Order of Battle
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Local civilians were required to furnish bread and fresh foods for the organization and likewise to furnish food and shelter for the 120 horses in the organization’s possession.
One important factor was the use of crippled officer personnel as key members. These officers were to be used as observation personnel to reconnoiter and to locate targets for the tactical bands to destroy. The executive officer, a captain, had one crippled leg in a heavy cast and. one 1st Lt had a crippled leg and arm. They both possessed recent discharge papers signed by Col KRUGER.
Some of the members of the unit spoke English.
CLAYBROOK, G-2
During the period following the discovery and annihilation of the “Kampfgruppe Paul” Werewolves, XII Corps G-2 reported: “Evidence of bona fide Werewolf activities was conspicuously absent during XII Corp’s period of occupation . . . things were remarkably quiet. . . . There were, it seemed, no more Werewolves.”
This G-2 Periodic Report, written in the customary terse military language, detailing the capture of the Werewolf headquarters unit near Schonsee, was drafted by corps personnel who had not been part of the action, and consequently some minor inaccuracies and omissions occur. Although the case on the whole is well presented, some detail of necessity has been left out.
The command dugout, for example, was considerably larger than the individual dugouts described in the report; it could hold six to seven men, and it contained a periscope device that ran up through a tree trunk. This was how some of the Werewolf personnel had been able to see our futile search, as mentioned in the report.
Papers found in the command dugout indicated that Col. Paul Krüger actually had been promoted to general, but the
A copy of the actual Werewolf roster found on Captain Gebhardt.
official orders had not yet reached him. The ingenious belt buckle gun described in the text was developed especially for the Werewolves.
Finally, it was decided by G-2 that it would serve no purpose to include in the periodic report the standing orders to kill General Eisenhower, as well as other high-ranking officers. The matter was considered sensitive and classified, and only years later was it routinely declassified.
Ib Melchior
Editor’s Note
For his action against the Werewolf organization, which at the time was reported in the world press, lb J. Melchior was decorated by the U.S. Army in a ceremony presided over by the commanding general of XII Corps, Maj. Gen. S. LeRoy Irwin. His citation accompanying the medal reads in part:
“Melchior acted as chief interrogator in the search for this organization, accompanying the troops who made the search. . . . Melchior’s enthusiasm, sound judgement, initiative and devotion to duty were largely responsible for the successful completion of the mission and the destruction of an organization which was equipped and prepared to cause serious damage to our communications and supply lines.”
Bibliography
The following books and publications are amongst those that, besides the author’s own observations, investigations and documentation, have furnished authentication and facts for Order of Battle in regard to the conditions and events in the Führer Bunker in Berlin during the last few days before Hitler’s death; the existence and activities of the Werewolves and the National Redoubt; the attempts to assassinate the Supreme Commander; events of the war itself; and details of Hitler’s death as well as other factual material:
Allen, Col. Robert S. Lucky Forward: The History of Gen. George Patton’s Third Army. New York: Vanguard Press.
Bullock, Alan. Hitler: A Study in Tyranny. London: Odhams Press. 1952.
Carlova, John. “General Eisenhower’s Narrow Escape.” The Reader’s Digest.
Delarue, Jacques. The History of the Gestapo. London: Macdonald. 1964.
Dulles, Allen. The Secret Surrender. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 1967.
Dyer, George. XII Corps—Spearhead of Patton’s Third Army. The XII Corps History Association.
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Crusade in Europe. London: William Heinemann. 1948.
Foley, Charles. Commando Extraordinary. London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1954.
Hauser, Richard. “The Most Dangerous Man in Europe.” True Magazine.
Havas, Laslo. Hitler’s Plot to Kill the Big Three. London: Neville Spearman. 1967.
Havas, Laslo. The Long Jump. London: Neville Spearman. 1967.
Hunter, Jack D. The Expendable Spy. London: Muller. 1966.
Johnson, Thomas H. “The Most Dangerous Man in Europe.” Argosy Magazine.
Linge, Heinz. “The Private Life of Adolf Hitler.” The Philadelphia Bulletin, 1955.
Mecklin, John M. “Nazi Underground.” PM, May 28, 1945.
Military Intelligence Services. Order of Battle of the German Army (Restricted.)
Morenz, Dr. Ludwig. München im Jahre 1945. Münchener Stadtanzeiger Nr. 40/41.
Musmanno, Michael A. Ten Days to Die. London: Peter Davies. 1951.
National Archives. Monographs, U.S. Army Historical Division.
National Archives. Records: “International Military Tribunal—Trial of Major War Criminals.”
Ryan, Cornelius. The Last Battle. London: Collins. 1966.
Shirer, William L. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. London: Secker & Warburg. 1960.
Skorzeny, Otto. War Memories of the Most Dangerous Man in Europe. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc.
Sondern, Frederic, Jr. “Adolf Hitler’s Last Days.” The Readers Digest.
Speer, Albert. Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 1970.
Taylor, Geoff. Court of Honour. London: Peter Davies. 1966.
Toland, John. The Last 100 Days. London: Arthur Barker. 1966.
Trevor-Roper, H. R. The Last Days of Hitler. London: Macmillan & Co. 1947.
Tully, Andrew. Berlin: Story of a Battle. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Whiting, Charles. Gehlen: Germany’s Master Spy. New York: Ballantine Books.
Wiesenthal, Simon. The Murderers Among Us. London: Heinemann. 1967.
In addition, numerous news items and articles in the world press during May 1945 about the author’s capture of the Werewolf leaders and of the resulting destruction of organized Werewolf activities.
About the Author
IB MELCHIOR was born and educated in Denmark. After graduating from the University of Copenhagen, where he majored in literature and languages, he joined a British theatrical company, the English Players, as an actor and toured Europe with this troupe, becoming its stage manager and codirector. Just prior to the outbreak of World War II in Europe he came to the United States with this company to do a Broadway show.
Then followed a stint in the stage managing departments of Radio City Music Hall and the Center Theatre Ice Shows in New York. When Pearl Harbor was attacked he volunteered his services to the U.S. Armed Forces. He served with the U.S. Military Intelligence Service, spending two years in the European Theater of war as a military intelligence investigator attached to the Counter Intelligence Corps. He was personally involved in the action upon which the story is based and was decorated by the U.S. Army as well as by the King of Denmark, and was subsequently awarded the Knight Commander Cross of the Militant Order of St. Brigitte of Sweden.
After the war Mr. Melchior became active in television and also began his writing career. He has directed some five hundred television shows and has
also functioned as director or in a production capacity on eight motion picture features. He has won several national awards for television and documentary film shorts that he wrote and directed, and has written scripts for various TV series. Among the feature motion pictures he has written are Robinson Crusoe on Mars and Ambush Bay.
In addition, Mr. Melchior has published novelettes, stories, and articles in many national magazines, as well as in several European periodicals; some of these have been anthologized. He has also written for the stage. Order of Battle is his first full-length novel.
Ib Melchior li
ves in Hollywood with his wife, the designer Cleo Baldon, and their two sons. He is an avid collector of military miniatures and historical documents. His father is the Wagnerian tenor Lauritz Melchior.