Gille, Herbert Otto, born 08-03-1897 in Gandersheim, Harz
as the son of a factory owner. He transferred from the upper secondary school to the cadet school and became an Ensign when he was 17 years old. He began his military career as a first lieutenant in the artillery branch during the First World War and won the Iron Cross First
and Second Classes. He left the Army in 1919 and remained a civilian working in agriculture and as a car dealer until 1931 when he joined the Nazi Party
nr.: 537 337 on 07-05-1931 and the SS, nr.: 39 854 on 10-10-1931. He married Sophie Charlotte Mennecke on 04-01-1935 and his only child, a daughter, Ilse was born on 09-10-1935. In 1934 he was re-activated by the SS combat support forces. He became a Company Commander in Ellwangen, then a Battalion Commander of the SS regiment Germania
in Arolsen. He later served as the commander of an artillery unit in Jueterbog. As the commander of the 1st Battalion of the SS-V Artillery Regiment Gille participated in the invasion of Poland and in the Western campaign. In 1940 he took over the artillery regiment of the 5th SS Panzer Division “Wiking”
, led by SS Obergruppenführer, Felix Steiner 
. After the assault on the Soviet Union, Gille, as a leader of an advance guard, reached the Kuban and received the Knight’s Cross on 08-10-1942. Shortly thereafter he took command of the Wiking Division, Panzer Division on the Eastern Front. Early in 1944, Gille here with Himmler and the Belgium SS Standartenführer Leon Degrelle
, was instrumental in the withdrawal of his command and others of the encircled Group Stemmermann through “Hells Gate” during the Korsun cauldron encirclement, also known as the Cherkassy Pocket. The Soviets greatly outnumbered the German forces but they failed to cut off their retreat, though they were able to inflict serious damage on the German formations. Gille received the Diamonds addition to his Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords on 19-04-1944,
























Gille was very much valued as a genius tactic and as someone with great leadership skills. During his long military career he successfully led regiments, divisions and a corps. His inferiors admired his courage. He was respectfully cold “old”.
After the war, Gille became active in HIAG, a lobby group and a revisionist veteran’s organisation founded by former high-ranking Waffen-SS personnel in West Germany in 1951.
Here a meeting with Kurt Meyer
and Paul “Papa” Hausser
Herbert Otto Gille remained a convinced Nazi even after the collapse of the German Empire. He organized the cooperation of the former SS in the HIAG.
Here decorated by Generalmajor der Panzertruppe Max Lemke.









Death and burial ground of Gille, Herbert Otto.








