrich surrendered to the American in company of his wife on 08-05-1945. Hausser and Bittrich joined together the funeral of Sepp Dietrich  in Ludwigsburg.

Funeral Bittrich at the right. Wilhelm Bittrich died in a local hospital in Wolfratshausen, Bavaria, at the old age of 85, on 19-04-1979, Bittrich is buried with his wife Kitty, who died age 82, in 1971, on the village cemetery of Münsing.

     

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