Kurt Meyer's and Max Wünsche's capture.

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Jan-Hendrik
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Re: Kurt Meyer's and Max Wünsche's capture.

#16

Post by Jan-Hendrik » 26 Feb 2009, 18:36

Marc, completely incorrect. After recuperating from his wound received during capture, Meyer was in a regular POW pen in the UK. The Allies still didn't know who he really was.

It wasn't until Nov 18, 1944, when a fellow POW ratted him out as an SS officer, that Meyer was unmasked and taken to the London District Cage as a high-profile prisoner.

According to AnDie's and Dieter's Bio of Meyer he was already denounced by a Heeres-Leutnant in the end of September 1944 while being in the POW camp at Compiègne :wink:

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Rob - wssob2
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Re: Kurt Meyer's and Max Wünsche's capture.

#17

Post by Rob - wssob2 » 26 Feb 2009, 18:44

According to AnDie's and Dieter's Bio of Meyer he was already denounced by a Heeres-Leutnant in the end of September 1944 while being in the POW camp at Compiègne
My apologies - the regular POW camp was Compiègne, in France.

He may have been denounced in late Sept, but it was Nov 8, 1944, when the Compiègne camp commandant had Meyer stripped to the waist. On the inside of Meyer's left arm was the SS blood-group tattoo.

Source: Tony Foster Meeting of the Generals and Howard Margolian's Conduct Unbecoming: The Story of the Murder of Canadian Prisoners of War in Normandy


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Marcus
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Re: Kurt Meyer's and Max Wünsche's capture.

#18

Post by Marcus » 11 Feb 2010, 17:20

A discussion about war crimes was split off into a new thread at http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=162889

/Marcus

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verdoy
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Re: Kurt Meyer's and Max Wünsche's capture.

#19

Post by verdoy » 18 Feb 2016, 13:15

Hi all,

I find very interesting this topic and have a question about Meyer's capture. In his book Grenadiers Meyer relates his capture happening in the town of Durnal, but in the same book, Hubert Meyer, his chief of staff relates he was captured at Spontin, some two miles ahead. Meyer describes Durnal as a town in a deep defile, but the village in a deep defile is in fact Spontin. When Meyer describes his capture, he talks about a church with a cementery, and that is correct for Durnal but isn't for Spontin. In his book about de 12th SS-Division, Hubert Meyer insists the capture took place in Spontin and at the same time quotes the paragraph of Meyer's memoirs without further comments about the discrepance. Would any of you know where was really captured Kurt Meyer?

Thank you in advance. I will appreciate it. :D

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askropp
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Re: Kurt Meyer's and Max Wünsche's capture.

#20

Post by askropp » 05 Oct 2017, 09:44

Meyer was not a general when he was captured. He was "posthumously" promoted after his disappearance. Therefore, he did not wear a Brigadeführer uniform and cannot have introduced himself to his captors as such, even if he had wanted to reveal his identity.
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Re: Kurt Meyer's and Max Wünsche's capture.

#21

Post by strmn » 28 Jun 2019, 20:40

Kurt Meyer was captured in Spontin. The cemetery he refers to has been dug up after the war and a parking lot put into its place. There is a hand drawn sketch of his egress route into the barn he was eventually captured on the web. I have been to Spontin twice and retraced the route. Very interesting. There is also a photo of a 3rd Armored Division Sherman at the intersection of the road in Spontin where Meyer's group was attacked.
Spontin.jpg
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Re: Kurt Meyer's and Max Wünsche's capture.

#22

Post by steve248 » 30 Jun 2019, 09:54

This should resolve the details of the capture of Max Wünsche.
1. This reports shows when and where he was captured.
2. This report is dated 6 Sept 1944 and note the POW reference - the "KP" means Kempton Park.This was a huge transit camp in the UK and based in the buildings of the Kempton Park race course near Sunbury-on Thames (Surrey) and about 15 miles SW of central London .
This first report was about "Hitler's Routine" and shows a certain lack of interest in his Waffen-SS career.
3. Between 24 August and 6 September 1944 is only 13 days so getting a party of captured personnel together transporting them back to the Normandy beachhead area and shipping them back to the UK than rail or truck to Kempton Park from (probably) Portsmouth or Southampton, then waiting his turn to be interrogated. All in all it probably did take 13 days.
Wünsch capture.jpg

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