Fritz Witt - Hitlerjugend Command

Hitlerjugend Command

In February 1943, the SS had begun formation of a new Waffen-SS division composed primarily from Hitler Youth members born in 1926. The division was designated 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. To provide officers for this new division, a number of veteran Leibstandarte officers and NCOs were transferred. Witt, along with Max Wünsche, Kurt Meyer, 'Gerd' Bremer, Wilhelm Mohnke, Hugo Kraas and Rudolf von Ribbentrop were among those transferred. On 1 July 1943, Witt was promoted to SS-Oberführer, and at the end of the month he was officially given command of the Hitlerjugend division. Witt took over the divisional command at Beverloo in occupied Belgium, and began the huge undertaking of overseeing the formation and training of a new SS Panzer Division. Witt, realising that the division had to be made ready for combat as quickly as possible, ignored many rules and regulations and instead focused on realistic combat scenarios and live-fire exercises. A result of this was that the morale of the HJ was exceptionally high, and the relationship between the officers and men was an informal one, based on mutual trust and respect.

In January 1944, Witt's new command was the subject of a major scandal. Early in the month, SS-Untersturmführer Wilifred Murr, a junior officer in SS-Sturmbannführer Erich Olboeter's 12th SS Reconnaissance Battalion had, in a drunken state, raped a 15 year old Belgian girl after threatening her parents with his pistol. Murr was the son of Wilhelm Murr, Gauleiter of Stuttgart. Olboeter heard of the incident, and along with SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Eberhard Denzel, the division's legal officer, visited Murr in his room and persuaded him that he should make use of his pistol to avoid embarrassing his family. As soon as the officers had left, Murr did so. Murr's father soon heard details of what had happened, and, enraged, wrote to Martin Bormann demanding an investigation.

In the resulting investigation, Olboeter was demoted and transferred to command of the 3rd Battalion of the 26th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment. He was replaced by SS-Hauptsturmführer Gerd Bremer and Dr. Denzel was demoted to SS-Schütze and sent to serve with the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf's 6th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment.

Despite this, Witt managed to avoid any repercussions, and the formation of the division continued. In March 1944, in a high profile event, OB West, Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt and I SS Panzer Corps commander SS-Obergruppenführer Josef Dietrich visited the Division's training grounds. Witt escorted the OB West and Dietrich as they witnessed elements of the division engaged in training exercises. After witnessing this, both Rundstedt and Dietrich were convinced that the division would soon be combat ready, and ordered Witt to move his division to Normandy where it was to join Panzergruppe West, Rundstedt's armoured reserve.

On 20 April 1944, Witt was promoted to SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der SS. Witt continued training exercises for his division, allowing his troops to familiarise themselves with the terrain around Caen. This training would later prove vital. On 27 May 1944, Witt turned 36 and celebrated his birthday with a party. A few days later, on 2 June, he finally announced that the Hitlerjugend division was ready for combat.