Pernass, Manfred Franz Joachim.

Pernass, Manfred Franz Joachim, born on 03-08-1920 in Gollnow,  the son of Willli Hermann Pernass and Charlotte Anna Elisabeth Ulrich, was a soldier in the German Army and set up in Operation Greif. Operation Greif was a special false flag operation commanded by Waffen SS commando, SS Obersturmbannführer, Otto Skorzeny 

   during the Battle of the Bulge, Skorzeny died age 67, on 05-07-1975, The Operation Greif or Griffin was the brainchild of Adolf Hitler (see Alois Hitler), and its purpose was to capture one or more of the bridges over the Meuse river before they could be destroyed. German soldiers in captured US Army uniforms and using some US vehicles were to cause confusion in the rear of the Allied lines . It’s interesting to know that the plans of Operation Greif were captured on 16-12-1944, the first day of the Ardennes Offensive by 1^st Lieutenant William V Shakespeare of the 1^st Company of the 424^th Infantry Regiment in the 106^th Division , under command of Generalleutnant Inspekteur der Artillerie, Werner Forst. In Heckhulscheid, near Sankt Vith, he captured a Hauptmann of the 116^th Panzer Division “der Windhund”  he was carrying a bag with the plans and maps. The bag was sent to Section 2 of the division and the VIII Corps and the First Army were informed. Skorzeny’s plans were doomed to fail.  A lack of vehicles, uniforms and equipment limited the operation and it never achieved its original aim of securing the Meuse bridges. On 14 December the 150^th Panzer Brigade  was assembled near Münstereifel and on the afternoon of 16 December it moved out, advancing behind the three attacking Panzer Divisions, the 1^st SS Panzer Division , the 12^th SS Panzer Division, nickname “Baby Division”  and the 12^th Volks Grenadier Division  , with the aim of moving around them when they reached the Hohes Venn. However, when the 1^st SS Panzer Division failed to reach the start point within two days Skorzeny realized that Operation  Greif’s initial aims were now doomed. So great was the confusion caused by Operation Greif that the US Army saw spies and saboteurs everywhere. Perhaps the largest panic was created when a commando team was captured near Awaille on 17-12-1944.

See the original film of the execution of Billing, Pernass and Schmidt in the Henry Chapelle, US forces headquarter.

Death and burial ground of Pernass, Manfred.

Comprising Unteroffizier Manfred Pernass, he was the driver of the jeep, Oberfähnrich, Günther Billing, and Gefreiter, Wilhelm Schmidt  they were captured when they failed to give the correct password. They had Id cards with the following names ‘Charles W. Lawrence’, ‘Clarence van der Wert’ en ‘George Sensenbach’ but Pernass, Billing, and Schmidt were given a military trial at Henri Chapelle, sentenced to death, and executed by a firing squad on 30-12-1944, age 23. Captain J. Eiser (medic) of the 633^th Medical Clearing Station pinned the white target patches on their chests, Schmidt’s glasses were taken off before he was shot and fanatic Billing shouted “Long live our Führer Adolf Hitler” at the moment suprime.

   Thirteen other men were tried and shot at either Henri-Chapelle or Huy, Wilhelm Wiesenfeld , Manfred Bronny

, Hans Reich , Arno Krause , Günther Schilz, , he is born in Holland, Erhard Migel  Horst Görlich , Norbert Pollack, Rolf Benjamin Meyer , Hans Wittsack , Otto Struller , Alfred Franz and Antoni Morzuck. Billing, Pernass and Schmidt are buried there next to each other on the largest German war cemetery in West Europe, 39.000 graves, of Lommel in Belgium, near the Dutch border. Close neighbours in Lommel are General der Infanterie, Kommandeur of the 89^th Infanterie Division, Konrad Heinrichs  and the brother of Luftwaffe General, Kommodore Jagd Geschwader 26 “Schlageter” , Adolf “Dolfie” Galland,    the flyer ace Major, Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 26 , Wilhelm “Wütz” Galland.  

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