Before they were Panzer commanders

boomchicawawa

Put this in 'images of ww2' by mistake - wanted to put it up on the forum, in case anyone wanted to comment but I seriously doubt that anyone visits this site often ! I feel like Tom Hanks on his Island...At least he had WILSON!!!! :P

This is a picture of A. H. addressing the Reichstag about the surrender of Poland in Oct 1939. In the picture are two soon to be 'Ritterkreuz' recipients who between them fought at Kharkov, Kursk, Normandy and the Ardennes offensive as Panzer commanders....Can you spot them? Both were adjutants to two of the movers and shakers in the Third Reich when this picture was taken.

Tony EH

Well, one's obviously Peiper, who was serving as Himmler's adjutant at the time.

But, I'm not sure where or who the other is.

boomchicawawa

Hi’ya Tony…Well seeing as you asked and everyone else is gagging to know !!:P Yes ,you are correct, Jochaim Peiper it is in the top right hand corner with his head down. I’m pretty chuffed with myself for finding this as it was untagged with names and I thought he looked familiar. As you probably know he was Himmler’s Adj at that time and this fact has always cast a shadow over his legend. He was said to have witnessed executions while in Poland with Himmler and also the gassing of a mentally ill patient in a sanatorium. This however did not dissuade him for throwing his lot in whole heartily with the Nazi regime. He transferred to front line duty with the Waffen SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler and saw action on the Russian Front in Kharkov and Kursk. Here he cemented his daring-do reputation and of course later in the ‘Battle of the Bulge’. It was there that the infamous ‘Malmady massacre’ of US POWs occurred and although he was not present when this happened, he apparently took the rap for his troops and was sentenced to death. This was later commuted to life imprisonment and he served over 10 years in prison. I have yet to read a bio of him as the current books are said to be all heavily biased, from those that put him on a pedestal (Patrick Agate) to those who think he was the devil incarnate (Jens Westemeier). In fact the latter had originally written a book extolling him and then rewrote again to condemn him and his views now heavily influence the Wiki version. There are some interesting sound bites from him including …....’When seeing today the defendants in the dock, don't believe them to be the old Kampfgruppe Peiper. All of my old friends and comrades have gone before. The real outfit is waiting for me in Valhalla’…......also.. ...….'I was a Nazi and I remain one. The Germany of today is no longer a great nation, it has become a province of Europe.’ So unapologetic to the end it seems. He was murdered by Communist Partisans in 1976 in his hideaway house in France.

boomchicawawa

Panzer Commander No 2 is Max Wunsche who is standing in the centre of the middle row to the left of the two guys sitting down. At this time he was Adolf Hitler’s Adj. Max was known for his ‘Aryan’ good looks and charisma and there are many picts of him online in the Berghof, and in Paris when Hitler and entourage are walking under the Eiffel tower after Frances capitulation. However he wasn’t just a pretty face and he was transferred to the Waffen SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler to work as ‘Sepp Dietrich’s’ Adj and later to front line fighting on the Russian front in Kharkov. It was here that he famously relieved Kurt Meyers Recon troops from Russian encirclement just in the nick of time, this earned him the German Cross in gold. Later that month , acting on his own, he encircled Soviet troops and destroyed 52 heavy guns and causing many casualties. He was awarded the Knights cross for this action.

After this he and other battle hardened officers were transferred to the newly formed 12th Waffen SS Hitlerjugend under Kurt Meyer and Fritz Witt. It was in Normandy that he earned the oak leaves to the knights cross for destroying over 200 allied tanks. He was captured while attempting to escape the Falaise Pocket in August 44, as he was being led away, Bernard Montgomery drew up in his car and told Wunsche that German prisoners would be treated under the terms of the Geneva Convention but not the Waffen SS who were no better than worms and scum. He was held for 4 years in Watten POW camp in Scotland and on being released in 1948 (no charges were ever brought against him) he went back to accounting and became the manager of an industrial plant, this firm had a subsidiary in Waterford up until 2005 !

There has never been a bio of Max which I think is a shame as he would have had quite a story to tell, after all history was being made before his eyes. I have read various snippets about him on the net and If I may, I would like to quote them here. This is from a Vet of the 12th in Normandy who is still alive Erich Bäcker…....
‘ By then my main task was to drive Obersturmbannführer Wünsche to wherever he thought his presence was needed. Or to be honest, it was him that did the driving and me sitting in the sidecar as Wünsche loved driving the B-Krad…... But that was how Wünsche commanded. He was always where the fighting was and so was I. There were times when I wished him in hell and especially so on the day where he sent me to fetch something he had forgotten in the HQ we had just abandoned. Riding through Normandy hunted by fighter bombers and fired on by artillery is even harder if you do it to secure a box of cigars!’ But even with these shortcomings I would have followed him everywhere, as he cared well for each and every one of his soldiers. No one was ever left behind, if possible not even the fallen. As I have already said he was always at the front and he never expected anything of us that he was not prepared to do himself.’


But it wasn’t only his own men that adored him, even his enemies seemed to be bowled over. This is a quote from Canadian General H Foster who fought against the 12th and whose men were captured and executed by them. He sat in judgment over Kurt Meyer who stood trial in 1945 for these war crimes. Wunsche was called to give evidence for the defence:

…. ‘‘Wunsche arrived wearing dark trousers and a mustard coloured tunic with high collar. His chest was littered with decorations-including the Knights cross. He was young, tall, slender, blond and blue eyed with his hair combed straight back and unbelievably handsome. He should have been a movie star. He stepped up to the witness box in a condescending manner, then carefully turned his chair so that he was facing the court - me in particular. He answered each question through the interpreter without looking once at either Andrew (Defence) or McDonald (Prosecution), all the while fixing me with a wide eyed and unblinking insolent stare. The minutes passed. Finally my eyes started watering and I had to look away. When I glanced back and saw his look of triumph I smiled. One for the weaker side!!!’...

I think if Max had been American instead of German he would have made millions from book and movie deals. How I wish that he had fought for a more just cause, that his courage and bravery had been used to liberate lands instead of enslaving them and leaving the populations open to the Einsatzgruppen that followed in their wake.


Picture one is of him in Kharkov looking like a James Bond Baddie
Picture two is in action in Normandy
Picture three is how General Foster saw him I'm guessing! :eek::p