Hyvää iltaa (good evening) Pena,Pena V wrote: ↑15 Dec 2018, 11:41Some comments and speculation concerning the commanders of the III Bataillon.
Wilhelm Goecke
was the CO until Jun 1941. Before him there is a huge gap after Willi Bredemeier. Goecke could have been the CO of the III Bataillon since he left the I Bataillon 15 Jan 1941.
Karl Grimme
was the CO from 17 Jun 1941 and was relieved from command 26 Jul 1941(?). What I didn't know was that he was transferred to Nachschubtruppen. He stayed there only for a short period because he was transferred again 10 Aug 1941 to command SS-Infanterie-Ersatz-Bataillon "Nord".
Richard Benner
was the CO from 26 Jul 1941 but left the III Bataillon already in Dec 1941 to take over the I/SS-Infanterie-Regiment 7. Probably he was the last CO of the "old" III Bataillon.
Detlef Harzig
His old Bataillon (III/SS-Infanterie-Regiment 7) was renamed and replaced the old III/SS-Infanterie-Regiment 6. The question here is when did this renaming take place (late May 1942 or 15 Jun) and how long did he stay in III Bataillon.
Richard Wolf
was the CO from at least from Aug 1942 to Oct 1942. I don't know much about him.
Erwin Albrecht
It seems that Albrecht is the only known commander from 1943 all the way to 1945 with the exception of Jan 1945. The question here is was he the only commander or his he the only commander we know of?
Räde(c)ke Ernst
was the CO of SS-Panzergrenadier-AuE-Bataillon 11 until the end of Jul 1944. He was then transferred to Nord in Aug 1944 and he was KIA 28 Oct 1944. To my knowledge he was first the CO of SS-Panzergrenadier-Bataillon 506 (Aug 1944 - ?) and then the CO of GJR 11 (08 Sep 1944 - 28 Oct 1944). This leaves very limited time for other commands.
Karl-Heinz Jöhnk
The only thing I know about him is that he was the CO of III Bataillon on 13 Jan 1945.
Paul Schneider
The only thing I know about him is that he was the CO of III Bataillon on 15 Jan 1945.
Pena
Some remarks about your last post:
You wrote that Karl-Franz Grimme left the division on 10.08.1941 to become CO of SS-Inf. Ers. Btl. "Nord". Would you please mention your source for this?
According to Charles Trang: "Dictionnaire de la Waffen-SS, volume 4", Éditions Heimdal, Bayeux, 2012, the replacement unit for the Kampfgruppe, later Division "Nord" had the following commanders:
Walter Zimmermann 09.1940 - 02.1942
Ernst Schützek 02.1942 - 01.10.1942
Heinrich Petersen 01.10.1942 - 04.1943
Werner Hahn 18.04.1943 - 25.08.1944
Leo Schulz 26.08.1944 - capitulation
With regard to the renaming of the battalion, I refer to source (8) where Franz Schreiber gives the date of 17.06.1942 for the major reorganisation and switch in names.
I agree with you that Räde(c)ke is not a likely candidate for CO of III./SS-Geb. Jg. Rgt. 11 and I shall remove him from my list of commanders. Thank you for pointing this out! It should be noted that Trang (source 11, see post 5) was the only source that listed him as such. I have no idea upon what he based his finding.
Räde(c)ke was never CO of SS-Pz. Gren. Btl. 506 in August 1944 as far as my sources tell me. First of all, the name SS-Pz. Gren. Btl. 506 was used only from December 1944 onwards. Before that it was SS-Schtz. Btl. 6. Renz got injured in July 1944, and was temporarily replaced first by Degen, and then by Gläsmer. In September the recovered Renz took control of the battalion again.
Rädecke came from the divisional staff and became CO of SS-Geb. Jg. Rgt. 11 in August 1944 (until his death on 28.10.1944.
Best regards,
Frans