Willy Johannmeyer

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Willy Johannmeyer
Willy Johannmeyer II.jpg
Birth date 27 July 1915(1915-07-27)
Place of birth Iserlohn, Province of Westphalia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date 14 April 1970 (aged 54)
Place of death Kelkheim, Hessen, West Germany
Allegiance  National Socialist Germany
Service/branch Balkenkreuz.jpg Heer
Years of service 1936–1945
Rank Major / Oberstleutnant i. G.
Commands held 2nd Battalion/503rd Grenadier Regiment
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Iron Cross
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
Relations ∞ 23 January 1941 Lore Klein
Other work Industrial businessman

Willy Johannmeyer (sometime Wilhelm "Willy" or Willi; 27 July 1915 – 14 April 1970) was a German officer of the Wehrmacht and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves who served as a personal Heer adjutant to Adolf Hitler from November 1944 until Hitler's death at the end of WWII. He was a witness to the last will and testament of Adolf Hitler.

Life

Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross at FHQ Wolfsschanze on 15 January 1944;[1] from left to right: General der Panzertruppe Sigfrid Henrici, Colonel Eugen König, Colonel Heinrich Voigtsberger, Lieutenant Colonel d. R. Adolf Weitkunat and Major Willy Johannmeyer; picture by Heinrich Hoffmann.

After Abitur and possibly studies at university, Johannmeyer joined the Infanterie-Regiment 64 as an officer candidate on 1 April 1936.[2] Several sources state, that from 1933 he was a member of the Allgemeine SS, even providing a SS number (262,992), but this cannot be officially documented.

WWII

At the beginning of the Second World War, the regiment took up positions in the west as part of the 16th Infantry Division. In February 1940, the regiment had to give up its staff and the 2nd Battalion to form the 503 Infantry Regiment in Munsterlager. On 9 May 1940, Johannmeyer was delegated with the leadership of the 2nd Company/Infanterie-Regiment 503 and took part in the Western Campaign, the regiment subordinated to the 290. Infanterie-Division.

The division crossed Belgium and advanced into France to the Oise-Aisne Canal. After crossing the Channel, the division took part in the battles at Pinon and Anicy-Leuilly and in the capture of Soissons. After further advance through Chateau Thierry and Sens into the Loire Valley, the division advanced via Blois, Tours, Samur and Angers to Nantes and Saint Nazaire to the Atlantic coast. The division remained here as part of the 6th Army for coastal protection on the Atlantic coast. In March 1941, the division moved to East Prussia. It moved into a staging area in the Trappen Forest near Memel. On 22 March 1941, Johannmeyer was appointed commander (Kompaniechef) of the 14. (Tank Hunter) Company/Infanterie-Regiment 503.

After the start of Operation Barbarossa, the division pushed through the Russian border positions on the Mituva and took part in the fighting at the Kituriai bunker line. After advancing across the Dubysa and fighting with scattered Soviet tank and infantry units near Surviliškis-Kraakia, it took Dünaburg and then attacked via Sebezh, Rudnja, Ostrovo, Idriza, Pustoshka, Opochka, Velikoye Selo to the Staraya Russa area, where it reached positions on the Lowatj and the Pola. On 9 January 1942, the Soviet 11th Army was able to achieve a breakthrough in the 290th Infantry Division's front area south of Lake Illmen. The advancing Soviet 1st Guards Rifle Corps turned southeast at Staraya Russa into the rear of the which the division was surrounded. In March 1942, the division took part in "Operation Fallreep", the opening of the pocket by the Seydlitz strike group. On 21 March 1942, after the commander was ⚔, 1st Lieutenant Johannmeyer was delegated with the leadership of the 2nd Battalion/Infanterie-Regiment 503. On 15 October 1942, the Infanterie-Regiment 503 was renamed Grenadier-Regiment 503. The division remained in the pocket until it was evacuated in February 1943.

On 29 September 1942, Johannmeyer had been transferred to the Field Training Battalion 290 and on 1 January 1943 to the Grenadier Replacement and Training Battalion 16. On 22 May 1943, he was transferred to the Führerreserve of the Army Group North (during a short leave) and was then appointed as official commander of the 2nd Battalion/Grenadier-Regiment 503 on 4 June 1943.

On 25 November 1943, Johannmeyer's 2nd Battalion of the Grenadier-Regiment 503 was ordered to attack a Russian position in a forest west of Ssergeizewo. Platoon leader 2nd Lieutenant of the Reserves Otto Carius (de) was ordered on this day to assist the 2nd Battalion with the four panzer Tiger I of the heavy tank battalion (schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502), attacking in the early morning (at dawn). In the evening of this day, Captain Johannmeyer was wounded by a Russian sniper in the tree. Carius reported after the war,[3] that it was a shot in the lung, but later documents show it was a shot lodged in his neck. Carius received new orders the next day, so he didn't know if Johannmeyer, who had been brought to the main dressing station (Hauptverbandsplatz), had survived. When Carius himself was severely wounded on 24 July 1944 and received the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross three days later, he was surprised and filled with great joy when a letter from Willy Johannmeyer, now Major, arrived.

No longer fit for front duty, the neck wound had led to severe disability of the neck muscles, Johannmeyer was commanded to the 14th Course for Senior Adjutants (14. Lehrgang für höhere Adjutanten). After completion, he was commanded as consultant (Referent) to the Army Personnel Department 5 of the Army Personnel Office on 12 June 1944 and officially transferred on 1 August 1944. On 10 November 1944, he was appointed Army Adjutant of the "Adjutantur der Wehrmacht beim Führer und Reichskanzler" (Adjutancy of the Wehrmacht to the the Führer and Reich Chancellor). He replaced Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich Borgmann who had been severely wounded on 20 July 1944. Some sources state, Johannmeyer was acting personal adjutant until Borgmann returned in December 1944. He then served as orderly officer (Ordonnanzoffizier) to Wilhelm Burgdorf. After Borgmann was given command of the Volksgrenadier-Division "Scharnhorst" in April 1945, Johannmeyer was officially appointed his successor. Among his many tasks as a member of the adjutancy, Johannmeyer flew in and out of Königsberg to report on the battle there.

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

Knight's Cross
On 3 May 1942, Johannmeyer led his battalion and elements of another in a counterattack against the village of Nikolskoje, taking half of the village. A Soviet counterattack pushed them out however, leading to a second German attempt that got to the southern edge of the village. However these gains too were erased, and Nowo Derewnja was also lost. A third counterattack also miscarried, and the Germans then had to repel four Soviet attacks. The next day, following a total of six Soviet attempts, Johannmeyer’s men were forced to pull back from their defensive line. A last-ditch counterthrust with support from the 10th Company/Infanterie-Regiment 26 was however able to retake it. On the 5 May 1942, seven more attacks were repulsed. Then a hostile force of four battalions and three tanks broke through Johannmeyer’s battalion and reached the Tuganowo—Naljutschi road. Johannmeyer rallied all available troops and pushed the Soviets back behind the Objessna river up to the edges of Nikolskoje and Derewnja. With this action, the German frontline was saved, resulting in important consequences for not just the division but also the whole II. Army Corps and ultimately the supply road to Demyansk. Johannmeyer would receive the Knight’s Cross for his achievements here.
Oak Leaves
On 11 November 1943, near Newel, the Soviets began an assault along the road towards Dolissy and, to the left of here, on the German positions in front of the Dollissy river. Johannmeyer alerted his battalion (at the time the divisional reserve) and then drove with his car into the middle of the attacking enemy. He was able to hold them in check long enough for his battalion to arrive. He then led his men in a counterattack and after four hours of battle the old defensive line was firmly in his hands. By this action, Johannmeyer had succeeded in preventing an enemy breakthrough, and for doing so in such an audacious manner, he would be awarded the Oakleaves.[4]

Escape from Berlin

On 29 April 1945 in the morning c. 8:00 a.m., Willy Johannmeyer (for Schörner), SS-Standartenführer Wilhelm Zander (Bormann's Adjutant; for Dönitz) and HJ-Hauptbannführer Heinz Lorenz (Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro; for Brown House, Munich) were ordered to bring three copies of Hitler’ s personal and political testament to Großadmiral Karl Dönitz and Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner with headquarters north of Prague. The Großadmiral and the Generalfeldmarschall were asked to send (sea)planes to the Wannsee in Berlin in order to take up important informations for them directly from Hitler himself. Johannmeyer had also the promotion for Schörner as Commander in Chief of the Army (Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres) in his papers. The three men left the Führerbunker in Berlin at noon during a break in the firing, they tried to find a route to the west in the (Berlin-)Pichelsdorf area. Ultimately, they reached the Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island) at the Havel river, where they waited for the planes. But nobody was successful in contacting the airplanes. After a while they walked westwards and went underground for a space.

During the final days of the Battle of Berlin, Hitler had made out his personal will and political testiment. Großadmiral Dönitz was named as his successor as Reich President and Josef Goebbels as Reich Chancellor. Two copies of these testiments were to be sent to Dönitz by seperate couriers to ensure delivery, one courier being SS-Standartenfuhrer Wilhelm Zander, Bormann's aide, and the other Oberbereichsleiter Heinz Lorenz from the Propaganda Ministry, while a third copy was to be taken by Major Willi Johannmeyer, Hitler's army adjutant, to give to Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner. Goebbels (named as Chancellor) added a political appendix of his own to one set of documents, intending that they should ultimately find their way to Munich, the cradle of Nazism, for posterity. These emissaries set off at midday on April 29, making their way via the Tiergarten, Zoo position, Kantstraße and the Olympic Stadium to the Hitlerjugend Regiments' position on the Havel, where they rested until midnight before continuing down river by boat. Three of the now unemployed aides, Major Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven, Rittmeister Gerhard Boldt and Oberstleutnant Rudolf Weiss, asked permission to leave the Bunker and break out to Wencks 12. Armee, and left by the same route that afternoon. At midnight they were followed by Oberst von Below, his adjutant and their two orderlies, taking with them a missive to Wilhelm Keitel concerning the appointment of Dönitz as Hitler's successor as head of state. These last two groups met near the Olympic Stadium and then had to wait until the following night with the Hiterjugend for a chance to slip down the Havel. Meanwhile, Hitler's emissaries had reached the remains of the 20. Panzergrenadier-Division bottled up on Wannsee Island and managed to get a radio message out asking Dönitz to retrieve them by flying boat. They then moved to Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island) where they were joined by Weiss's party, but von Below's group had landed on the west bank of the Havel and was already heading west. A three-engined Dornier flying boat duly landed close to Pfaueninsel on the night of May 1 and established contact with the party waiting to be taken off. Unfortunately, the 20. Panzergrenadier-Division were making a despereate bid to break out over the Wannsee Bridge and attracted so much Soviet artillery fire on their old locations that the pilot took off again without them. Although they all eventually reached safety, none accomplished their mission and all the documents, except those carried by von Below, which he destroyed once he realized the futility of his task, were recovered during the course of the subsequent Allied investigation.[5]

Johannmeyer had received his discharge from the Wehrmacht on 1 May 1945 through the 20. Panzergrenadier-Division, as his Wehrpaß shows. He was last seen unshaved in a dark civilian suit and a grey-green shooting jacket in a train at Wunstorf station near Hanover. He made it back to Iserlohn. It is not known if his wife, living at their house in Säckingen (Waldshuter Straße), had by now made it there, but this can be assumed. There Johannmeyer hid his copy of the documents by allegedly putting them in a container and burying it in his family's garden.

Post-war

Johannmeyer was arrested by American troops in May 1945, although it is possible, he turned himself in. He was very sick at the time. On 16 May 1945, he was he was examined on behalf of the occupations forces by the German medical doctor Stabsarzt Dr. Wilde. Johannmeyer was categorized a war invalid and discharged as such according to his Certificate of Discharge (Control Form D.2). The house of his parents and his personal effects were searched. It was considered to interogate him at a Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre / C.S.D.I.C. (W.E.A.), however, this was rejected due to his health condition.[6]

After his release, he was engaged in industrial business, mainly in Agricultural Economics, and attained the diploma – Dipl. agr. He worked for the "DEMAG" (Deutsche Maschinenbau-Aktiengesellschaft) subsidiary "FMA Pokorny" in Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, and became a member of the company's board of directors.

Promotions

  • 1 January 1938 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant)
  • 1 April 1940 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)
  • 22 June 1942 Hauptmann (Captain) with Rank Seniority (RDA) from 1 April 1942
  • 1 December 1943 Major
  • Oberstleutnant im Generalstab (Lieutenant Colonel in General Staff)
    • many sources state, Johannmeyer was promoted to Oberstleutnant i. G. in 1945 (maybe even on 20 April on occasion of the Führer's 56th birthday), which is possible and would not be unusual, but cannot be documented.

Awards and decorations

Willy Johannmeyer (Ehrenring).png

References

  1. ↑ Adolf Weitkunat, shaking hands with Hitler, originally writes with blue ink, that the award ceremony took place in December 1943. Later he adds with pencil: "Richtig: 15.01.1944", therefore correcting the date to 15 January 1944. This explains why Johannmeyer, who had been severely wounded on 25 November 1943, is recovered and present, something that surely would have been immposible in December 1943.
  2. ↑ Major Willi Johannmeyer (1915-1970)
  3. ↑ Otto Carius: Tigers in the Mud – The Combat Career of German Panzer Commander Otto Carius, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA 2003, pp. 56–57; Original: Tiger im Schlamm – Die 2./schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502 vor Narwa und Dünaburg, 7 Edition, 2014, p. 36
  4. ↑ Johannmeyer, Willy
  5. ↑ Seaplanes on Wannsee 28/29 april 1945. Hitlers excape?
  6. ↑ Mel Kavanagh: Hitler's Last Days – The Führerbunker and Beyond, 2023, p. 178
  7. ↑ Willy Johannmeyer
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