Repercussions of Eastern Front Experiences on Anti-Partisan Warfare in France 1943–1944

Abstract

In the long academic debate about the role of the Wehrmacht in anti-partisan warfare during World War II, the Western theatre of war in general and France in particular have been neglected. Having begun as a relatively moderate occupation with even some progressive methods, the German occupation policy radicalised in the last months before withdrawal began in August 1944. This article seeks to deliver explanations for this development. Special emphasis will be given on Eastern Front experiences and their effects on German behaviour in fighting the French resistance movement. It will be demonstrated that experiences from the Eastern Front did contribute considerably to the radicalisation in anti-partisan warfare in France in 1944. Moreover, other factors like elite identity of a unit, duration of deployment in anti-partisan warfare and especially Nazi ideology played an important role also.

Key Words:

• Anti-partisan Warfare
• Guerrilla Warfare
• Occupied France
• Atrocities
• Wehrmacht
• SS

Notes

¹[Munich] I[nstitut] f[ür] Z[eitgeschichte]-Archives, MA-974. [Oberkommando des Heeres] Auszug aus den Arbeitsrichtlinien für die Militärverwaltung [summer 1940].

²This order is printed in I[nternational] M[ilitary] T[ribunal], vol. XXXVI (Nuremberg: Secretariat of

the Military Tribunal 1949), Doc. 45-C.

³John Horne and Alan Kramer, German Atrocities1914: A History of Denial (New Haven, CT: Yale UP 2001).

⁴For the German massacres in France in 1944, see Peter Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg oder NS-Weltanschauungskrieg? Kriegführung und Partisanenbekämpfung in Frankreich (Munich: Oldenbourg 2007).

⁵For discussion with further literature on this subject see Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg, 233–58.

⁶ Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10, Nuernberg October 1946–April 1949, vol. XI (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office 1950).

⁷A.R. Albrecht, ‘War Reprisals in the War Crimes Trials and in the Geneva Conventions of 1949’, American Journal of International Law 47 (1953), 590–614. Article 34 of the Geneva Convention of 1949 ended this entire unpleasant discussion by categorically prohibiting even the taking of hostages.

⁸See the indications in: Ellen Hammer and Marina Salvin, ‘The Taking of Hostages in Theory and Practice’, American Journal of International Law 38 (1944), 20–33.

⁹HDv 100-100 Truppenführung für Landstreitkräfte, Nr. 24007.

¹⁰The United States Army and Marine Corps, The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual (Chicago/London: Univ. of Chicago Press 2007).

¹¹In general during World War II, the Germans referred to insurgents in their occupied territories as ‘terrorists’ or ‘bandits’.

¹²This compulsory labour service, the Service du Travail Obligatoire (STO), was introduced by the Vichy government after a Feb. 1943 agreement with the German Reich. All young Frenchmen aged between 20 and 22 years, had to go across the Rhine for one year to work there in industry.

¹³The post-war records of the French military tribunals against German war criminals are kept in the Dépôt Central des Archives de la Justice Militaire in Le Blanc and are generally subject to a blocking period of 100 years. However, the author kindly received a special permission of the French Ministry of Defence to consult several cases for his PhD thesis.

¹⁴Johannes Hürter, Hitlers Heerführer: Die deutschen Oberbefehlshaber im Krieg gegen die Sowjetunion 1941/42 (Munich: Oldenbourg 2006); Ben Shepherd, War in the Wild East: The German Army and Soviet Partisans (Cambridge, MA/London: Harvard UP 2004); Christian Gerlach, Kalkulierte Morde: Die deutsche Wirtschafts- und Vernichtungspolitik in Weißrußland1941bis 1944 (Hamburg: Hamburger Edition 1999); Klaus Jochen Arnold, Die Wehrmacht und die Besatzungspolitik in den besetzten Gebieten der Sowjetunion: Kriegführung und Radikalisierung im ‘Unternehmen Barbarossa’ (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot 2005); Klaus Schmider, Partisanenkrieg in Jugoslawien 1941–1944 (Hamburg: E.S. Mittler & Sohn 2002). This explosion in research was triggered by a controversial exhibition in the mid-1990s. The academic book accompanying this exhibition has been translated into English: Hannes Heer and Klaus Naumann (eds.), War of Extermination: The German Military in World War II, 1941–1944 (New York: Berghahn Books 2000).

¹⁵Older books have described the behaviour of the Wehrmacht as relatively moderate. Eberhard Jäckel, Frankreich in Hitler's Europa: Die deutsche Frankreichpolitik im Zweiten Weltkrieg (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1968); Hans Umbreit, Der deutsche Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich 1940–1944 (Boppard am Rhein: Harald Boldt 1968). This long-lasting opinion was fervently challenged by Ahlrich Meyer, Die deutsche Besatzung in Frankreich: Widerstandsbekämpfung und Judenverfolgung (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2000). In Konventioneller Krieg, I steer a middle course, but overall disagree with Meyer's view.

¹⁶The author himself touches on this question in his major study, Konventioneller Krieg.

¹⁷[Freiburg-im-Breisgau], B[undes]A[rchiv]-M[ilitär]A[rchiv], RH 20-7/187. AOK 7. Ic/AO Nr. 33/44 g.Kdos. 11 Jan. 1943.

¹⁸BA-MA, RHD 6/69/2. Merkblatt 69/2. Bandenbekämpfung (Gültig für alle Waffen). 6 May 1944. Partly printed in: IMT, vol. XXXVII, 665-F (ii).

¹⁹BA-MA, RH 19 IV/133. Oberbefehlshaber West (Oberkommando Heeresgruppe D). Ic Nr. 238/44. 13 May 1944. Betr: Bandenbekämpfung.

²⁰IfZ Archives, MA 1785/1. Gen.Kdo. LVIII. Pz.Korps. Abt. Ia Nr. 957/44 geh. 16 July 1944. Betr.: Bandenbekämpfung durch Jagdkommandos. The order itself makes reference to an order issued by Army Group G.

²¹The OKW order from Nov. 1942 referred partly to an OKH order about Jagdkommandos. The OKH order stated that whenever a Jagdkommando happened to encounter civilians, it should ‘silently get rid of’ the ‘annoying witnesses’ if possible. This passage is missing in the version of 58th Reserve Panzer Corps. [Podolsk, Russia, Central Archive of the Ministry of Defence], 12454-396. Oberkommando des Heeres. Gen.St.d.H./Op Abt (I). Nr. 11058/42 geh. 31 Aug. 1942. Betr.: Zusammenstellung von Jagdkommandos zur Bandenbekämpfung.

²²The three exceptions were: Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel and the two Generalobersten Johannes Blaskowitz and Friedrich Dollmann. For the following see the charts in Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg, 529–64.

²³From June 1941 to Aug. 1942 he was commander of 213th Security Division and from Jan. to June 1943 of 153rd Field Training Division (Feldausbildungsdivision).

²⁴Due to unforeseen tactical demands parts of Spang's division became involved in anti-partisan activity during summer 1944.

²⁵BA-MA, Pers. 6/639, confidential report 28 Feb. 1941 by Deputy General Command 8th Army Corps.

²⁶BA-MA, Pers. 6/876, letter from Major i.G. Graf Pückler-Burghauss to Lt. Col. i.G. Graf von Kirchbach, 2 April 1941.

²⁷Figure calculated with the following list: BA-MA, RH 28-8/9. [157. Reservedivision] Stellenbesetzung–Führerreserve nach dem Stand vom 1.7.1944.

²⁸These were: General der Infanterie Erwin Vierow (Commander in the District North-West France, previously commander of 55th Army Corps), General der Kavallerie Kurt Feldt (Commander in the District South-West France, previously commander of the prestigious 1st Cavalry Division) and Generalleutnant Hans von Boineburg-Lengsfeld (Commandant of Greater Paris, he had previously commanded various battle groups of 4th Panzer Division and later 23rd Panzer Division).

²⁹These were Generalleutnant Otto Ottenbacher as well as the Generalmajore Curt Jesser and Walter Brehmer. See their personal files BA-MA, Pers. 6/790, Pers. 6/1430, Pers. 6/1131.

³⁰Immediately after the war Tschammer und Osten was put on trial, sentenced to death and hanged in Minsk.

³¹BA-MA, Pers. 6/6637 Confidential Report 1 Mar 1943. BA-MA, Pers. 6/6601 Confidential Report 1 Mar 1943.

³²Coler and Obst had both been Feldkommandanten in the East, Nickelmann commander of a training regiment in occupied Ukraine before becoming Kommandeur der Osttruppen 720. Sternkopf commanded a motorised infantry regiment in an anti-partisan operation, albeit for a very limited period. BA-MA, Pers. 6/11959. BA-MA, Pers. 11133. BA-MA, Pers. 6/11683.

³³BA-MA, Pers. 6/1899 (Schuberth). BA-MA, Pers. 6/6679 (Steuber). Gleininger's personal files are not kept in the Military Archives in Freiburg.

³⁴IfZ Archives, MA-487. Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Ukraine. Abt. Ia. Nr. 4921 (3073)/42 geh. 28 June 1942. Richtlinien für die Befriedung der Ukraine.

³⁵Helmut Heiber and David Glantz, Hitler and his Generals. Military Conferences 1942–1945, English edn. with an introd. by Gerhard L. Weinberg (New York: Enigma Books 2003), 580.

³⁶[Paris, France,] A[rchives] N[ationales], AJ40/965. Kommandant des Heeresgebiets Südfrankreich. Ia/Nr. 1708/44 g.Kdos. 19 Aug. 1944. According to this order, all non-military activities had to be immediately stopped and all efforts focused on the withdrawal from Southern France.

³⁷[Le Blanc, France,] D[epôt] C[entral des] A[rchives de la] J[ustice] M[ilitaire], TMP de Bordeaux. 290/3590. 26 Jul 1949. Messages from Verbindungsstab 730 to 1st Army, Bordeaux, 24 July 1944. IfZ Archives, MA 1785/1. Gen.Kdo. LVIII. Pz.Korps. Abt. Ia Nr. 682/44 geh. 20 June 1944. Betr.: Einsatz des verst. Pz.Gren.Rgt. 111 zur Terroristenbekämpfung im Raum um Tulle. In this after-action report the Kampfgruppe Wilde, who can be deemed to have been hardliners, complained about Sternkopf's gullibility towards French authorities and accused him of weakness.

³⁸BA-MA, RH 38/267. Der Kommandant des Heeresgebietes Südfrankreich. Tagesbefehl Nr. 19/43. 22 Dec 1943.

³⁹DCAJM, TMP de Lyon. 25.11.1954. Carton N° 800/3. Liasse IV/1. TMP de Lyon. Procès Verbal du 23 septembre 1949. Ernst Floreck and Karl Pflaum.

⁴⁰For Ramcke, Hederich and Mohnke see Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg, 19, 158, 162, 163, 302, 453, 483–8.

⁴¹[Ludwigsburg, Germany] B[undes]A[rchiv]-Ludwigsburg, ‘France Folder’– Military Tribunal Lyon, Page. 8/585. Kommandant des Heersgebietes Südfrankreich. Abt. Ia/Abt. Qu. Br.B. Nr. 1694/44 8 May 1944. Zusammenarbeit mit den Dienststellen des Höheren SS- und Polizeiführers im Bereich des Mil.Befh.i.Frkr. B[undes]A[rchiv]-Berlin, R 110/87. Der Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich. Ia Nr. 4753/44 geh. 3 July 1944. Betrifft: Bandenbekämpfung.

⁴²SS equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel.

⁴³Dieter Pohl, Nationalsozialistische Judenverfolgung in Ostgalizien 1941–1945 (Munich: Oldenbourg 1996).

⁴⁴Roughly the strength of a battalion, an Einsatzgruppe was organised in Einsatzkommandos or Sonderkommandos which were comparable in size to a company.

⁴⁵Peter Klein, ‘Die Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD bis zum Angriff auf die Sowjetunion’, in idem (ed.) Die Einsatzgruppen in der besetzten Sowjetunion 1941/42: Die Tätigkeits- und Lageberichte des Chefs der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD (Berlin: Edition Hentrich 1997), 19–20.

⁴⁶Helmut Krausnick and Hans-Heinrich Wilhelm, Die Truppe des Weltanschauungskriege: Die Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD 1938–1942 (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt 1981), 619–20.

⁴⁷For the murderous actions of Einsatzgruppe C see Dieter Pohl, ‘Die Einsatzgruppe C 1941/42’, in Klein, Einsatzgruppen, 71–87. On the Einsatzgruppen in general see Krausnick and Wilhelm, Truppe; Ronald Headland, Messages of Murder: A Study of the Reports of the Einsatzgruppen of the Security Police and the Security Service 1941–1943 (Rutherford/Madison/Teaneck : Fairleigh Dickinson UP 1992).

⁴⁸BA-Berlin, SSO 640/170B. ID 2 – Disz.L.Nr. 2412 Rei/Ro. 14 July 1943. Betr.: SS-Sturmbannführer, Reg. Rat Friedrich Suhr, abgeordnet zur Einsatzgruppe C.

⁴⁹BA-Berlin, SSO 6400/305A. Der Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer ‘Ostland’ 29 Nov. 1941. Betr.: Beurteilung des SS-Obersturmbannführers Meier.

⁵⁰The Chief of the Security Police and Security Service. Operational Situation Reports USSR No. 173 and No. 177. Partly printed in Yitzhak Arad, Shmuel Krakowski and Shmuel Spector (eds.), The Einsatzgruppen Reports. Selections form the Dispatches of the Nazi Death Squads’ Campaign Against the Jews July 1941–January 1943 (New York: Holocaust Library 1989), 299–300, 305.

⁵¹Bernard Reviriego, Les Juifs en Dordogne 1939–1944. De l'Accueil à la Persécution (Périgueux: Fanlac 2003).

⁵²Guy Penaud, Les Crimes de la Division‘Brehmer’: La Traque des Résistants et des Juifs en Dordogne, Corrèze, Haute-Vienne (Mars-Avril1944) (Périgueux: La Lauze 2004). Meyer, Besatzung, 135–44. However, both authors are not aware of the respective responsibilities of the Wehrmacht and the Sipo/SD in anti-partisan warfare until May 1944. Thus, neither Penaud nor Meyer realise the key role of August Meier and his Sipo/SD in the persecution of the Jews during the ‘Aktion Brehmer’.

⁵³BA-Ludwigsburg, ‘France Folder’– Military Tribunal Lyon, Page. 8/585. Kommandant des Heersgebietes Südfrankreich. Abt. Ia/Abt. Qu. Br.B. Nr. 1694/44 8 May 1944. Zusammenarbeit mit den Dienststellen des Höheren SS- und Polizeiführers im Bereich des Mil.Befh.i.Frkr. [Kew, UK] T[he] N[ational] A[rchives], WO 208/3647. Report No: PWIS (H)/LDC/295. Report on interrogation of KP 50121 Lt Wolfgang Prael.

⁵⁴SS equivalent to General.

⁵⁵Gerlach, Morde, 19, 158, 162, 163, 302, 453, 483–8.

⁵⁶The structure and composition of all Reserve Divisions in France was similar. For 157th Reserve Division see Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg, 310–17.

⁵⁷In contrast, the commandant of the Hauptverbindungsstab (equivalent to Oberfeldkommandantur in Southern France) 588 in Clermont-Ferrand wanted to publish a proclamation a few days later. According to that the population of Guéret would have to expect ‘heavy reprisals’ (schwere Sühnemaßnahmen) in case of repeat offences. The Military Commander, however, forbade this proclamation, so that it was held back for a while before being entirely scrapped. IMT, Vol. XXXVII. 257-F. War Diary of the Hauptverbindungsstab 588 Clermont-Ferrand. Entries 14 and 17 June 1944.

⁵⁸André Touret, Montluçon. 1940–1944: La Mémoire Retrouvée (Nonette: Créer 1999).

⁵⁹War Diary of the Hauptverbindungsstab 588 Clermont-Ferrand. Entries 21 June, 1 July and 6 July 1944. See also various daily reports of the Reserve Grenadier Regiment 28 to 58th Reserve Panzer Corps. IfZ Archives, MA 1785/1.

⁶⁰IfZ Archives, MA 1785/1. GenKdo. LVIII. Panzerkorps. Abt. Ia. Tagesmeldung vom 8 July 1944, <www.gers.pref.gouv.fr/acvg/gers3945/aresistance12.htm> (accessed 4 Jan. 2008).

⁶¹Ben Shepherd has convincingly demonstrated for 221st Security Division in Russia that the division's relative moderation during 1942 can be explained by its inability to fight partisans effectively. The division thus had to search for a modus vivendi with the occupied population. Shepherd, War in the Wild East, Ch. 6.

⁶²Between 1 and 20 July units of 11th Panzer Division deployed in anti-partisan operations (Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion 11 and the Kampfgruppe Wilde consisting of a reinforced battalion of Panzer Grenadier Regiment 111) suffered two fatal casualties (among them even one battalion commander) and nine wounded men, the Reserve Grenadier Regiment 28 of 189th^h Reserve Division three KIA and eight WIA. In the same period both units claimed to have killed 164 and 134 partisans respectively. The aforementioned shooting of all 76 prisoners at Meilhan is included in the figure for Reserve Grenadier Regiment 28; in other words this was by far the largest single killing of this regiment. During these three weeks 11th Panzer Division limited its actions in comparison to the weeks before and after. IfZ Archives, MA 1785/1. Gen.Kdo. LVIII. Pz.Korps. Abt. Ia. 10 July 1944. Betr.: Feindverluste und erfasstes Beutematerial bei Unternehmen gegen Terroristen in der Zeit vom 1–10 July 1944. Gen.Kdo. LVIII. Pz.Korps. Abt. Ia Nr. 1868/44 geh. 22 July 1944. Betr.: Aktive Bekämpfung der Terroristen.

⁶³Public Prosecutor's Office Munich I, 318 Js 11874/77. Interrogation minutes Herbert D. from 25 July 1977. See also IfZ Archives, MA 1783/4. Gruppe Wehrmachtstreifendienst beim AOK 1. 7 June 1944. Erfahrungsbericht für Monat Mai 1944.

⁶⁴Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg, 569.

⁶⁵IfZ Archives, MA 1785/1. Gen.Kdo. LVIII. Pz.Korps. Abt. Ia Nr. 682/44 geh. 20 Jun 1944. Betr.: Einsatz des verst. Pz.Gren.Rgt. 111 zur Terroristenbekämpfung im Raum um Tulle.

⁶⁶SS equivalent to 2nd Lieutenant.

⁶⁷DCAJM, TMP de Paris. N° du jugement: 1149/3775, 27 Oct. 1950 (Otto Ottenbacher). Hearing III. Examination of witness Sternkopf Paul, 15 Nov. 1946.

⁶⁸TNA, WO 219/4853, 29.

⁶⁹This pattern can also be seen with 9th Panzer Division which deployed a battle group in the Rhône Valley area during the same period. This battle group acted ruthlessly in terms of imposing reprisals. However, the victims were almost exclusively male. Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg, 377–83. The 9th Panzer Division seemed to have had strict orders for captured partisans: in all of its reports this division does not mention a single prisoner ever having been taken. IfZ Archives, MA 1785/1.

⁷⁰IfZ Archives, MA 1785/1. [Generalkommando LVIII. Panzerkorps]. Abt. Ia. Besprechungspunkte K.G. - 11.Pz.Div. 17 June 1944.

⁷¹Max Hastings, Das Reich: The March of the 2nd SS Panzer Division through France, June 1944, 3rd edn. (London: Papermac 1993).

⁷²AN, F1a/3784. C.F.L.N. Commissariat à l'Intérieur. Service Courrier. Documentation & Diffusion. Réf. à rappeler: SCDD/4/35800. Dif.: 24 May 1944. Mesures antisémites en France.

⁷³BA-MA, RW 35/551. Gen.Kdo. LVIII. Panzer-Korps. Abt. Ic Nr. 376/44 geh. 2 June 1944. Betr.: Angebliche Übergriffe von Einheiten der 2. SS-Pz.Div. ‘Das Reich’ gegen französische Zivilisten.

⁷⁴SS equivalent to Generalmajor.

⁷⁵IfZ Archives, MA 1785/1. 2. SS-Panzer Division ’Das Reich’. Ia 259/44 g.Kdos. 5 June 1944. Betr.: Maßnahmen gegen die Terroristen.

⁷⁶Jean-Jacques Fouché, Oradour (Paris: L. Levi 2001).

⁷⁷BA-MA, RS4/1293. 2.SS-Pz.Div. ‘Das Reich’. Ia/Ic. 9 June 1944. Bandenlage und Kampfführung. BA-MA, RS4/1293. III. (gp.)/SS-Pz.Gren.Rgt. 4 ‘Der Führer’. Ia. Btl.-Sonderbefehl 11 June 1944. BA-MA, RS4/1293. 2. SS-Pz.Div. ‘Das Reich’. Kommandeur. Divisionssonderbefehl 19 June 1944.

⁷⁸BA-MA, RH 19 IV/134. OB West. Ic. KTB. Tägliche Kurznotizen 6–30 June 1944. Conversation with Major Leo, 4 July 1944.

⁷⁹These were: Maillé with 123 victims (among them 42 women and 44 children; probably perpetrated by SS Replacement Battalion 17), Vassieux-en-Vercors with 72 victims (Paratroopers of ‘Kampfgruppe Schäfer’ under the command of KdS Lyon, Dr Werner Knab), Buchères with 66 victims (among them 24 women and 16 children; 51st SS Panzer Grenadier Brigade) and Rouffillac with 16 victims (among them 6 women and 4 children, 2nd SS Panzer Division). The only Wehrmacht massacre with a larger proportion of women and children among the 42 victims was Gouesnou in Brittany, committed by 3rd Navy Anti-Aircraft Brigade. This crime is unusual anyway, because it is the only one committed by units of the Kriegsmarine in anti-partisan warfare in France The largest Wehrmacht massacre in France in 1944 was at Robert-Espagne and three neighbouring villages; a battalion of 3rd Panzer Grenadier Division slaughtered 86 people on 29 Aug. 1944 in reprisal for a previous ambush by the Maquis; but as with 11th Panzer Division all the victims were male. See the charts in Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg, 574–9.

⁸⁰Lutz Klinkhammer calls this the ‘male matrix of warfare’. Lutz Klinkhammer, ‘Der Partisanenkrieg der Wehrmacht 1941–1944’, in Rolf-Dieter Müller and Hans-Erich Volkmann (eds.), Die Wehrmacht: Mythos und Realität (Munich: Oldenbourg 1999), 815–36, esp. 833–6.

⁸¹In the debate on the war crimes committed by the Wehrmacht some historians have dismissed differences between Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS with regard to political indoctrination and brutalisation See Hannes Heer's articles in Heer and Naumann, War of Extermination; Gerlach, Kalkulierte Morde; Meyer, Besatzung. More recent empirical research, however, exploded this rash theory. Jean-Luc Leleu, La Waffen-SS: Soldats Politiques en Guerre (Paris: Perrin 2007); Martin Cüppers, Wegbereiter der Shoah: Die Waffen-SS, der Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS und die Judenvernichtung 1939–1945 (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2005); Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg. On ideological indoctrination see especially the English translation of Bernd Wegner, The Waffen-SS: Organization, Ideology and Function (Oxford: Basil Blackwell 1990).

⁸²Elke Fröhlich (ed.), Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels, vol. 13 (Munich: K.G. Saur 1995), 293. Entry 23 Aug. 1944.