SS-Sturmbannführer Gustav Knittel...

[seaburn]

How many of the above named were put on trial after the war ? and were any of them sentenced to death for these murders? I presume if any were, they were released like the other 'Malmedy' defendants within a few years?

[Harro]

Coblenz was tried together with Knittel during the Malmédy Trial. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment but had their sentences reduced
Goltz (15 years imprisonment), Lieberbach (10) and Zagler (10) were tried in Liège in 1948. Despite these sentences they were released from prison soon, Goltz at the end of 1950 or early 1951. Dröge did not survive the battle for Stavelot (KIA 22/12/44) and Kollatschny and Sieber did not survive the final battles in Hungary in 1945. He have not found any post-war trace of Wägner.

[Harro]

Excellent information!!! I seriously hope the book comes out in English one day.....my German is still coming along...getting better day by day

I'm actually working on it, but it's a slow process

[alan]

Hi Harro, I do not know if you have seen this, but I just came across this colorized photo of Knittel on facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/pages/Colouriz ... =page_info ) very well done by an R. Leonard and thought that you might enjoy it

[rossmcpharter]

Excellent information!!! I seriously hope the book comes out in English one day.....my German is still coming along...getting better day by day

I'm actually working on it, but it's a slow process

Brilliant! Looking forward to this. It seems they were absolutely frustrated, especially by the American artillery, I wouldn't have fancied their chances in finding the artillery positions.

[seaburn]

Nice picture 'Alan' - tks for posting the link - very interesting ...!

[Harro]

Nicely colorized, the original photo was taken during the 1943/44 winter battles in the Ukraine.

[offizier1916]

Hello

did you actually talk about those crimes with the veterans you interviewed during your research? e.g. those people you telephoned on your face-book page

How many of Knittels kampfgruppe commited the crimes? all companies and platoons? and if so, how many men of each company platoon?

[Harro]

Yes, I talked about the crimes with those veterans. Merscher even asked me and Mike to find out whether two civilians he buried after Goltz had them shot as "spies" had been found and had been decently reburied because that was important for his peace of mind. He also recalled an nco who fired his StG through a door when a scared Belgian lady slammed the door in his face (most probably related to the killing spree in Parfondruy) and he recalled soldiers from his platoon taking shots at civilians in the distance. As for numbers: it is too long ago to establish exact figures. Most crimes were committed by members of the Stabskompanie (mainly Fahrradzug and Pionierzug) and the 2. (le.SPW) Kompanie but there are also cases against members of the 4. (schw.) Kompanie

[offizier1916]

regarding the reason behind those horrible crimes, your statements are a little paradox.
if i remember correctly you once emphasized, that the reasons could be: being emotionally blunted due to fierce battles for years on the front, overreaction when realizing that the allies had way more troops, tanks, artillary, planes, fuel, reserve or after being destroyed by Jagdbomber/Artillary even before seeing the enemy. But you also said that the crimes werent isolated cases but MINDSET (e.g. Brehmer, Knittel, Peiper, Panzermeyer)

[Harro]

Yes, when dealing with civilians this way has become a mindset (also described as "Eastern Front mentality") it becomes easier for soldiers with that mindset to commit such crimes when confronted with frustration and paranoia or when the situation calls for it. In my opinion the crimes of KG Peiper and SG Knittel were possible because Peiper and Meyer set the standard in the East. The rest of the Leibstandarte knew it: Peiper and Meyer waged a dirty war in the East, much dirtier than the behaviour of the rest of the division. Note that the crimes in the Ardennes were almost exclusively committed by these two battlegroups (Hansen and Sandig were not implicated) by protegees of Peiper and Meyer or officers and nco's with years of service in their battalions. Two main factors: some of the crimes (Baugnez, la Vaulx Richard, Wéreth, Lingeuville) were committed to keep up with the tight time schedule (advance guards with no time or means to guard prisoners until they could be led to the rear) but most crimes (Stavelot, Trois-Ponts, Parfondruy, Legrand farm, Petit-Spay, Renardmont, Ster, etc.) were the result of frustration and paranoia (with Legrand possibly being a combination of the two).

[krichter33]

Do you know if Hansen was ever implicated in any crimes during his service with the division? He has always interested me quite a lot from Leibstandarte officers, primarily because I don't know much about him at all, compared to Peiper and Meyer.

[Harro]

I have not made much of a study of Hansen so I don't know if any investigations were started in the 1960s (like they did with Röhwer, Peiper, etc.) but he wasn't on any wanted list in the latree 1940s because he was free to provide statements on behalf of Knittel in 1948 and 1949.

[krichter33]

Interesting....You don't happen to know how he got along with the members of his division, the officers, and his men?

[Harro]

SS-Sturmbannführer Gustav Knittel - commander of the SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 1 'LSSAH' - was not very popular among the enlisted men of his battalion. Because of the stories that he had been ‘Kriegsmüde’ (war-weary) but mainly because of his reputation of being violent-tempered. Hans Baumann told me that Knittel was 'berühmt-berüchtigt' (notorious) for his ‘lockere Hand’ (literally ‘to have a loose hand’) - a German saying for lashing out at the slightest provocation. Walter Herrmann added that in his opinion Knittel was a ‘Choleriker’ (tyrant). His phrase ‘Maaan, Maaan, soll ich Dir mal eine schallern’ (Man, man, shall I punch you?) was feared, especially when he actually lashed out. Heinz Eisner added a telling example in this telephone conversation from March 2006.

http://www.facebook.com/gustavknittel