Willi Hund
| Willi Hund | |
|---|---|
 Willi Hund was wounded 13 times at the front, twice severely | |
| Birth date | 23 March 1923 |
| Place of birth | Wiesbaden, German Reich |
| Death date | 30 April 2002 (aged 79) |
| Place of death | Meerbusch, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
| Allegiance |  National Socialist Germany
|
| Service/branch |  Waffen-SS
|
| Years of service | 1939–1945 |
| Rank | SS-Obersturmführer |
| Unit | SS Division "Nordland" |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Awards | War Merit Cross Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross |
| Other work | Teacher, general manager |
Wilhelm "Willi" Hund (sometimes Willy; 23 March 1923 – 30 April 2002) was an officer the Waffen SS during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, which was awarded to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.
Hund was one of the last members of the German armed forces to be awarded the Knight's Cross on the 20 April 1945, when in command of a battle group consisting of, among other things, the 6th and 7th Companies of the 23rd SS Panzergrenader Regiment Norge in the defence of Berlin. He was not very large (1.75 m), but was considered a giant in hand-to-hand combat, as his comrades often described.
Contents
Life
Willi Hund was born in Wiesbaden, Province of Hesse-Nassau, Weimar Republic. Until 1933, he attended four classes of Volksschule (elementary school) and then until 1939 high school (graduated Obersekunda). He had been a proud member of the Hitler Youth since 1 April 1933. He joined the 
on 3 April 1939 (SS-Nr.: 391,949), but apparently not the NSDAP, which, contrary to the post-war myth, was not mandatory (no Party number indicated in his SS personnel file).
WWII
Chronology
- 3.4.1939 Joined the SS-Totenkopfverbände
- Assigned to SS-Totenkopfstandarte “Brandenburg”
- 2.9.1940 to 10.4.1941 Attended SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz
- 20.4.1941 to 11.11.1941 Commissioned and assigned as a Zugführer to SS-Regiment “Deutschland”/SS-Division “Reich”
- 11.11.1941 to 1.9.1942 After being wounded, assigned to SS-Infanterie-Ersatz-Bataillon/SS-Regiment “Deutschland”/SS-Division “Reich” (later redesignated “Das Reich”)
- Bataillons-Adjutant in SS-Regiment “Deutschland”
- June 1942 Honor guard duty by the laying out for the murdered Reinhard Heydrich
- 1.9.1942 to 2.3.1943 Assigned to SS-Unterführerschule Radolfzell.
- 2.3.1943 to 6.4.1943 Assigned to SS-Unterführerschule Posen-Treskau
- 6.4.1943 to 12.6.1944 Assigned SS-Unterführerschule Lauenburg (Pomerania)
- 12.6.1944 Commander of the 7. Company/II. Bataillon/SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 23 “Norge”
- 23 September 1944 Again wounded in action (upper right arm)
- 1945 Leader of a Kampgfruppe formed from 6th and 7th Company/SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 23 “Norge”
Knight's Cross recommendation
- On the night of 15/16 October 1944, Hund commanded his company which was on Hill 126 adjoining the Korps boundary line on the left wing of the II./SS Pz. Rgt. 23 "Norge" 15 km east of Preekuln. After several heavy attacks on 16, 17 and 20 October, the enemy succeeded on 27 October 1944 in achieving a deep penetration at the approach and on the left flank of the battalion. Hund was then ordered to take and hold the high ground around and north of the Rollbahn at Gegeri with his weak remaining units, in order to prevent an imminent enemy breakthrough on Preekuln along the Rollbahn. Although the enemy was already on the Rollbahn at around 13.00 with a strength of more than 400 men including heavy weapons on the left flank of the battalion, the right wing of the battalion had been pushed back to a depth of more than 2 km by strong enemy forces and four enemy tanks, and the right flank of the bataillon had been bypassed as well.
- Hund fought off all enemy attacks on the heights north of Gegeri and along the Rollbahn due to his outstanding steadfastness and unbending will to resist without regard to the threatening encirclement of the left flank. In a counter-attack Hund managed to regain control of the lost ground and the high ground around Gegeri could be held. For his actions he was awarded his Knights Cross on 20 April 1945. In addition, he had amassed 64 days of close combat by April 1945 making him eligible for the Close Combat Clasp in Gold but his award was never issued.[1]
Post-war
Hund became POW of the Red Army on 9 May 1945, and after brutal interrogations, he was handed over to the CIC (Combined Intelligence Committee, the joint American-British intelligence body) in December 1945. In 1947, he was released, went to university (mathematics, physics, psychology) and became a teacher in Tübingen (Württemberg-Baden). In 1951, French secret service arrested him, but no charges were ever brought. In 1953, he transferred to the industry as a manager, later he was division general manager of a large international corporation, until he retired in 1985. He was an active member of the OdR.
Death
SS-Obersturmführer der Waffen-SS a. D. Willi Hund died on 30 April 2002 in Meerbusch.
Promotions
- 3.4.1939: SS-Anwärter (SS Candidate)
- 2.9.1940: SS-Junker (SS Cadet)
- 1.1.1941: SS-Standartenjunker
- 1941: SS-Standartenoberjunker
- 20.4.1941: SS-Untersturmführer der Waffen-SS (2nd Lieutenant)
- 30.1.1944: SS-Obersturmführer der Waffen-SS (1st Lieutenant)
Awards and decorations
- Iron Cross (1939), 2nd and 1st Class
- EK II on 6 August 1944
- EK I on 24 August 1944
- Infantry Assault Badge (Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen) in Bronze
- War Merit Cross, 2nd Class with Swords on 20 April 1944
- Panzer Badge (Panzerkampfabzeichen) in Bronze
- Close Combat Clasp in Bronze and Silver
- He qualified for the Nahkampfspange III. Stufe (Gold), amassing 64 close combat days, but the war ended before he could receive the award.
- Wound Badge (Verwundetenabzeichen 1939) in Black, Silver and Gold
- Gold on 5 October 1944
- Tank Destruction Badge[2] (Panzervernichtungsabzeichen) in October 1944
- Honour Roll Clasp (Ehrenblattspange des Heeres) on 17 December 1944
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 20 April 1945 (Source: Krätschmer) as SS-Obersturmführer, Company Commander and leader of a Kampfgruppe (combat group) of the SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 23 “Norge”/11. SS-Freiwillige-Panzer-Grenadier-Division “Nordland”/III. SS-Panzer-Korps/Germanische SS
- Some sources state, the award was approved later (Dönitz-Erlaß), with the award date being backdated to the date of the official recommendation.
Further reading
- Jost W. Schneider: Verleihung Genehmigt! Eine Bild- und Dokumentargeschichte der Ritterkreuzträger der Waffen-SS und Polizei 1940–1945 [in German], R. James Bender Publishing, San Jose 1977
- English version: Their Honor Was Loyalty! An Illustrated and Documentary History of the Knight's Cross Holders of the Waffen-SS and Police 1940–1945
- Manfred Dörr / Franz Thomas: Die Träger der Nahkampfspange in Gold – Heer ⋅ Luftwaffe ⋅ Waffen-SS 1943–1945 [in German], Osnabrück 1986
- Ernst-Günther Krätschmer: Die Ritterkreuzträger der Waffen-SS [in German], Nation Europa Verlag GmbH, Coburg 1999
- Thomas M. Durante: The German Close Combat Clasp of World War II, 2007
- Walther-Peer Fellgiebel: Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile (in German), Podzun-Pallas, Wölfersheim 2000
- English: The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches, expanded edition, 2000
- Veit Scherzer: Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 – Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [in German], Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag, Jena 2007
