Otto Weidinger - SS Career

SS Career

Otto Weidinger enlisted in the SS-Verfügungstruppe SS-VT (precursor to the Waffen-SS) in April 1934. His first duty assignment was as a concentration camp guard at SS-Wachsturmbann (camp guard detachment) Dachau. He volunteered for officer training and entered the SS-Junkerschule in Braunschweig in May 1935. After graduating from Junkerschule, he completed platoon leader training back in Dachau and was commissioned as an SS-Untersturmführer (Second Lieutenant) in April 1936.

Weidinger's first command was the 3. Kompanie of the SS-Standarte "Deutschland" (2nd SS Division Das Reich) in Ellwangen. Shortly after he underwent training as a combat engineer with the SS-Pioniere Battalion, as well as attending the Kampfschule (combat school) in Munich.

Promoted to SS-Obersturmführer (Platoon Commander) in 1938, Weidinger first saw combat in the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, earning an Iron Cross 2nd Class. After subjugating Poland, his unit then participated in the Battle of the Netherlands, where Weidinger continued to distinguish himself, earning a Iron Cross 1st Class and a promotion to Division Adjutant.

At the end of 1940, Weidinger was promoted to SS-Captain and his unit was sent to subdue insurgents in Lithuania. Weidinger commanded a heavy (anti-tank) company of the motorcycle rifle battalion of the SS-Reconnaissance-Detachment until the onset of Operation Barbarossa. He was subsequently promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer and transferred to the Divisional Staff of the SS-Division "Das Reich". Following a tour of duty in Russia, Weidinger returned to the Braunschweig Junkerschule as a tactics instructor for officer candidates until 1943.

In June 1943, Weidinger was again ordered to the Russian front and assumed command of the First Battalion of the SS Regiment "Germany", with the rank of SS major. This battalion saw significant combat action at the Battle of Kursk. In the battle, Weidinger received a serious head wound. In November 1943 he was awarded the German Cross in Gold award. By the end of 1943 he commanded at the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich", an armored infantry regiment.

In the spring of 1944, his SS Panzer Division received orders to move to France. On 21 April 1944, Weidinger was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Shortly thereafter, was promoted to the SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer (Lieutenant Colonel) and the assumption of command of the 4th SS Panzer-Grenadier Regiment "Der Führer", which had the responsibility for defending the Normandy coastline. Command of "Der Führer" passed from SS-Standartenführer (Colonel) Sylvester Stadler to Weidinger on 14 June. Until then Weidinger had been with the regiment for familiarisation purposes.

After two months of heavy fighting following the Normandy D-Day invasion, Weidinger's unit, along with 50,000 other German troops, were surrounded by British and Polish forces led by General Bernard Montgomery in what would be known as the battle of Falaise pocket. Faced with the prospect of surrender or annihilation, Weidinger had his unit constantly probe the enemy line for weaknesses. They discovered a very small gap in the Polish lines, which Weidinger then exploited by using the massed firepower of his remaining tanks to enlarge. Ten thousand German troops were able to escape the collapsing pocket. For his heroic actions in the face of near-certain defeat, Weidinger was awarded Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross in December 1944.