Max Simon
Max Simon | |
---|---|
Breslau, German Empire | |
Died | 1 February 1961 Lünen, West Germany | (aged 62)
Allegiance |
|
Branch | XIII SS Corps |
Battles/wars | World War I
|
Awards | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves |
Max Simon (6 January 1899 – 1 February 1961) was a German
Early career
Simon was born in
In May 1933 he joined the
World War II
At the start of World War II, the SS Regiment was renamed in October 1939. The 1st SS Totenkopfstandarte Oberbayern, as the 1st Panzer Grenadier Regiment
In July 1941, Simon took part in the invasion of Soviet Union,
The SS Division Reichsführer-SS was to be formed in Hungary from Simon's old regiment and the
In November 1944, Simon was promoted and was given command of the
The XIII SS Army Corps retreated into the Saarland and the Palatinate where it started to destroy the Rhine bridges. In April 1945 between Main and Jagst it came up against the 4th US Armored Division and took part in heavy fighting around the Tauber – Colombia line and around Würzburg and Nuremberg. The Corps then fought a withdrawal to the Danube and around Munich. On the orders of Simon the bridges over the Isar approaching Austria were not blown up, as he believed there was no need as the end of the war was near.
Killings in Brettheim
Brettheim is a village in the Schwäbisch Hall district of Baden-Württemberg. Simon ordered the execution of Friedrich Hanselmann, Leonhard Gackstatter and Leonhard Wolfmeyer for Wehrkraftzersetzung ("undermining military morale") on 10 April 1945. The farmer Hanselmann had taken away the weapons of 15-year-old boys from the Hitler Youth and had thrown them into the local pond. The boys reported this to their commanding officer SS-Sturmbannführer Gottschalk, who had Hanselmann arrested. Gottschalk sentenced Hanselmann to death and asked the mayor of Brettheim, Gackstatter, and the teacher Wolfmeyer to confirm the sentence. The two men refused and were subsequently also arrested and sentenced to death. The men were executed by hanging and strung up on a tree at the entrance of the local cemetery. Simon had ordered that the bodies be left hanging for four days. On 17 April 1945 American tanks approached the village. The SS had declared Brettheim a "cornerstone of the German defense" and prevented the hoisting of white flags. The Americans opened fire, and within a short time the village became a burning inferno. 17 civilians were killed.[4]
On 1 May 1945 the Corps surrendered to the American forces.
War crimes conviction
After the war, Max Simon was sentenced to death by a British court for his part in the Marzabotto massacre. This sentence was later changed to life imprisonment. Simon was released from prison in 1954.
Simon was subsequently tried three times by West German courts for the killings in Brettheim and other crimes, but, "to the horror of the West German public," was found not guilty.[5] Simon died in 1961. Even in death, Simon caused some controversy, as HIAG, an organization of former Waffen-SS members, attempted to place a glorifying obituary for him in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine. To HIAG's indignation, the newspaper refused to run the obituary.[5]
Awards
- Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (13 September 1939) & 1st class (2 October 1939)[6]
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
- German Cross in Gold on 9 October 1944 as SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS in the 16. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Reichsführer-SS"[9]
References
Citations
- ^ a b Valhalla's Warriors By Terry Goldsworthy, p.235
- ^ Mitcham, Samuel W. Jr. German Order of Battle, Volume 3. p. 164.
- ^ Williamson & Bujeiro 2005, p. 31.
- ^ "Die Männer von Brettheim". Brettheimmuseum (in German). Retrieved 30 November 2013.
- ^ a b Frankfurter Allgemeine 2010.
- ^ Thomas 1998, p. 326.
- ^ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 401.
- ^ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 91.
- ^ Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 446.
This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2016) |
Bibliography
- "In Brettheim: Der SS-General und brutale "Feldgendarm" Max Simon [In Brettheim: The SS general and brutal "military policeman" Max Simon]". Frankfurter Allgemeine (in German). 2010. Archived from the originalon December 9, 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
- ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
- Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Band II [The German Cross 1941 – 1945 Volume 2] (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8.
- Thomas, Franz (1998). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 2: L–Z [The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 2: L–Z] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2300-9.
- ISBN 1-84176-642-9.
External links
- "Der Spiegel berichtete ..." Der Spiegel (in German). 1960. Retrieved 24 June 2014.