Heinrich Petersen (Waffen-SS)

From Metapedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Heinrich Petersen
Heinrich Petersen (Waffen-SS).jpg
Birth date 31 March 1904(1904-03-31)
Place of birth Sonderburg, Island of Als, Province of Schleswig-Holstein, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date 9 May 1945 (aged 41)
Place of death Between Tabor and Pilsen (near Melnik), Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, German Reich
Allegiance  Weimar Republic
 National Socialist Germany
Service/branch War Ensign of Germany (1921–1933).png Reichswehr
Flag Schutzstaffel.png SS
Balkenkreuz.jpg Heer
Flag Schutzstaffel.png Waffen SS
Rank Oberfeldwebel
SS-Sturmbannführer
Oberleutnant der Reserve
SS-Standartenführer der Waffen-SS
Service number NSDAP #1,964,574
SS rune.png #134,299
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Iron Cross
War Merit Cross (1939)
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Heinrich Petersen (31 March 1904 – 9 May 1945) was a German NCO of the Reichswehr as well as officer of the SS, the Wehrmacht reserves and the Waffen SS, finally SS-Standartenführer and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in World War Two.

Life

SS-Hauptsturmführer Petersen.jpg
SS-Obersturmbannführer Petersen.jpg
SS-Führer Heinrich Petersen (standing), parade in front of a unit of the Regierungstruppen des Reichsprotektorats Böhmen Mähren.jpg
SS-Führer Petersen.jpg
SS-Führer Petersen II.jpg

Petersen joined the Reichswehr in the 1920s and was promoted to Oberfeldwebel (sergeant major) on 15 January 1931. On 1 March 1933, he joined the NSDAP and the Allgemeine SS as a SS candidate, serving with the III. Sturmbann of the SS-Standarte 46 in Dresden. He was appointed tactics instructor at the 1st SS leader candidate course (1st Peace Junker course) at the SS Leader School in Tölz (full course) from 1 April 1934 (commissioned only days later) to 22 December 1934, staying with the Lehrsturm until 1935, possibly succeeded by Bernhard Dietsche (1912–1975).

In August 1935, he was transferred to the SS-Wachtruppe "Brandenburg" in Oranienburg and Columbia-Haus. The SS unit guarded Berlin's Columbia concentration camp to the north edge of Tempelhofer Feld. Due to a lack of space on site, the troops were housed and trained in Oranienburg, 40 km away. For this purpose, the castle was built like a barracks and training rooms were created. In March 1936, the association, which had grown from 194 to 420 men, was officially given the name "SS-Totenkopf-Sturmbann V Brandenburg".

On 1 July 1937, the staff was strengthened and the “SS-Totenkopf-Standarte 2 Brandenburg” was formed. In December 1937, the standard consisted of 6 Sturmbannen (battalions). In 1938, SS-Sturmbannführer Petersen, since February 1938 also a 1st Lieutenant of the Reserves of the Wehrmacht, was appointed commander of the III. Sturmbann. He would stay with the Totenkopfverbände until 1942, soon becoming regimental mountain infantry (Gebirgsjäger) commander.

After serving with the staff of the V. SS Mountain Corps from Novovember 1943 to February 1944, he was appointed commander of the 39th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Regiment of the 18th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel on 13 June 1944. When Soviet troops threatened Hungarian territory in July 1944, a battle group led by the SS Panzergrenadier Regiment 40 under SS-Obersturmbannführer Ernst Schäfer, which was shortly later reinforced by the French SS Volunteer Assault Brigade (Marschbataillon Cance as IV Battalion), was handed over to the XXIV Panzer Corps of Army Group Northern Ukraine.

In August 1944, the same regiment probably took part in the suppression of the Slovak putsch together with the SS-Sturmbrigade "Dirlewanger", before the division was deployed to the front in Hungary for the first time in the fall of 1944. During the Battle of Budapest, the division was pushed north in heavy fighting, so that it was spared the fate of the other SS divisions there (Florian Geyer, Maria Theresia, 33rd Waffen Cavalry Division of the SS). The division appears to have been used primarily to keep the faltering Allies, Hungary and Slovakia, on course.

As successor to Georg Bochmann, who would take over the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen in March 1945, Petersen was appointed commander of the 18th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel. The division was last deployed in the Breslau area, where most of the division surrendered to Soviet troops near Hirschberg am See in the northern Sudetenland in May 1945. Smaller groups were able to make their way west, where they surrendered to American troops.

Commands

  • III. Sturmbann/SS-Totenkopf-Standarte 2 Brandenburg
  • II. Battalion/SS-Totenkopf-Infanterie-Regiment 3/SS-Division Totenkopf/SS-Verfügungsdivision
  • I. Battalion/6th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment Theodor Eicke/3. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Totenkopf
  • Replacement Battalion/SS Volunteer Legion Nordland
  • SS-Totenkopf-Infanterie-Regiment 3/3. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Totenkopf
  • SS Training and Replacement Battalion/SS Mountain Jäger "Nord"/6th SS Gebirgsjäger
  • SS Volunteer Mountain Jäger Regiment 1/7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen
  • SS Volunteer Mountain Jäger Regiment 13 “Artur Phleps”/7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen
  • 39th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Regiment/18. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division „Horst Wessel“
  • 18th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel

Knight's Cross

Petersen’s Knight’s Cross recommendation reads as follows:

“On the 10 September 1943 SS-Obersturmbannführer Petersen (who was at the time serving far from the division as an independent commander) took over command of the Kampfgruppe that had recently been transported via air from Mostar to Sinj. The XV. Gebirgs-Armee-Korps intended that this Kampfgruppe would occupy the city of Split (Yugoslavia). Only very weak forces were available to Petersen (consisting of the I. Battalion/SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 1, IV. Battalion/SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 1 and the I. Abteilung/SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Artillerie-Regiment 7), and all of these were without horses and motorized transport following their aerial transport to Sinj. After he had arrived in Sinj during the late afternoon of the 10 September 1943, he rushed forwards with the IV. Battalion/SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 1 and the I. Abteilung/SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Artillerie-Regiment 7 in order to link up with the I. Battalion/SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 1. This unit had landed earlier than the rest, and thanks to skillful leadership it was able to disarm the strong Italian garrison at Castle Klis at 10:00 on the 11 September 1943 following the Operation Achse (Fall Achse). The Kampfgruppe then encountered strong enemy resistance near Brnace, and after defending against a major attack north of Dugo Poljo (which was fended off by around 23:00 following bitter close combat) the Kampfgruppe continued to press forward during the night starting at around 01:00 on the 12.09.1943. However, at around 02:00 it came under surprise attack at from the commanding hills of Kocino Brdo (487) and Sv. Gospa (354). Hill 354 was taken by storm. During the early morning, Petersen repulsed fresh new attacks by the enemy (who recognized the importance of Klis) and then threw the enemy back with bloody losses following an assault from the high ground. At around 11:30, the I. Battalion/SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 1 succeeded in its breakthrough despite having been repeatedly attacked and threatened itself. Statements from agents as well as the civilian population indicated that the bandits were masters of the situation (the Italian commander of Klis reported that 4000 to 5000 bandits were located between Klis and Split). The facts on the ground suggested that only swift and determined intervention by the Kampfgruppe would be able to bring the city of Split under friendly control, and so the commander decided to head out towards Split on the same day. At 16:30, Petersen commenced his advance towards Split whilst leaving behind only weak elements to guard the Castle. The attack of the Kampfgruppe (which was at a major disadvantage in numbers and artillery) bogged down under the vicious flanking fire from bunkers that dotted the commanding hills (especially Hills 602 and 616). At 18:00, the Kampfgruppe was pulled back to Klis. Petersen relaunched his attack on the 14 September 1943, this time trying to eliminate the bunkers on the hills by splitting up some of his forces. At 14:00, the I. Battalion/SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 1 reached the water filled ditch before Solin (located 3 km north of Split). However, both Hills 602 and 616 as well as the heavily fortified bunker line before Solin proved to be impossible to conquer given the available friendly forces. The Kampfgruppe was forced to pull back to Klis once again, where it became encircled on all sides. It thus took up a defensive posture.
Petersen and his small body of troops defended the Castle and village of Klis for a full 9 days (15 to 23 September 1943) in the face of multiple day and night attacks launched by overwhelming enemy forces against the defenders’ narrow perimeter. The bandits’ concentrated artillery fire (delivered by the light and heavy artillery batteries they had acquired from the Italians) rained down on the garrison without pause. The friendly Stukas that had been sent to provide relief only inflicted modest damage against the enemy forces that were entrenched in concrete bunkers and rock crags. The II. Battalion/SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 1 (which had already been airlifted to Sinj on the 15 September 1943 in order to reinforce the Kampfgruppe) was itself encircled in Sv. Jakob (located 7 km NE of Klis) and began a fight for its survival against overwhelming numbers of bandits. For his part, the divisional commander Karl Reichsritter von Oberkamp swiftly assembled a scratch motorized Kampfgruppe and personally led it along the rocky coastline from the east in order to relieve Kampfgruppe Petersen. However, this unit was brought to a halt NE of Omis by enemy forces (which carried out unbridgeable road demolitions). The situation of Kampfgruppe Petersen became graver and graver. In this mountainous terrain aerial resupply could be instantly made impossible by bad weather, and the insufficient care was available for the wounded. Meanwhile, the enemy pressure from the commanding hilltops on both sides of Klis continued to increase. Additional forces for a relief effort were not at hand. Thus, on the 18 September 1943, the division gave Kampfgruppe Petersen the choice between holding Klis or breaking out towards Sinj. In this situation, Petersen made the independent decision to hold Klis at all costs, even though he did not know at this time whether relief would be forthcoming. During the entire offensive by his Kampfgruppe, SS-Obersturmbannführer Petersen consistently intervened at the hotspots of the fighting, and during the difficult days of the encirclement he gave his men an inspiring example of a fighter’s resolve. Above all it was his brave decision to hold Klis to the last man that enabled the city to be used as a future offensive springboard. This would come to pass when the divisional commander commenced an attack towards Split using a Kampfgruppe based on the Grenadier-Regiment 92 (mot), which was brought up on the 25 September 1943. Petersen was thus decisively involved in the eventual capture of Split. All these achievements have rendered him as one worthy to be decorated with the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross.”[1]

Death

SS-Standartenführer Petersen committed suicide after his division surrendered to the Czech partisans and the Red Army. Some of his men reached the U.S. Army lines, but these luckier soldiers were very few.

SS-Promotions

Awards and decorations

References

  1. ↑ Petersen, Heinrich (SS-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 1)
  2. ↑ Petersen, Heinrich
Retrieved from "http://en.metapedia.org/m/index.php?title=Heinrich_Petersen_(Waffen-SS)&oldid=516449"