Walter Reder - World War II

World War II

Reder remained with the 3.SS-Panzer-Division Totenkopf throughout most of World War II. He participated in the invasion of Poland and the subsequent operations in the West where he received the Iron Cross 2nd. class. In the opening weeks of Operation Barbarossa, Reder commanded the 11.Company of SS-Totenkopf-Infanterie-Regiment 1, which spearheaded the German advance on Leningrad. During the bitter fighting near Chilkowo in September 1941, Reder was severely wounded in the neck, but recovered quickly and returned to his division just a month later. In March 1942, he was given command of the I.Battalion of the SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 5 Totenkopf, leading it for more than a year and also throughout the Third Battle of Kharkov. On 9 March 1943, during the ferocious fighting near Dergatschi, south of Kharkiv, Reder was again severely wounded and a day later the lower portion of his left arm had to be amputated. For his exemplary leadership at Kharkiv, SS-Hauptsturmführer (Captain) Reder was on 3 April 1943 awarded the much coveted Ritterkreuz. Following his recovery, he returned to the battlefield and was posted to the SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Ausbildungs- und Ersatz-Battalion 3 in Warsaw, which had at that time the task of the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto.

In December 1943, Reder was transferred to the newly formed 16.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Reichsführer-SS. He remained with this division until May 1945 as a commander of the SS-Panzer-Aufklärungsabteilung 16 and SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 36. These units were given the task of anti-partisan warfare in Northern Italy and the former was largely responsible for the Marzabotto massacre; generally regarded as the worst wartime atrocity in Italy. On Reder's direct orders the SS-Panzer-Aufklärungsabteilung 16 destroyed the village Marzabotto in reprisal for the local support given to the partisans and the resistance movement. During the week between 29 September and 5 October 1944, Reder's soldiers executed more 700 people including many children and women. In March 1945 the division withdrew to Hungary and later to Austria where Reder surrendered, together with the rest of the Reichsführer-SS to the British forces near Klagenfurt.