TONY LE TISSIER
This story came to my attention at a luncheon of the 94th US Infantry Division Veterans’ Association at Perl, Germany, in September 1999, when related by Professor Schaeffer-Kehnert, a former artillery officer with the 11th Panzer Division that had opposed them in the fighting for the Orscholtz Switch of the Siegfried Line. This account is gleaned from the official history of the 11th Panzer Division and an article by Brigadier General William W. Molla in the magazine of the 21st US Infantry Division’s Veterans Association.
Its predecessor in the 1940 French campaign having been dubbed the ‘Phantom Brigade’ by the British, the 11th Panzer Division took over the title with pride, calling itself the ‘Gespenterdivision’, which the Americans then translated as the ‘Ghost Division’.
On 15 April 1945, by which time the 11th Panzer Division had been obliged to withdraw to the line of the Weisser Elster either side of the town of Greiz, its respected commander Lieutenant General von Wietersheim belatedly handed over command of the division to Major General von Buttlar in accordance with orders received several days previously to take over command of the XXXXIst Panzer Corps east of Berlin. Aware that the route to the north was already blocked, General von Wietersheim decided to stay with the division until the end of the war. He therefore reported sick to the divisional medical unit with a feigned stomach complaint and remained close to the Rear Command Post, where he kept in touch with the divisional Ia (Chief of Staff).
That same day the division took delivery of twenty Hetzer tank-destroyers from a factory in nearby Plauen, thereby increasing its armoured strength at a time when the manpower establishment was more than filled, as stragglers and parentless units seemed to be drawn to the cohesive organisation of the division as if by a magnet.
However, the division happened to be in imminent danger of being surrounded as the Americans broke through the neighbouring units on either flank. Some hard fighting developed that day during which one of the panzer-grenadier battalions destroyed fifteen American tanks in close combat.
During the night orders were received by radio to break out to the south, so the division formed up into a long column and drove off with headlights blazing. The Americans did not intervene and the division was able to reach the western edge of the Erzgebirge Mountains and form a northwest front between Eibenstock and Klingenthal, where conditions remained peaceful.
Then on about 23 April the division received orders from Army Group G to link up with the LXXXVth Corps at Passau. The rumour spread that it would be joining SS units in the defence of the so-called ‘Alpine Redoubt’. The division set off and eventually reached the area of Taus in the Bohemian Forest, 45 kilometres southwest of Pilsen. A new front was then formed facing southwest along the German-Czech border between Forst am Wald and Zwiesel. As this was happening, Patton’s 3rd Army was passing across the divisional front toward the Alps, occupying the last part of southern Germany.
Meanwhile some more fuel had become available, and so the newly reconstituted 111th Panzer-Grenadier Regiment and divisional support units under Major General von Buttlar were able to push forward to the Wallern area, about 40 kilometres northeast of Passau, in accordance with orders received to block the American advance on Linz, leaving the main body behind to follow as best it might.
General von Wietersheim thereupon returned to duty, taking over command of the main body on his own responsibility. The main body then moved a short distance toward Klattau and Neuern. Poor radio conditions in this mountainous area led to a complete breakdown in communications between these two elements now 100 kilometres apart, and they were only to meet up again in captivity.
Then on 2 May the expected order arrived from Field Marshal Schorner for the division to join the Eastern Front in Czechoslovakia. All guns and armoured vehicles immobilised through lack of fuel were to be destroyed and their crews set off on foot as infantry.
At a conference of unit commanders and senior staff officers, it was agreed that to comply with these orders would only lead to the needless destruction of the division and inevitable captivity in Soviet hands. The Alpine Front had already surrendered and other formations around them were disappearing or disbanding themselves without orders. It was therefore unanimously agreed to surrender to the Americans if honourable terms could be met.
On the morning of 4 May General von Wietersheim sent two of his staff officers, Major Voigtmann and Lieutenant Knorr, with an interpreter under a white flag to the headquarters of the 90th US Infantry Division on the German-Czechoslovakian border at Neumarkt with a letter that read: ‘The development of the military and political situation makes it desirable for me to avoid further losses on both sides. I have therefore ordered the Major, and the bearer of this note, to negotiate with you the cessation of hostilities.’
The honourable terms requested were beyond the competence of the commander of the 90th Division, General Earnest, to agree so he referred them on to General Patton, who approved them with the comment that the 11th Panzer was the ‘fairest and bravest’ German division that his 3rd Army had fought! General Bradley also approved the terms, adding that the division should arrive in proper order, ‘with its kitchens’.
The terms enabled officers to retain their sidearms and the men to continue to be armed until clear of Czechoslovakia. The division was then to form a camp at Kotzting until able to disband.
Also involved in the surrender negotiations was Colonel Charles H. Reed of the 2nd Cavalry Group, which had been an opponent of the 11th Panzer in Lorraine, when a good rapport between foes had been formed to the extent of even exchanging seriously wounded prisoners during lulls in the fighting. Now he was responsible for preventing Soviet representatives from intervening in this matter.
The various units of the division paraded for a last ‘hurrah!’ for the fatherland before marching across the border into captivity.
Fresh clothing and supplies had been drawn from depots in Czechoslovakia and these were now evenly distributed among the troops, as were the divisional funds, professional soldiers getting a little more than the others as their transition to civilian life would be harder for them.
Meanwhile General von Buttlar canvassed his task force near Wallern for opinions whether to continue with their task or join the main group in American captivity at Kotzting. The majority opted for the latter, so at 0700 hours on 7 May General von Buttlar contacted the 101st US Infantry Regiment of the 26th Yankee Infantry Division at Andreasburg. However, it was to be another week before von Buttlar’s task force rejoined the main body of the division at Kotzting after the delivery by American tankers of 135,000 litres of fuel for their vehicles.
The story is not over, for at Kotzting the main event of the year was the Whitsun mounted carnival, a major attraction for the old cavalry hands of the 11th Panzer Division and 2nd Cavalry Group alike.
It so happened that the famous stud of 400 Lippizaner horses had been evacuated to the German Army Stud Farm at Hostau, where they had been joined by a Russian stud of 200 horses. On 26 April, with the Red Army only 60 kilometres away, elements of the 2nd Cavalry Group reached the Czechoslovakian border, where they stopped in accordance with the terms of the Yalta Agreement. This placed them nearer to the stud than the Russians. By means of a letter written by a Luftwaffe colonel in American captivity, it was suggested to Lieutenant Colonel Rudofsky, commander of the stud farm, that it might be possible to bring the horses across the border into American custody. Rudofsky sent his chief veterinary surgeon, Dr. Lessing, to negotiate and on the evening of the 26th he met Colonel Reed in a farmhouse on the border. The Americans suggested that the horses be brought out on foot, but this was impractical as there were too few grooms and also many of the mares were about to produce or already had newly-born foals at their heels. Dr. Lessing returned to Hostau accompanied by Captain Stewart of the 2nd Cavalry Group, to see what could be done.
Meanwhile an officer had arrived in Hostau to organise its defence. At first he refused to meet the Americans, but after long discussions, not least with the relevant Corps commander, he was persuaded that resistance would be pointless, and that it would be a good idea to get the horses back into Bavaria. The next day the Americans arrived and took over the entire stud establishment without having to fire a shot.
On 15 May the bulk of the herd set off, partly on foot and partly in trucks acquired from a captured artillery school. The Americans blocked all the main crossroads so that the horses passed through safely via Furth im Wald to prepared quarters in the little village of Schwarzenberg. Out of the whole herd only three young colts were lost
