Wilhelm Mohnke
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| Wilhelm Mohnke | |
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| 15 March 1911 - August 6, 2001 (aged 90) | |
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| Place of birth | Lübeck |
| Place of death | Damp, Schleswig-Holstein |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany |
| Service/branch |  Waffen SS |
| Years of service | 1933 - 1945 |
| Rank | SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS |
| Commands held | 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend |
| Awards | Iron Cross Second Class Wound Badge (Black) |
SS-Brigadeführer (Major General) Wilhelm Mohnke (15 March 1911 – 6 August 2001) was one of the original 120 members of the SS-Staff Guard (Stabswache) "Berlin" formed in March 1933. From those ranks, Mohnke was to rise to become one of Adolf Hitler's last remaining generals.
Mohnke saw action while serving with the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler in France, Poland and the Balkans. During this time he was alleged to have been involved in a number of war crimes. After several failed attempts to introduce a Panzer arm to the Leibstandarte, he was transferred to a replacement battalion until he was given command of a regiment in the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. It was with this regiment that he fought in the Battle for Caen. For his superior conduct in battle, he received the Knight's Cross on 11 July 1944. After participating in most of the French campaign, he was given command of his original division, the Leibstandarte, during Operation Wacht am Rhein, which commenced on 16 December 1944. He served until the very last day of the war in Europe; during the Battle of Berlin, he commanded the Kampfgruppe Mohnke and was charged with defending the Berlin government district, including the Reichstag (nicknamed Die Zitadelle (The Citadel)).
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Mohnke was born in Lübeck on 15 March 1911. His father, who shared his name with his son, was a cabinetmaker. After his father's death, he went to work for a glass and porcelain manufacturer, eventually reaching a management position. Mohnke joined the Nazi Party on 1 September 1931 and the SS two months later.
[edit] Service
Mohnke led the 5th company of the 2nd Battalion of the Infanterie-Regiment Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (mot.). at the outset of the Battle of France in 1940, taking command of the 2nd Battalion on 28 May after the battalion commander was wounded. It was around this time that Mohnke was allegedly involved in the murder of 80 British prisoners of war (POWs) of the 48th Division near Wormhoudt. Mohnke was never brought to trial for these allegations, and when the case was reopened in 1988, a German prosecutor came to the conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges. [1]
Four years later, Mohnke's name was again mentioned in connection with war crimes, this time as the commander of 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH), where units under his command were charged with the Malmedy massacre. It is also alleged that Mohnke was responsible for the murder of 35 Canadian POWs while with the Hitlerjugend division at Fontenay-le-Pesnel.
He commanded the 2nd Battalion during the Balkans campaign, where he lost a foot in a Yugoslavian air attack on 6 April 1941, the first day of the campaign. It was the decision of the medics that his leg would need to be amputated, but Mohnke overrode them. His wound was so grievous that they were still forced to remove his foot. While recuperating he was awarded the German Cross in Gold due to the severity of his injury.
It was Mohnke who planted the seed for the formation of the LSSAH Panzer Battalion early in 1942 after returning to active service. He appointed Ralf Tiemann as his adjutant, whose first official task was finding recruits. Tiemann then proceeded to compile a list, eventually with enough names to fill two companies. While the newly wed Sepp Dietrich presented his new wife to his officers on 14 January, Mohnke presented the divisional commander (Dietrich), with his personnel list, which had in the meantime turned into transfer orders. Dietrich, who was caught unawares, finally relented to Mohnke's pressure and signed the paper. So was born the Panzerwaffe of the Leibstandarte "Adolf Hitler". It was not to be though, and Mohnke was relieved of his command and transferred to the replacement battalion on 16 March 1942.
[edit] With the Hitlerjugend
On 1 September 1943 16,000 new recruits of the Hitlerjugend born in 1926 took part in the formation of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. Obersturmbannführer Mohnke was given command of the 26th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment, which was the second regiment formed in the 12th SS Hitlerjugend.
The structure of the 26th SS Pz-Gren Rgt was somewhat unconventional. Although as a whole the regiment was labeled as Panzer Grenadiers, III.Battaillon was the only battalion in the regiment that was actually armored. It did however have an additional company, designated the 15th Reconnaissance Company which was outfitted with armored cars. This company helped make the 26th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment a unique fighting force.
Mohnke was implicated in several murders of prisoners in Normandy, though, as was also the case with the Wormhoudt atrocities, he was never brought to trial. Eric Margolis, author of "Conduct Unbecoming", describes Mohnke as suffering severe pain from combat injuries and as being mentally unbalanced.
Normandy, in June 1944
Even though when the 12th SS was fighting to keep the Falaise pocket open, in which the division suffered an estimated 40%-50% casualties, Mohnke withdrew his Kampfgruppe east of the river Dives. As the situation in France deteriorated for Germany and the front was pushed back to the Seine, Mohnke was one of the few to lead organized resistance on the western bank in order to protect the river crossings there. He led this Kampfgruppe until 31 August, when he replaced the injured Theodor Wisch. This promotion is the subject of much speculation as to why Mohnke was given command of the LSSAH when SS-Standartenführer Joachim Peiper had much more combat experience. Peiper, the youngest regimental commander in the Waffen SS, was perhaps considered too junior to command a division.
[edit] Wacht am Rhein
Operation Wacht am Rhein was the final major offensive and last gamble Hitler was to make. Mohnke, now in command of his home division, was to lead his formation as the spearhead of the entire operation in the Ardennes. Attached to the I SS Panzer Corps, the LSSAH - once one of the most elite and highly trained units in the entire German military - was now just a shadow of its former self. The large numbers of casualties sustained by the LSSAH meant that it had been reinforced with extremely young soldiers who had hardly been trained before they were sent to the front. To top it off, the crisis in the Reich meant that the LSSAH had dangerously low amounts of fuel for the vehicles that they depended on to make the division a viable fighting force. There was one major factor that enabled Mohnke to lead his dwindling division into one of the most famous battles - the officer corps under Mohnke consisted of battle-hardened and experienced veterans. On 16 December 1944 the operation began, with Mohnke designating his best colonel, Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper, and his Kampfgruppe (Task Force) to lead the push to Antwerp.
By 0700hrs on the 17th, Peiper's regiment had seized the American fuel dump at Büllingen. At 1330 that same day at a crossroads near Malmedy, Peiper's men shot and killed at least 68 US POWs. The Malmedy massacre, as it was to become known, is one of the most infamous killings of the war. Since Kampfgruppe Peiper, the perpetrators of the massacre, were under Mohnke's overall command, there were several accusations that he should be held personally responsible, yet he was never found guilty of the crime. By the evening of the 17th, the leading element of the LSSAH was engaged with the 99th US Division at Stavelot. Mohnke's division was behind their deadline by at least 36 hours by the end of the second day. Progress was further delayed by the retreating troops blowing up important bridges and fuel dumps that Mohnke and Peiper had counted on taking intact.
With each passing day, enemy resistance stiffened and the advance was eventually halted on all fronts. Desperate to keep the assault going, the German High Command ordered that a renewed attack begin on 1 January 1945. Yet this time, the Allies had regrouped their forces and were ready to repulse any attacks launched by the Germans. The operation formally ended on 27 January 1945, and three days later Mohnke was promoted to SS-Brigadeführer. A short while later LSSAH and the 'I SS Panzer Korps' were transferred to Hungary to bolster the crumbling situation there. Mohnke was injured in an air raid where he suffered, among other things, ear damage. He was removed from front-line service and put on the Führer reserve.
[edit] Berlin
After recovering from his wounds, Mohnke was personally appointed by Hitler as the commander (Kommandant) of the Reich Chancellery defense[2]. He formed the Kampfgruppe Mohnke (Battle Group Mohnke) out of 9 SS battalions, including the remnants of LSSAH Wach Regiment, LSSAH Ausbildungs-und Ersatz Battalion from Spreenhagen, and the Führer-Begleit-Kompanie and the Reichsführer SS Begleit Battalion. Although Hitler had appointed General Helmuth Weidling as defense commandant of Berlin, Mohnke remained free of Weidling's command to maintain his defense objectives of the Reich Chancellery and the Führerbunker.
Since his fighting force was located at the nerve center of the German Third Reich it fell under the heaviest artillery bombardment of the war which began as a birthday present to Hitler on 20 April 1945 and lasted to the end of hostilities on 8 May 1945. Under pressure from the most intense shelling, Mohnke and his SS troops put up extremely stiff resistance against impossible odds. The combined total of his SS Kampfgruppe and General Weidling's LVI Panzer Corps totaled 250,000 men and 700 AFVs against the 2.5 million men of three Russian army groups.
The Russian race to take control of the Reich Chancellery condemned Mohnke's men to bitter and bloody street fighting. Completely encircled and cut off from reinforcements, without hope of relief or withdrawal, his Kampfgruppe fought off the Russian advances, inflicting heavy and costly casualties.
While the Battle of Berlin was raging around them, Hitler ordered Mohnke to set up a military tribunal for Hermann Fegelein, adjutant to Heinrich Himmler, in order to try the man for desertion. Mohnke, deciding that the Obergruppenführer deserved a fair trial by other high ranking officers, put together a tribunal consisting of Generals Hans Krebs, Wilhelm Burgdorf, Johann Rattenhuber, and himself. Following a failed attempt to try Fegelein, and finding him completely flagrant and belligerent and not in a right state of mind to stand trial, Mohnke dismissed the case and released him to General Rattenhuber. Fegelein was not seen alive again.
After the war Soviet Intelligence Major Lev Bremynski asserted that Mohnke had attempted to negotiate for Hitler's escape with the Soviets. Bremynski alleges that in return for being allowed to escape to Japan, Hitler would permit Soviet forces to advance unopposed through northern Germany to capture Denmark. Marshall Zhukov is said to have declined the offer.
With the news of Hitler's death, many of his remaining top officials, including Mohnke, planned to escape from Berlin to the Allies on the western side of the Elbe. They split into three groups. Mohnke's group left the Fuhrerbunker on 1 May and included Hitler's personal pilot, Hans Baur, the chief of his bodyguard, Hans Rattenhuber, secretary Traudl Junge, secretary Gerda Christian, secretary Else Krüger, Hitler's dietician, Constanze Manziarly, Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck, and various others. Mohnke planned to break out towards the German army that was positioned in Prinzenallee. The group headed along the subway but their route was blocked so they went above ground and joined hundreds of other Germans civilians and military personnel who had sought refuge at the Schultheiss-Patzenhofer Brewery. Upon learning of General Weidling's order for the complete surrender of all resisting German forces still remaining in Berlin on 2 May 1945, he decided to surrender the group to the Soviet Army. However, some of Mohnke's SS personnel opted to commit suicide and others kept up pockets of resistance throughout the city. Some groups did not surrender until 8 May 1945.
[edit] Post-war life
Following their surrender Mohnke and other senior German officers were treated to a banquet by the Chief of Staff of the 8th Guards Army. He was then handed over to the NKVD and on 9 May 1945 he was flown to Moscow for interrogation and kept in solitary confinement until 1949, when he was transferred to the Generals' Prison in Woikowo. He remained in captivity until 10 October 1955. Following his release, he worked as a dealer in small trucks and trailers, living in Barsbüttel, Germany. He was a skilled jazz saxophonist.
Despite a campaign, led by the British Member of Parliament Jeff Rooker, to prosecute him for his alleged involvement in war crimes during the early part of the war, Wilhelm Mohnke was able to live out the remainder of his years in peace. He died in the coastal village of Damp, near Eckernförde in Schleswig-Holstein in August 2001, at the age of 90.
[edit] Promotions
| 28 June 1933 | Commissioned |
| 1 October 1933 | SS-Hauptsturmführer |
| 1 September 1940 | SS-Sturmbannführer |
| 21 June 1943 | SS-Obersturmbannführer |
| 21 June 1944 | SS-Standartenführer |
| 4 November 1944 | SS-Oberführer |
| 30 January 1945 | SS-Brigadeführer |
[edit] Awards
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Wilhelm Mohnke |
| 21 September 1939 | Iron Cross Second Class |
| 8 November 1939 | Iron Cross First Class |
| 10 February 1940 | Wound Badge (Black) |
| 3 October 1940 | Infantry Assault Badge (General) |
| War Merit Cross with Swords | |
| 15 September 1941 | Wound Badge (Silver) |
| 26 December 1941 | German Cross (Gold) |
| 11 July 1944 | Knight's Cross |
[edit] Portrayal in the media
Wilhelm Mohnke has been portrayed by the following actors in film and television productions.[3]
- Michael Culver in the 1981 United States television production The Bunker.
- Ralph Michael in the 1981 British T.V. mini-series Selling Hitler.
- André Hennicke in the 2004 German film Downfall (Der Untergang).
[edit] Notes
- ^ Lehrer, Steven. The Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker Complex. An Illustrated History of the Seat of the Nazi Regime. McFarland. Jefferson, NC 2006 p 108. [1]
- ^ Lehrer, Steven. The Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker Complex. An Illustrated History of the Seat of the Nazi Regime. McFarland. Jefferson, NC 2006 p 100. [2]
- ^ "Wilhelm Mohnke (Character)" (in English). IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0063971/. Retrieved on May 8.
[edit] References
- Lehrer, Steven (2006). The Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker Complex: An Illustrated History of the Seat of the Nazi Regime. McFarland. pp. 214. ISBN 0786423935. http://books.google.com/books?id=i9GIAQAACAAJ&dq=lehrer+chancellery&ei=g_CpSeeyIIzSlQSm7qWVBA.
- Lehrer, Steven (2002). Hitler Sites: A City-by-city Guidebook (Austria, Germany, France, United States). McFarland. pp. 224. ISBN 0786410450. http://books.google.com/books?id=pAZoAAAAMAAJ&q=hitler+sites&dq=hitler+sites&ei=6vitSe2QJpXSlQTv24iYBQ&pgis=1.
- Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945. Friedburg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas, 2000. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5
- Yerger, Mark C. Waffen-SS Commanders: The Army, Corps and Divisional Leaders of a Legend, Krüger to Zimmerman. Vol. II, Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 1999.
- Botting, Douglas & Sayer, Ian. Hitler's Last General: The Case Against Wilhelm Mohnke. Bantam Books, 1989; ISBN 0-593-01709-9
- O'Donnell, James.P. The Berlin Bunker. Arrow Books, 1979; ISBN 0-09-921680-9
| Military offices | ||
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| Preceded by SS-Brigadeführer Theodor Wisch |
Commander of 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler August 20, 1944 - February 6, 1945 |
Succeeded by SS-Brigadeführer Otto Kumm |
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