Wilhelm Kment

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Wilhelm Kment
Wilhelm Kment III.jpg
Birth date 8 March 1915
Place of birth Kilb, Melk District, Lower Austria, Austria-Hungary
Death date 15 November 1984 (aged 69)
Allegiance  National Socialist Germany
Service/branch Flag Schutzstaffel.png Allgemeine SS
Flag Schutzstaffel.png SS-Verfügungstruppe
Flag Schutzstaffel.png Waffen SS
Years of service 1933–1945
Rank SS-Obersturmbannführer
Unit SS Division "Das Reich"
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Iron Cross
Wound Badge (1939)
German Cross in Gold
Relations ∞ Constance Kröger, née Caspari

Wilhelm "Willi" Kment (8 March 1915 – 15 November 1984) was an officer of the SS rune.png, the SS-Verfügungstruppe and the Waffen SS during World War II.

Life

From left to right: Rupert Dangl, Wilhelm Kment and Josef Tiefenbacher, September 1943 (Führerhauptquartier); Rupert Dangl (1919–2004) joined the SS on 12 September 1937, attended the SS-Junkerschule Tölz from November 1939 to April 1940. As leader of the 1st Company/SS-Aufklärungs-Abteilung/SS-Division "Das Reich" he received the German Cross in Gold on 23 January 1942, but was also severely wounded and lost his left arm. Like Kment, he later took over administrative duties in the Personal Staff “Reichsführer-SS”.[1]
From left to right: SS-Brigdeführer Heinz Lammerding, SS-Obersturmbannführer Fritz Klingenberg, SS-Obersturmbannführer Jakob Fick, SS-Sturmbannführer Wilhelm Kment, and SS-Hauptsturmführer Ortwin Pohl, only son of Oswald Pohl, in 1944.
Michael Wittmann’s Oakleaves (Eichenlaub) to his Knight’s Cross in January 1944
Father-in-law Gerhard Herrmann Wilhelm Caspari

Kment, presumambly coming from the (in Austria outlawed) Hitler Youth, joined the Allgemeine SS in February 1933 (SS-Nr.: 167 603) and later the NSDAP (NSDAP-Nr.: 4 262 124). He was later transferred to the SS-Verfügungstruppe. From 24 April 1935 to 31 January 1936, he successfully attended the SS-Junkerschule Tölz, then the mandatory platoon leader course, and was commissioned on 20 April 1936.

Kment took part in the Poland Campaign, served with the SS-Verfügungsdivision and was appointed leader of the 15th (Kradschützen) Company of the SS-Regiment "Deutschland" during the Battle of France. He was officially appointed commander after his promotion to SS-Hauptsturmführer. During Operation Barbarossa, he served as commander of the 1st Company/SS-Kradschützen-Bataillon/SS-Division "Das Reich". The Kradschützen were motorized (motorcycles), lightly armed and highly mobile infantry units.

When Johannes-Rudolf Mühlenkamp was wounded by artillery shell fragments in the head on 15 October 1941 near Jelna, he was succeeded by Wilhelm Kment as the commander of the Aufklärungs-Abteilung (reconnaissance battalion) of the SS-Division „Reich“, later known as SS-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 2. On 14 February 1942, during the German counteroffensives on the Eastern Front only days before the Third Battle of Kharkov, Kment was severely wounded: left thigh amputation, severe damage to the right thigh, fracture of the heel bone and stiffening of the ankle. The war as a combat officer was over for him. After months of recovery, on 1 October 1943, Himmler appointed him decorations officer in his personal staff (Persönlicher Stab „Reichsführer-SS“), responsible for processing awards of the German Cross and Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for Waffen-SS members. He also served as liaison officer (Verbindungsoffizier) of the Reichsführer SS to the OKH/PA (Army Personnel Office of the Army High Command).

In 1945, as the Battle of Berlin approached, parts of the Personal Staff were relocated to Bavaria (Alpenfestung) and the Alpen- und Donau-Reichsgaue (Austria) in the south of the German Reich. Kment served as Sachbearbeiter W-SS (Waffen-SS official in charge) within the 1st Squadron (1. Staffel) of the Wehrmacht HPA/P 5a (Heerespersonalamt, Referat P 5 [Orden und Ehrenzeichen]). In this capacity he was also responsible for the processing of high awards even after Hitler's suicide when Himmler was no longer available, especially award recommendations (de facto later disputed awards) by Josef Dietrich, Commander-in-Chief of the 6th (SS) Panzer Army.

Family

Wilhelm was born to the family Kment in Kilb, Austria. His older brother or cousin was Alfred Eduard Kment (b. 5 June 1909). Alfred served with the infantry of the Austrian Army, transferred to the Luftwaffe after the Anschluss, was promoted to Capatin in 1939 and later to Major. On 31 October 1943, he transferred as SS-Sturmbannführer (with rank seniority from 1 June 1943) from the Luftwaffe to the Waffen-SS (SS-Nr.: 497 668) as a staff officer (IIa). He served with the 13. Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS „Handschar“ (kroatische Nr. 1), the 19. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (lettische Nr. 2) and the 23. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division „Nederland“ (niederländische Nr. 1) as well as the Grenadier-Bataillon z. b. V. 291 (Division 805) as of 15 February 1945 for commander Major d. R. Hermann Vicinus, who had fallen severely ill. On 27 November 1943 at the Feldkommandostelle Hochwald, Wilhelm and Alfred Kment had been invited to lunch with Heinrich Himmler and other officers (SS-Obergruppenführer Wünnenberg, SS-Obergruppenführer Lorenz, SS-Gruppenführer Greifelt, SS-Gruppenführer Gille, SS-Gruppenführer von Gottberg, SS-Brigadeführer Popp, SS-Sturmbannführer Dorr, SS-Sturmbannführer Schulze).

Marriage

After the war, Kment married Constance Kröger, née Caspari. The widow had been married to graduate of the SS-Führerschule in Braunschweig (24 April 1935 to 31 January 1936) SS-Hauptsturmführer Otto Kröger (b. 15 March 1914 in Hennstedt), comander of the 3rd Company/SS-Regiment “Deutschland”, who was severely wounded on 29 November 1941 and died on 30 November 1941 at the main dressing station (Hauptverbandsplatz) in Istra near Moscow.

Constance was the daughter of Gerhard Herrmann Wilhelm Caspari (b. 19 September 1890; d. 1 March 1972) and his wife Margarete Anna Charlotte, née Zerrath. Father Gerhard, son of a cattle breeder (since 1903) and domain tenant (Groß-Tierbach, later Kobbelbude near Königsberg with Gut Ramsen), was famous in and outside of East Prussia for his breeding of bulls and high-yielding dairy cows.[2] Constance attended the girls' boarding school of the Königin-Luise-Stiftung (Queen Luise Foundation) in Potsdam. Constance was a member of the BDM and as such served actively during the Olympic Games 1936 in Berlin. This is where she met her future husband Kröger and Joachim Peiper. She remained in close contact with the Peiper family and testified on Joachim's behalf in the probation proceedings in 1956.

Promotions

Awards and decorations

Gallery

  • A celebration of the members of the SS-Regiment "Deutschland" in November 1940; From left to right: SS-Untersturmführer Hermann Buch, SS-Oberführer Felix Steiner and SS-Hauptsturmführer Wilhelm Kment.

  • Wilhelm Kment ...

  • ... as SS-Sturmbannführer

References

  1. ↑ Interview with German WW2 veteran SS Officer Rupert Dangl 2nd SS-Panzer Division Das Reich Bad Tolz
  2. ↑ On average 80 to 100 bulls were sold each year; the most expensive brought 30,000 Reichsmarks in peacetime. Gerhard Caspari's successful herd, who also owned the neighboring Ramsen estate, consisted of 300 cows and 450 young cattle. It should be noted that this herd was kept on a farm area of ​​only 875 hectares – that's how much the Kobbelbude domain and the Ramsen estate made up.
  3. ↑ Kment, Wilhelm (Waffen SS)
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