Formation
and training The
17th SS Panzergrenadier Division was raised near Poitiers, France in October 1943. It was formed from
scratch, with the majority of its original cadre coming from replacement units
and conscripts, many of Romanian
extraction. The division was granted the honour-title Götz von
Berlichingen. The name referred to the 15th century German knight
who had, after losing his right hand in battle, worn an iron prosthetic hand.
In keeping with this, the division's emblem was a clenched iron fist. They were
also known informally as "LMA" division, in reference to von
Berlichingen's famous quote Er kann mich im Arsche lecken! ("he can lick
my ass!"), simplified to Leck mich am Arsch ("lick my ass").
SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Binge
oversaw the formation of the division, with the newly promoted SS-Brigadeführer
Werner Ostendorff
taking command in January 1944. The Götz von Berlichingen was placed under the LXXX Army Corps,
a part of Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt's Heeresgruppe D. In
February 1944, the Götz von Berlichingen still lacked vehicles. On orders of
the LXXX Army Corps, the division began to round up French vehicles in an
attempt to complete its mobilisation. By March, most of the major combat
formations were fully motorised, although only four of the six infantry
battalions were (the remaining two where on bicycles). On 1 June the Götz von
Berlichingen found itself at Thouars
in France, with no tanks (although the tankers were fully equipped with StuG IV
assault guns), only a few
month's training, and below strength in officers and NCOs. Battles
for Normandy After
the D-Day allied invasion, the
Götz von Berlichingen was ordered to Normandy to take part in
the efforts to reduce the allied beachhead. On 11 June, the
division first met the enemy in combat. The reconnaissance abteilung engaged in
combat with the paratroopers of the US 101st Airborne
Division near the town of Carentan. The
Americans secured the town and were advancing south by the morning of 13 June. SS-Panzergrenadier
Regiment 37, supported by the StuGs
of the division's Panzer
Abteilung and Oberst Friedrich August
Freiherr von der Heydte's 6th Fallschirmjäger
Regiment, attacked the advancing paratroopers. In what the Americans dubbed The
Battle of Bloody
Gulch, the Germans routed several paratroop companies before their
attack was stopped by the arrival of Combat Command A of the US 2nd Armored
Division. For
the rest of the month, the division was engaged in heavy fighting for the bocage country near Saint Lô and Coutances. During this
period the Götz von Berlichingen suffered heavy losses, and by the beginning of
July its strength was reduced to 8,500 men. The division was in the line of advance
for Operation Cobra,
and suffered heavy losses attempting to halt the allied offensive. It was then
ordered to take part in the Mortain Offensive,
codenamed Operation Luttich. After the failure of this offensive, the division
was split into four Kampfgruppes,
KG Braune, Gunter, Fick and Wahl. These small units managed to escape the
encirclement in the Falaise Pocket,
but suffered heavy losses and remained in almost constant combat with the
advancing Americans until the end of the Month, when the division was
transferred to Metz
for a much needed rest and refit. Metz
and the Saar In
early September, the division absorbed the 49th and 51st SS Panzergrenadier
Regiments, raising the strength of its panzergrenadier contingent. However, the
replacement Panzers and StuGs were arriving slowly. On 8 September, the
division was put back into the line and was tasked with destroying the newly
formed bridgehead over the Moselle River
held by the US 5th and
80th Infantry
Divisions. After heavy fighting for the allied bridgehead, the
division fell back towards the Saar
region and began to prepare to defend Metz itself. Over the next two months,
the division saw very heavy fighting in the Saar region around Forêt De Facq,
suffering very heavy casualties. On 8 November, a USAAF
bomb raid hit the divisional command post. With the Götz von Berlichingens
combat units in tatters and now with no command structure, Hitler authorised the division to withdraw
from Metz. The remains of the division was pulled back to the Maginot Line, near Faulquemont to rest and
refit. During this time, the Götz von Berlichingen was transferred to
SS-Gruppenführer Max Simon's
XIII SS Corps. US forces
liberated Metz on 22 November 1944. Refit
and Nordwind When
the division pulled back to the Maginot Line in mid November, its strength had
been reduced to around 4,000 men and 20 armoured vehicles. Throughout the early
months of December 1944, the Götz von Berlichingen received resupply and
reinforcement. The Panzergrenadier regiments were brought up to full strength
with the addition of Volksdeutsche
replacements. The quality of these replacements was far below that of the
division's original cadre. Despite this, on paper, the division was back up to
strength by the end of 1944. As a
part of Simon's XIII SS Army Corps, the division participated in Operation Nordwind, the
ill-fated last German offensive in the West. The Götz von Berlichingen,
together with 36. Volksgrenadier-Division, attacked the US 44th
and 100th Infantry
Divisions around the town of Rimling. For this attack the division
had been reinforced with a Panther tank company from 21. Panzer-Division, two
company's of Flammpanzer 38(t)'s (Panzer-Flamm Kompanie 352 & 353), and
schwere Panzer-Jäger Abteilung 653, equipped with Jagdtigers. The German
attacks did not gain much terrain and were fought in extreme weather
conditions. Contrary, losses on the allied side were high. After engaging in
this heavy combat with the US 7th Army
, with not much success, the majority of the divisional staff were relieved on
3 January. Replacements, in the form of Heer officers, were
received on the next day. On 10 January, the divisional commander,
SS-Standartenführer Hans Lingner, was captured by a patrol from the 114th
Infantry, 44th Infantry Division, when his car overturned on the slippery
roads. The driver was machinegunned on the spot and Lingner, his aide-de-camp
Untersturmführer Jund and another of his staff brought to US lines where they
were interrogated. Oberst Gerhard Lindner, one of the Heer officers recently
transferred to the division, took command on 15 January. The Division remained
engaged with the divisions of the XV U.S. Army Corps until Operation Nordwind ended
on 25 January. West
Wall - End of the war The
Götz von Berlichingen took part in the defence of the West Wall until March
1945, when on the 18th the Americans broke through. On the 22 March,
SS-Oberführer Fritz Klingenberg
was killed in action. That day, the division abandoned all its vehicles and
began a retreat across the Rhine
into Germany. By 1
April, the divisions strength was again reduced to roughly 7,000 men. Although
greatly reduced in numbers, it was assigned to the defence of Nuremberg, and continued
fighting until 24 April, when it fell back to Donauwörth on the Danube. The last organized engagement
fought by the division was on 29 April at Moosburg, Germany. There, the
division's commanders attempted to use Stalag VIIA, the largest POW camp in
Germany, as a sort of hostage to buy time to escape across the Isar River.
Their effort was frustrated when the American commander of the 14th Armored
Division learned of their plan, and ordered his Combat Command A to
take Moosburg, capture the bridge across the Isar River, and most
importantly, secure and protect the Allied Prisoners of War at all costs. The
American infantry and tankers force advanced to Moosburg, and without delay
attacked the defensive positions of the 17th SS in front of the town. The town
fell following a brief, but ferocious battle. That same day the 14th Armored
Division took over 7,000 German POWs, mostly SS. On 7
May, 1945 the remaining division forces surrendered to US forces near the Achensee. War
crimes While
the Götz von Berlichingen was tried for 4 cases of 'Final Phase Crimes'
committed during the closing days of the war, a 2005 History Channel story,
D-Day: The Secret Massacre has accused the division of killing wounded American
paratroopers during the early days of the Normandy battle. In the allegations,
advance elements of the 17th SS Panzergrenadiers ran into scattered elements of
the 507th Parachute
Infantry Regiment of the US 82nd Airborne
Division near the town of Graignes, where they had
been mistakenly dropped on D-Day. According to the documentary, less than 200
American paratroopers held off an entire regiment for nearly a week before
withdrawing. The retreating Americans left their wounded behind under the care
of the townspeople in the church. Waffen SS men executed the wounded along with
several French villagers. As of 2008, there is not an independent confirmation
of these allegations. Some
of the troops of Götz von Berlichingen may have been victims of war crimes
themselves following their surrender in the late April 1945. American
War Crimes About
two hundred SS grenadiers belonging to the I Battalion, 38th SS Regiment, were
eventually captured by the 42nd Infantry Division. The fate of these men had
been shrouded in mystery for many years. Eyewitnesses to what happened to these
men were not forthcoming. Eventually, shortly after the war, some citizens of
that city directed Red Cross officials to what turned out to be a mass grave
which yielded two hundred bodies, all in Waffen-SS uniforms. The grave was
located just west of the city. Nothing was done to identify these men or how
they came to be there until 1976, when the remains of one of the corpses was
positively identified as that of SS-Hauptsturmführer Kukula, the commander of I
Battalion, 38th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment. Further autopsies on the other
bodies soon followed, showing that many of the men in that grave had been
beaten to death with blunt instruments (possibly rifle butts). Most had been
shot at very close range, suggesting that a massacre had taken place. Commanders SS-Standartenführer
Otto Binge ( ? Oct
1943 - ? Jan 1944) SS-Gruppenführer
Werner Ostendorff
( ? Jan 1944 - 15 June
1944) SS-Standartenführer
Otto Binge (16 June 1944 - 18 June 1944) SS-Brigadeführer
Otto Baum (18 June 1944 - 1 Aug 1944) SS-Standartenführer
Otto Binge (1 Aug 1944 -
29 Aug 1944) SS-Oberführer
Dr. Eduard
Deisenhofer (30 Aug 1944 - ? Sep 1944)(MIA) SS-Standartenführer
Thomas Müller
(? Sep 1944 - ? Sep 1944) SS-Standartenführer
Gustav Mertsch
(? Sep 1944 - ? Oct 1944) SS-Gruppenführer
Werner Ostendorff
(21 Oct 1944 - 15 Nov 1944) SS-Standartenführer
Hans Lingner
(15 Nov 1944 - 9 Jan 1945) (POW) Oberst Gerhard Lindner
(9 Jan 1945 - 21 Jan 1945) SS-Standartenführer
Fritz Klingenberg
(21 Jan 1945 - 22 Mar 1945)(KIA) SS-Obersturmbannführer
Vinzenz Kaiser (22 Mar
1945 - 24 Mar 1945) SS-Standartenführer
Jakob Fick (24 Mar 1945 -
27 Mar 1945) SS-Oberführer
Georg Bochmann (27 Mar
1945 - 8 May 1945) Order
of battle 37th SS Panzer
Grenadier Regiment 38th SS
Panzer Grenadier Regiment 17th SS
Panzer Battalion 17th SS
Artillery Regiment 17th SS Panzerjäger Battalion 17th SS Sturmgeschütz Battalion 17th SS Flak Battalion 17th SS
Nachrichten Battalion 17th SS
Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion 17th SS Pionier
Battalion 17th SS
Divisions Nachschubtruppen 17th SS
Panzer Instandsetzungs Battalion 17th SS
Wirtschafts Battalion 17th SS
Sanitäts Battalion 17th SS
Feldpostamt 17th SS
Kriegsberichter-Zug 17th SS
Feldgendarmerie Company 17th SS Feldersatz Battalion All info taken from Wikipedia.org
