Martin Mitschke

Martin Mitschke
Martin Mitschke
	;
Birth date	20 October 1920
Place of birth	Crostau, Amtshauptmannschaft Bautzen, Saxony, German Reich
Death date	19 November 2008 (aged 88)
Place of death	Schongau, Bavaria, Germany
Allegiance	National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Heer
Years of service	1939–1945
Rank	2nd Lieutenant
Unit	90. Panzergrenadier-Division
Commands held	3rd Company/Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 200
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Iron Cross; Wound Badge (1939); Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Relations	∞ 1949 Anna Unsinn
Other work	Farmer and restaurateur

Martin Mitschke (20 October 1920 – 19 November 2008) was a German officer of the Wehrmacht, finally 2nd Lieutenant and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in World War II. He served as a runner, grenade launcher squad leader, group leader, platoon leader, orderly officer and company leader.^[1]

Life

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross award ceremony (Ritterkreuzverleihungszeremonie) for Feldwebel Martin Mitschke by Generalleutnant Baade

Erzgebirgischer Volksfreund, 21 December 1944

Oberfeldwebel Hugo Heinkel (left) and newly promoted Oberfeldwebel Mitschke in December 1944

Ritterkreuz für Oberfeldwebel Hugo Heinkel durch General Baade im Dezember 1944 (1).png

Martin Mitschke, the son of Ernst and Marie Mitschke, was born in 1920 in Saxony. He attended school (Volksschule) from 1927 to 1935 and then completed a three-year industrial apprenticeship. At the same time, he attended a specialist class for mechanical engineering at the "technical and educational institute of the city of Bautzen" until 1939 (school leaving certificate and skilled worker examination). On 1 October 1939, after being drafted into the Wehrmacht, he joined the Infantry Replacement Battalion 103 in Zittau and received basic training until late December 1939.

In 1940, he was transferred to the 7th Machine Gun Battalion in Dresden, later Stolberg. He served with the 2nd Company and took part in the Battle for France, being wounded on the fith day. On 16 August 1940, the battalion was reorganized to form the Motorcycle Rifle Battalion 64 of the new 14th Panzer Division. In exchange, the 3rd company went to the 108th Rifle Regiment. Mitschke was also transferred to the 108th Regiment. The regiment was given the number 108 for reasons of tradition in memory of the Royal Saxon Rifle Regiment Prince Georg No. 108. After the formation of the 14th Panzer Division, the regiment was subordinate to it. Tactically, the regiment was subordinated to Rifle Brigade 14. With the 2nd Company/I. Battalion/Schützen-Regiment 108 (renamed Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 108 on 5 July 1942), Mitschke took part in the Balkans Campaign and the Operation Barbarossa, being wounded in August and October 1941. He was transferred to the military hospital in Thorn and later Graudenz. He then belonged to a recovery company (Genesenenkompanie) in Dresden for some time.

He was assigned to the Africa Corps replacement unit in Küstrin, but was not classified as suitable for the tropics due to poor blood values. After an instructor course in Weimar, Mitschke served as a recruit instructor in Küstrin in the 4th Company/Panzergrenadier Replacement and Training Battalion 50 (Panzergrenadier-Ersatz und Ausbildungs-Bataillon 50). In the autumn of 1943, he was transferred to the 90. Panzergrenadier-Division. He served with the 2nd Company/I. Battalion/Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 200 in South, Central and North Italy.

The 200th Panzer Grenadier Regiment was reorganized on 6 July 1943 in Sardinia, Italy. The regiment emerged from the 2nd Sardinia Panzer Grenadier Regiment. The regiment was initially set up with only two battalions. After its formation, the regiment was placed under the Sardinia Command. After its renaming on 16 September 1943, the regiment was subordinated to the new 90th Panzer Grenadier Division. On 23 October 1943, the 1st Battalion of the 155th Panzer Grenadier Regiment was reorganized as III. Battalion incorporated into the regiment. In 1944, the regiment under Colonel Heinrich Alexander Ferdinand Baron von Behr was temporarily referred to as Grenadier Regiment (motorized) 200. From 1 December 1944, the regiment was again called the 200th Panzer Grenadier Regiment. At the end of the war the regiment was still in action in Italy.^[2]

The following letter of commendation (written on 10 October 1944 by Generalleutnant Ernst-Günther Baade) describes the action that would lead to Mitschke receiving the Knight’s Cross:

“On the night from 27 to 28 September 1944, Feldwebel Mitschke launched an attack with his platoon on his own initiative against the enemy forces that had penetrated into Savignano. Although the enemy resisted here with heavy fire, they were eventually driven out. As a result of his bravery and decisiveness, this key position (of importance to the whole division) was thereby held.”^[3]

At the end of the war, the regiment was still deployed in Italy. 2nd Lieutenant Mitschke was appointed the last leader (Kompanieführer) of the 3rd Company/Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 200. He was a POW in Florence and in the area of Livorno–Pisa:

We were transported by the Americans in large semi-trailers over the Apennines to Tuscany. There were huge prison camps between Pisa and Livorno. Twelve smaller camps were each grouped together to form a large complex. A double barbed wire fence surrounded the entire area, with watchtowers all around. The camp road cut through the entire complex. Trucks drove us to the camp gate and we were told to get out: "Hurry up! Come on!" Negro GIs helped us jump down from the truck. Oh, how nice, I thought - then I felt someone grab my wrist, my watch. Then the medals and badges were stolen, they were really keen on that. We were then distributed to the individual camps in groups of around 500 prisoners or even more, locked up in large cages, so to speak. There we stood in the open air (scorching sun during the day, but it got very cold at night), were counted, given basic provisions and waited for what was to come. After a few days, however, we were given two-man tents that six of us had to share. At first we lay on bare clay floors, but little by little we got empty milk powder cartons from the camp kitchen and lined the tent with them. There was nothing to cover ourselves with. We lay like sardines in a can and warmed each other. Sometimes at night a real cloudburst would fall on us, turning the whole place into a field of mud. The water flowed through the tents and soaked everything - there was not a dry spot anywhere. We stood, wet to the skin, in the rain and waited for daybreak, for the sun. As much as we longed for the warmth of the sun in this case, we also suffered from scorching rays, with temperatures of 40 degrees not uncommon. Six men had to share a piece of white bread weighing around 600 grams, in the morning there was a thin oat soup, at lunchtime half a pot full of milk soup (oat flakes and dried fruit), and in the evening just tea. It was logical that we couldn't survive on that in the long run. We all lost a lot of weight. Some of our older, less robust comrades didn't survive. Hunger dominated our thoughts. Most of the conversations revolved around food. [...] To distract ourselves, we walked around the camp and listened here and there to lectures given by teachers, professors and other experts who were also prisoners on a wide variety of subjects. This was a double benefit: on the one hand, we forgot a little about the agonizing hunger, and on the other hand, we learned a lot.

Roll call every morning. We had to line up in rows of five, the American sergeant counted "his prisoners". He took a lot of time for this. Was it incompetence or harassment? In any case, we stood for hours in the hot sun because the American couldn't keep up. During roll call, volunteers were often sought for various work details. These were popular jobs; I always tried to be there. Usually, something edible could be organized. For example, we were taken in trucks to a huge army food depot for loading work. It was located in a pine forest near Livorno. There we had to unload railroad cars and stack the food crates into high pyramids. Now we POWs had developed techniques for getting the coveted food to satisfy our hunger without being caught. Everything was stolen and eaten: jam, egg powder, sugar, flour, dried fruit, etc. The Americans' front rations were particularly popular; they consisted of two small tins: one, heavier, contained a ready meal, the other chocolate, biscuits and candy. The tins were easy to open and whenever we were out of sight of the guards, in the wagon or up on the pyramid between the boxes, we stuffed our mouths full. Different punishments awaited those caught. For example, a jam thief was locked in a kind of cage, which he was not allowed to leave until he had eaten a bucket of jam, or he was given three days' detention: the camp was a square fenced in with barbed wire, measuring about three by four meters, with a floor made of gravel. The delinquent had to stay there for three days and nights. There was no food, which was tough.

Wounds

15 May 1940
25 August 1941
16 October 1941

Post-WWII

Mitschke was transported from Italy to Allied-occupied Germany and then released from American captivity in Heilbronn on 28 October 1946 and transferred to Dießen am Ammersee in Bavaria. A return to his Saxon homeland was never possible because it was occupied by the communists. He worked as a farmer and married 1949. In that year he took over a farm in Reichling and soon also offered a rural inn. The Mitschke Inn in the Keltenstraße 3 with traditional/regional cuisine still exists today (as of 2024). He had a large family, two daughters, one son and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Death

Over 18 months after the death of his beloved wife Anna on 26 April 2007, Martin Mitschke died on 19 November 2008 in a hospital in Schongau 15 km south of Reichling. He was buried on 22 November 2008. Many clubs and associations took part, including flag bearers of the veterans and reservists association, the fire brigade and the rural youth, but also the Brotherhood of Saint Leonhard. Military honours were given by members of the Association of Knight's Cross Recipients.

Promotions

1 April 1940 Gefreiter (Private E-2/Lance Corporal)
1 January 1942 Obergefreiter (Private First Class E-3/Senior Lance Corporal)
1 March 1942 Unteroffizier (NCO/Corporal/Junior Sergeant)
1 July 1944 Feldwebel (Staff Sergeant)
1 November 1944 Oberfeldwebel (Sergeant Major)
1 January 1945 Fahnenjunker (Officer Candidate)
1 April 1945 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant)

Awards und decorations

SA Sports Badge (SA-Sportabzeichen) in Bronze on 13 April 1939
Wound Badge (1939) in Black and Silver
- Black on 15 May 1940
- Silver on 12 January 1942
Iron Cross (1939), 2nd and 1st Class
- 2nd Class on 28 February 1942
- 1st Class on 17 April 1944 (15 July according to Soldbuch, but this could be the date of the handover)
Panzer Badge (Panzerkampfabzeichen) in Bronze on 15 March 1942
Winter Battle in the East 1941–42 Medal on 20 August 1942
Sardinia Field Cap Shield (Sardinienschild)
Infantry Assault Badge (Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen) in Bronze on 10 August 1944
Silver Rider's Pin (House Order of General Baade)
Close Combat Clasp in Bronze on 12 August 1944 (10 August according to Soldbuch)
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 16 October 1944 as Feldwebel and platoon leader in the 2nd Company/Grenadier-Regiment (motorisiert) 200/90. Panzergrenadier-Division