by Unknown
“Fetch me the file on Herr -.” After a short time the man came back. “All the files on inmates of Sachsenhausen have been transferred to Czechoslovakia. I would have to request it from there.”
“I'm sorry, I will have to wait for the file; that could take a little while. But depend on it, I will see that your father-in-law is released. That's the least I can do for such a brave frontline officer.” I gave him my military post number and unit, and with a handshake was dismissed. Had I been successful? I didn't know.
Could one trust Kaltenbrunner and the whole Gestapo apparatus?
Had the “transfer” of files been just a trick to get rid of me?
Dagmar was highly skeptical.
"I don't trust these people. They're shameless and inhuman.
Thank you for coming. I'm glad I can join you -in Paris now.
It will help to soften the blow. As it is, there's nothing I can do here for my father." I had to go back to Paris. Dagmar would follow as soon as she had arranged things at home.
Dagmar in Paris: in normal times, the fullfillment of a dream; but the clouds in the sky were dark. I bought her a bicycle, so that she could be independent of public transport, which often didn't run. We enjoyed our days in the penthouse in the Rue Bixio. J. B. and Cl&ment often came to see us, and we were often at C16ment's, at the Cavalier. We spent one evening there with Max Schmeling and Vivianne Romance, a famous actress at the time who was a friend of C16ment. Together with Dagmar, I bought perfume, silk stockings, and supplies, which I sent to my mother, so that she had something to barter.
The winter passed and with it my time in Paris. Dagmar and I decided to get engaged. We bought the ring at a well-known jeweler in the Place Vend6me and celebrated the engagement with J. B. Morel and C16ment Duhour. It was overshadowed by the fate of Dagmar's parents. Dagmar had no news of her father. All inquiries at Sachsenhausen remained unanswered. She no longer had much hope of seeing him alive again. Contact with her mother was broken. Her mother had merely informed her that she was leaving Switzerland for America.
I too heard nothing more from Kaltenbrunner.
When I later inquired, through a friend at Fuehrer HQ whether anything stood in the way of permission to marry a girl who was one-eighth Jewish, I received the same sharp disappointment.
The answer was that if Major von Luck had been a reserve officer, there would have been nothing against marriage to a one-eighth Jewess Berlin and Paris, 1943-1944 165 with Aryan rights. As an active officer, however, he cannot be given permission.
This showed a peculiar logic and interpretation of the “racial laws.” From a racial point of view, did a reserve officer count for less than one on active service?
At the beginning of March, I was sent to Germany on a short course for regimental commanders. There I was told that I had been posted as a regimental commander to the Panzer Lehr Division, which was led by General Bayerlein, the experienced African campaigner.
I returned to Paris at the beginning of April, to wind up my household. Dagmar was to stay in Paris for as long as possible; I had notified the city commander of her presence. J. B. and C16ment were going to look after her.
“If things get critical, I'll organize transport for you. If I can't, go to the city commander, so that you can travel'to Germany in a supply vehicle.” That was our good-bye. Neither of us knew when or in what circumstances we would see each other again.
Bayerlein's division lay somewhere in Normandy or Brittany. I set out in my Mercedes and decided to go via Rommel's command post at La Roche Guyon, west of Paris, and pay my respects.
General Gause, his chief of staff and faithful general staff officer in Africa, received me.
“Good to see you again, safe and sound. I'm just initiating my successor, General Speidel. Congratulations on your posting to France, where we must reckon on a landing sooner or later.” When I asked whether I might see the Field Marshal, Gause's answer was immediate.
“By all means. Rommel is rather depressed because his arguments about how a landing should be met are cutting no ice with Hitler. He will be pleased to see you. Take a little walk with him. It will distract him.” Rommel received me with his familiar smile. He looked much better than I remembered from our last meeting.
“I'm glad I can greet you here on the western front. We've got something coming up in the weeks ahead. See that the regiment you are to take over is well motivated and aware of the seriousness of the situation.” We strolled through the beautiful park of the chateau as Rommel repeated the prophecy he had made in North Africa.
"I'm against any solution by force. I must convince Hitler that we can no longer win the war, but at most put off the end. As soon as the opportunity arises, I will try to make it clear to him personally, in writing if necessary, that the war will be finally lost if the Allies succeed in setting up a second front here in the West. Every opponent who sets foot on French soil must be thrown back into the sea in the first hours. That can only be done if our panzer divisions are stationed right by the coast, and if enough fighters are in the air which can be thrown against the powerful Allied air forces.
"But Goering has let us down once before in Africa, and at Stalingrad too he failed to keep his promise. I don't believe in the 'thousand fighters' which he means to send here.
“All the best to you, Luck, I'll be visiting your division quite often in the coming weeks.. We must do our duty.” I took my leave of Rommeleeply impressed and disturbed.
At the Panzer Lehr Division, I was received at once by General Bayerlein, who greeted me with some “bad” news.
“My dear Luck, I had marked you down as commander of the panzer regiment, but was told a few days ago to send you at once to the reorganized 21st Panzer Division. It seems your commander, Major-General Feuchtinger, has more pull at Fuehrer-HQ. I much regret that I won't be able to have an old African campaigner in my Division.” I was far from happy about this decision, but that was the way things were.
No one knew where the 2 1 st Panzer Division lay, so it was back to La Roche Guyon, where I saw Gause again.
“The 2 1 st is just back from its Hungarian expedition; it was sent there because of a suspected uprising in favor of the Russians. It's in the Rennes area, in Brittany, but has just received orders to move to the area around Caen, the capital of Normandy. Please report there to Feuchtinger.” It was early May 1944, when I found the division and reported my posting.
“A hearty welcome to you,” Feuchtinger greeted me. “Colonel Maempel, commander of Panzer Grenadier Regiment 125, has had to go home for health reasons. I am giving you acting command of his regiment until the official appointment comes through.” This division, put together in Brittany in 1943, mainly from experienced units from the Russian theater of war and Berlin and Paris, 1943-1944 167 from Germany, was in many respects an unorthodox panzer division.
General Edgar Feuchtinger, an artilleryman, had no combat experience, and none at all of panzer units. He had become known in Germany as the organizer of the military part of the so-called Reichsparteitage, the national Party rallies, and through that was very familiar with Hitler and his Party apparatus. He had apparently used this “connection” to get me into his division as Colonel Maempel's successor.
Owing to lack of sufficient supplies, the division had mainly French war materiel, which had been found after the French campaign of 1940. This was allowed to be used, with the approval of High Command West, in order to basten its reestablishment. To that end a “Special HQ Paris” had been created, which was responsible for organization, etc. Here Major Becker, a reserve officer.a.nd the owner of a small factory in western Germany, played a decisive part. A highly gifted engineer, with excellent links with armaments industry, and a personal friend of Feuchtinger, he had a free hand to improvise and, with t he French materiel, put some of his own designs into effect.
At the Hotchkiss works near Paris, Becker discovered a vast number of tank chassis, for which he organized guns and finished ar
mor-plating in Germany in order to create an “assault-gun” batlalion. In addition, he had rocket-launchers made to his design, which were demonstrated on the Normandy coast in May 1944 to Rommel and a few army commanders and filled even Hitler with enthusiasm when he was told of them. Because of his connections, Becker's battalion also received the latest radio equipment.
At first, we laughed at the monstrous looking assault-guns, but we soon came to know better. The assault-gun companies were trained to work closely with the grenadiers, and this was later to prove a decisive aid to our defense forces. Feuchtinger was naturally proud of Becker's achievement and was often at his “Special HQ” in Paris, therefore, so that he could follow up Becker's work. In addition, Feuchtinger was a live and let live person. He was fond of all the good things of life, for which Paris was a natural attraction. Knowing that he had no combat experience or knowledge of tank warfare, Feuchtinger had to delegate most things, that is, leave the execution of orders to us experienced commanders.
Such was the division with which I had to familiarize myself and of which I had to become a part. Panzer Grenadier Regiment 125, 168 PANZER COMMANDER entrusted to my command, consisted mainly of various units that had been in action on the Russian front and young replacements from home: the regimental staff, I Battalion in armored half-track vehicles (SPWS), and II Battalion in trucks.
Feuchtinger put me in the picture concerning the general situation. "Our division is the only one near the coast behind the Atlantic Wall, which, here in Normandy, is not yet fully developed and manned by an inexperienced infantry division. The anticipated Allied landing is not expected in Normandy, but rather in the Pas de Calais, the shortest distance between England and the Continent. But Caen, as an important industrial city, is also a key point. That is why it was decided to move a Panzer division here by the Atlantic Wall. All the same, we have to reckon on airborne landings or large-scale commando operations, which would serve as a diversion from the actual landing.
"For that reason, Rommel considers it very important that the division should take up combat positions even in the hinterland.
"Your regiment, in accordance with the orders of Army Group B Rommel), to which the division is directly attached, is stationed northeast of Caen, hence east of the River Otne; the other regiment, 192, north of Caen, west of the Ome. South of Caen are the panzer regiment, the artillery, and the division's other units. For your support, you have two companies of Becker's assault-gun battalion.
“Our division has strict orders not to intervene in the event of enemy landings until cleared by Army Group B. Rommel wants all units to make themselves familiar with the terrain-also by nightand regular combat exercises to be carried out. I hope, my dear Luck, that you will be happy with us and I wish you lots of luck.” In the course of May, Rommel appeared at the division several times, to acquaint himself with its state of training and the morale of the men. On one of his visits, he expressed himself almost prophetically. w "I know the British from France in 1940 and from North Africa.
They will land at the very place where we least expect them. It might be here." To make up for the inadequate fortifications on the coast, Rommel ordered stake-obstacles to be erected on the shore and in the hinterland, what was known as
“Rommel's asparagus.” In addition, mine fields were laid wherever airborne landings might be expected.
We were somewhat concerned that the civilian population could move about freely. We even had to leave passages open in the
Berlin and Paris, 1943-1944 169 fields, so that the peasants could go about their business. Evacuation was not considered.
Why should it be? We didn't know, after all, where a landing might take place. Through this, the Resistance, which was certainly active in Normandy, had the chance to let the British know our positions, where our tank and artillery parks were, and the location of the mine fields. And indeed we later found campaign maps on prisoners with precise indications of our po ' sitions.
The weeks went by. For a panzer division, which in the campaigns so far had been accustomed to a war of movement, the inactivity was wearisome and dangerous. Vigilance was easily relaxed, especially after the enjoyment of Calvados and cider, both typical drinks of the region. There was, in addition, the uncertainty as to whether the landing would take place at all in our sector.
I was on the move every day, in order to visit each unit in the regiment, get to know the officers and NCOS and present myself to the individual men to gain their confidence.
At conferences at divisional HQ, I met the other divisional commanders. All of them had combat experience and were highly decorated.
In May 1944, I went once again to Paris. Feuchtinger wanted me to visit “Special HQ Becker,” to familiarize myself with the assaultguns and rocket-launchers that he had developed and to talk to Becker about close collaboration with our grenadiers.
I told Dagmar I was coming and she had a delightful surprise: Herbert von Karajan was conducting Beethoven's Fifth Symphony with the French Philharmonic. Since Dagmar was a close friend of Karajan's wife, she was able to acquire tickets right away.
For a few hours, the music let me forget the war and thoughts of the future.
On 30 May, Rommel came to our division for the last time.
Becker demonstrated his new rocket-launcher on the Normandy coast with live ammunition, which filled Rommel with enthusiasm.
At the closing conference, with all the commanders of our division, Rommel exhorted us again to be extremely vigilant, and he ended with the words, “You shouldn't count gn the enemy coming in fine weather and by day.” It was put even more precisely by General Marcks, commander of the 84th Army Corps, to which we were attached, “From my knowledge of the British, they will go to church again on Sunday, 4 June, and come on the Monday.” The navy and our meteorologists calculated that the most favor able time for a landing would be 5 June, then not again until 28 June 1944.
In the first days of June, British aerial reconnaissance over the Normandy coast increased considerably. As the division heard from Rommel's HQ, there were about 130 Messerschmidt fighters available in France. Of a transfer to France of the “ 1,000 fighters” promised by Goering, there was, in what were now after all critical days, no sign. They were needed, as always, for the air defense of the Reich territory.
We didn't know at the time that Rommel, by his own wish, had been invited to a conference with Hitler and had left for Germany on 4 June. Nor did we know that General Feuchtinger and his first general-staff officer had gone to Paris to
“Special HQ.” During the possibly decisive night of 5 to 6 June, therefore, neither of them would be at his headquarters.
We only knew the fatal order not to commit ourselves to any kind of engagement without having been cleared for it by Army Group B Rommel) or Supreme Commander West (von Rundstedt).
I On 5 June 1944, the two panzer grenadier regiments lay in their established combat positions on either side of the River Orne, north of Caen. I gave II Battalion permission for No.5 Company under Lieutenant Brandenburg to carry out an exercise during the coming night and to turn out for the purpose with blank cartridges. This was in accordance with the plan of training every company in turn for night action. 15 The Start of the Invasion, 6 June 1944 The evening of 5 June 1944 was unpleasant. Normandy was showing its bad side; during the day there had been rain and high winds.
I was sitting in a sparsely furnished house on the edge of the village of Bellengreville, a few kilometers west of Vimont, a small town east of Caen, the industrial center and port of the Normandy coast; before me were papers and maps to do with exercises I was preparing for my regiment. My adjutant, Lieutenant Helmut s at the com Liebeskind, wa mand post in the village. I was a major, thirty-two years old. I was to be promoted to lieutenant-colonel at the end of July, and after a further two months to colonel-rapid progress, it seemed to me.
The general weather conditions, worked out every day by naval meteorologists and passed on to us
by division, gave the “all clear” for 5 and 6 June. So we did not anticipate any landings, for heavy seas, storms, and low lying clouds would make large-scale operations at sea and in the air impossible for our opponents.
That evening, I felt our lot was highly unsatisfactory: like most of my men, I was used to mobile actions, such as we had fought in the other theaters of war; this waiting for an invasion that was undoubtedly coming was enervating.
But, in spite of the inactivity, morale among the troops remained high, the more so since Normandy spoiled us with butter, cheese, “crmefraiche,” and meat, as well as cider.
On that rainy evening, my adjutant and I were waiting for a report from No.11 Battalion that the night exercise had ended.
This battalion was in the area Troarn-Escoville, hence fairly near the coast, while No. I Battalion, equipped with armored personnel carriers and armored half-track vehicles, had taken up waiting positions further to the rear. I had given the more basic order that in the event of possible landings by Allied commando troops, the battiliotis and companies concerned were to attack immediately and independently; and to do so, moreover, without regard to the prohibition from the highest authority on engaging action except after clearance by High Command West.
But in view of the weather 172 PANZER COMMANDER report that we had been given, I had no thought of such an engagement that night.
About midnight, I heard the growing roar of aircraft, which passed over us. I wondered whether the attack was destined once again for traffic routes inland or for Germany herself. The machines appeared to be flying very low-because of the weather?
I looked out the window and was wide awake; flares were hanging in the sky. At the same moment, my adjutant was on the telephone, “Major, paratroops are dropping. Gliders are landing in our section. I'm trying to make contact with No.11 Battalion. I'll come along to you at once.” I gave orders without hesitation, “All units are to be 1)ut on alert immediately and the division informed. No.11 Battalion is to go into action wherever necessary. Prisoners are to be taken if possible and brought to me.” I then went to the command post with my adjutant. The 5 Company of No.11 Battalion, which had gone out with blank cartridges, was not back yet from the night exercix-a dangerous situation.