Stemmermann death

Discussions on the personalities of the Wehrmacht and of the organizations not covered in the other sections. Hosted by askropp and Frech.
Post Reply
Phil Nix
In memoriam
Posts: 9498
Joined: 15 Oct 2002, 11:52
Location: Birmingham England

Stemmermann death

#1

Post by Phil Nix » 24 Feb 2011, 19:29

I thought this might be of interest General Stemmermann,s body being carried to a coffin
Phil Nix
Attachments
stemmermann death.jpg

User avatar
bake
Member
Posts: 2630
Joined: 22 Jul 2004, 02:07
Location: CANADA

Re: Stemmermann death

#2

Post by bake » 25 Feb 2011, 00:57

Thanks Phil for sharing this pic of the battle of Cherkassy Pocket. :)


Griffin brigade
Member
Posts: 331
Joined: 08 Dec 2003, 00:19
Location: England

Re: Stemmermann death

#3

Post by Griffin brigade » 26 Feb 2011, 17:14

Interesting photo Phil i've only seen the Russian one of his body lying in the snow before , thanks for posting,

cheers

paul

Panzermahn
Member
Posts: 3639
Joined: 13 Jul 2002, 04:51
Location: Malaysia

Re: Stemmermann death

#4

Post by Panzermahn » 26 Feb 2011, 17:25

Hi Phil

Thanks for posting the picture. May I ask which book is this photo from?

Doug Nash's Hell's Gate account stated that the Russians buried Stemmerman's body, the only German in the entire Korsun operation to be buried by the enemy. But the picture above shows Germans (perhaps POWs) carrying his body? Doug's book also had the picture which Griffin mentioned in the post above

Thanks
Panzermahn

Ruslan M
Member
Posts: 1527
Joined: 21 Apr 2007, 17:39
Location: Russia

Re: Stemmermann death

#5

Post by Ruslan M » 26 Feb 2011, 17:59

Hi,

Another one shot...
Commander of 11th(Wehrmacht) Army Corps artillery general Wilhelm Stemmerman was far less lucky. He headed the entraped grouping and was killed in the breakthrough. After recognition his corpse is being carried by German soldiers. Ukraine, February 1944.
source: "Defeat near Cherkassy. Korsun - Shevchenkovsky offensive operation 24.01 - 17.02, 1944 by Ilya Moshanskiy.

Best wishes

Ruslan
Attachments
Wilhelm Stemmerman.jpg
Wilhelm Stemmerman.jpg (78.75 KiB) Viewed 6242 times

Panzermahn
Member
Posts: 3639
Joined: 13 Jul 2002, 04:51
Location: Malaysia

Re: Stemmermann death

#6

Post by Panzermahn » 26 Feb 2011, 20:03

Hi Ruslan

Many thanks for the info! It seems that these photos were taken when the breakout still in progress. Stemmermann was with the rearguard and they were breaking out during the third wave

Panzermahn

Phil Nix
In memoriam
Posts: 9498
Joined: 15 Oct 2002, 11:52
Location: Birmingham England

Re: Stemmermann death

#7

Post by Phil Nix » 26 Feb 2011, 20:12

Panzermahn wrote:Hi Phil

Thanks for posting the picture. May I ask which book is this photo from?

Doug Nash's Hell's Gate account stated that the Russians buried Stemmerman's body, the only German in the entire Korsun operation to be buried by the enemy. But the picture above shows Germans (perhaps POWs) carrying his body? Doug's book also had the picture which Griffin mentioned in the post above

Thanks
Panzermahn
It is from "Chronicle of War" issued by the Imperial War Museum
Phil NIX

Frankfurter
Member
Posts: 408
Joined: 12 Jan 2009, 01:51

Re: Stemmermann death

#8

Post by Frankfurter » 26 Feb 2011, 20:13

All soldiers on the pictures are unarmed and the body of the general appears to be stiff and frozen. I think this is showing POWs actually.

Sidenote: most arent wearing coats, not too surprising for the winter of 1941/42 perhaps, but a bit unusual for Cherkassy three years later, dont you think? Probably another hint that these poor guys are POWs.

Panzermahn
Member
Posts: 3639
Joined: 13 Jul 2002, 04:51
Location: Malaysia

Re: Stemmermann death

#9

Post by Panzermahn » 26 Feb 2011, 20:16

Hi Phil Nix

Thanks for the info

Hi Frankfurter

Yes, I agreed with you. They are unarmed and mostly are POWs so these pictures may not be taken during the breakout

Panzermahn

User avatar
bake
Member
Posts: 2630
Joined: 22 Jul 2004, 02:07
Location: CANADA

Re: Stemmermann death

#10

Post by bake » 01 Mar 2011, 20:31

Here the picture of Stermmermann saw in some books


From: reibert.info/forum/
Attachments
штемерман.jpg
штемерман.jpg (16.1 KiB) Viewed 6136 times

User avatar
genstab
Member
Posts: 2116
Joined: 15 Jul 2003, 23:50
Location: The Big City on Lake Erie

Re: Stemmermann death

#11

Post by genstab » 21 Nov 2016, 14:04

I just read in a 1957 book about postwar Germany, "A Watcher on the Rhine" by a British writer, Brian Connell, that SS-Brigadeführer Herbert-Otto Gille of SS-Panzer-Division Wiking shot Gen. der Artillerie Wilhelm Stemmermann, KG of XI. Armeekorps because he wanted to surrender to the Russians in the Korsun pocket. I had never come across this, always reading that he was killed by Russian fire during the breakout while commanding the rear guard. If it is true I can see why it has been covered up. Does anyone know anything about this?

Connell was a naval officer involved in intelligence and commanded a Royal Marine unit that followed up the British troops after the Rhine crossing searching for certain things. He then served as a foreign correspondent in postwar Germany while it rebuilt. He undoubtedly had interesting contacts.

Best,
Bill in Cleveland

Jan-Hendrik
Member
Posts: 8695
Joined: 11 Nov 2004, 13:53
Location: Hohnhorst / Deutschland

Re: Stemmermann death

#12

Post by Jan-Hendrik » 07 Dec 2016, 14:25

Article in DER SPIEGEL
"Drei Tage später fanden wir bei Dschurschanzy die Leiche des Generals Stemmermann. Wenig später wurde im deutschen Rundfunk in allen Einzelheiten mitgeteilt, Hitler persönlich habe ihm einen hohen Orden verliehen. Aber General Stemmermann war tot. Ich sah seine Leiche vor mir liegen. Unsere Leute hatten sie in einem Stall auf einen roh gezimmerten Holztisch gelegt. Hier lag er mit all seinen Orden und Ehrenzeichen.
"Er war ein kleiner Mann mit grauem Haar. Dem großen Schmiß auf der Wange nach mußte er in seiner Jugend Korpsstudent gewesen sein
"Einen Moment lang fragten wir uns, ob das alles nicht eine Täuschung war. Vielleicht hatte man einen gewöhnlichen Soldaten in eine Generalsuniform gesteckt. Aber wir fanden an der Leiche alle Papiere Stemmermanns. Sie hätten vielleicht alle möglichen Ausweise fälschen können, aber sie hätten wohl kaum die Idee gehabt, einen Jagdschein mit Bild, ausgestellt im Jahr 1939, nachzumachen.
"Wir begruben ihn anständig. Wir können es uns erlauben, einen General anständig zu begraben. Die übrigen legten wir in große Gruben; wenn wir angefangen hätten, Einzelgräber auszuheben - wir tun das nicht einmal für unsere eigenen Leute -, hätten wir bei Korsun eine Armee von Totengräbern benötigt.
"Und dabei war keine Zeit zu verlieren. Der General ist hinsichtlich Leichen sehr eigen - sie mußten im Sommer in zwei Tagen, im Winter in drei Tagen verschwunden sein ... Aber tote Generale sind nicht allzu häufig, deswegen konnten wir ihm ein eigenes Grab geben. Immerhin war er der einzige General, der Mumm bewiesen hatte. Alle übrigen hatten sich im Flugzeug davongemacht."
"Hatte er Selbstmord verübt?" fragte ich.
"Nein, ein Granatsplitter traf ihn in den Rücken."
Jan-Hendrik
Last edited by Jan-Hendrik on 07 Dec 2016, 16:11, edited 1 time in total.

George Lepre
Host - Foreign volunteers section
Posts: 769
Joined: 13 Aug 2002, 22:39
Location: United States

Re: Stemmermann death

#13

Post by George Lepre » 07 Dec 2016, 15:46

Hi Bill -

You mentioned Gille. During the Korsun battle and after, the National Committee Free Germany prepared leaflets accusing Gille of several different offenses, among them executing subordinates for cowardice while he flew out of the pocket with his staff. These accusations were repeated in post-war DDR literature while Gille was still alive and involved with HIAG, the Waffen-SS veterans organization.

I don't know if these accusations were true or not. Gille's involvement with HIAG would at least suggest that his former comrades did not dislike him. There is also the possibility that the NKFD and DDR pronouncements were made for propaganda purposes.

Best regards,

George

User avatar
genstab
Member
Posts: 2116
Joined: 15 Jul 2003, 23:50
Location: The Big City on Lake Erie

Re: Stemmermann death

#14

Post by genstab » 09 Dec 2016, 12:24

The fact that his former Waffen SS comrades didn't dislike him is no character recommendation in my book. To shoot a defeatist was part of the job.
Courts martial first? Not the SS.

Best,
Bill in Cleveland

User avatar
genstab
Member
Posts: 2116
Joined: 15 Jul 2003, 23:50
Location: The Big City on Lake Erie

Re: Stemmermann death

#15

Post by genstab » 01 Mar 2017, 00:00

translation of Jan-Hendrik's Spiegel article courtesy of Google feature (thanks, Jan-Henadrik):

"Three days later, we found the corpse of General Stemmermann at Dschurschanzy, a little later, in German radio, he was told in detail that Hitler personally had given him a high order, but General Stemmermann was dead Had laid them in a stable on a raw wooden table, where he lay with all his orders and honors.
"He was a little gray-haired man, with the great shout on his cheek, he must have been a corps student in his youth
"For a moment we wondered if it was not a deception, perhaps a common soldier had been put in a general uniform, but we found Stemmermann's papers on the corpse, perhaps they could have falsified all sorts of identification cards, but they were well Had hardly had the idea of ​​imitating a hunting license with a picture, issued in 1939.
"We bury him decently, we can allow a general to be decently decent, and the rest we put into large pits, and if we had begun to dig individual tombs-we would not do it even for our own people-we would have one at Korsun Army of grave-diggers.
"And there was no time to lose, and the general was very peculiar to corpses-they had to be gone in the summer in two days, in winter in three days... But dead generals are not too frequent, so we could give him his own grave He was the only general who had proved mumming, and all the others had departed in the plane. "
"Had he committed suicide?" I asked.
"No, a shell splitter hit him in the back."

Wonder if it was really a shell splinter- doubt the speaker was a coroner.

Post Reply

Return to “The Dieter Zinke Axis Biographical Research Section”