WERWOLF! This page intentionally left blank PERRY BIDDISCOMBE Werwolf! The History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement, 1944-1946 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo www.utppublishing.com © University of Toronto Press Incorporated 1998 Toronto Buffalo Printed in Canada ISBN 0-8020-0862-3 (cloth) Printed on acid-free paper Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Biddiscombe, Alexander Perry, 1959- Werwolf! : the history of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement, 1944-1946 Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8020-0862-3 1. Unternehmen Werwolf. 2. World War, 1939-1945 - Germany. 3. Germany - History - 1933-1945. I. Title. D757.B541998 940.5313810943 C97-931453-4 This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii FOREIGN TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ix Introduction 3 1 Gothic Guerrillas: The Bureau 'Priitzmann' and the SS-Werwolf 10 The Organization of the SS-Werwolf 12 / The Eastern Front 19 / The Western Front 22 / Organizational Problems 30 / Werwolf Terrorism 36 / Final Disintegration 45 / Postwar Activities 49 2 A Nursery Tale: The Hitler Youth and the Werwolf 57 The Militarization of the Hitler Youth 57 / The Hitler Youth Guerrilla Program 59 / Regional Variants 65 / The Psychology of HJ Guerrillas 68 / Postwar Activities 74 / The Axmann Plan 76 3 A Werwolf War: The Military and the Kleinkrieg 87 Guerrilla Warfare on the Eastern Front 88 / Improving Relations between the Army and the Werwolf 91 / Guerrilla Warfare along the Western Front 98 / Military Opinions Change 109 4 Reign of Terror: The Party and the Werwolf 117 The Volkssturm 1187 The Party and Werwolf Propaganda 123 / Bormann and the Werwolf 126 / Party Cadres and Guerrilla Warfare 130 / Bormann's Can- cellation of the Werwolf 132 / Party Capacities for Resistance 133 / Goebbels and the Werwolf 135 / Werwolf Radio 137 / Claims and Implicit Instruc- tions 139/Radicalization 141 / Adolescent Romanticism 145/The End of Werwolf Radio 148 vi Contents 5 Werwolf Redoubts 151 The Luneburg Heath 152/Schleswig-Holstein 1547 The Sauerland 156/The Odenwald 1587The Harz 158/The Thuringian Forest 166/The Bavarian and Bohemian Forests 168 / The Black Forest 171 / The Alps 177 / Forests in Brandenburg 192 / Schwarzenberg 195 6 The Werwolf along Germany's Periphery 198 Alsace-Lorraine 199/Eupen-Malmedy 203/Denmark 204 /The Polish 'Western Territories' 206 / Czechia and the Sudetenland 226 / The South Tyrol 244 7 Western Allied and Soviet Reactions to the Werwolf 252 Allied Occupation Policy 252 / Allied Justice 254 / Allied Reprisals 255 / Postwar Allied Control Measures 264 / Allied Military Strategy and the Threat of Guerrilla Warfare 266 / Soviet Occupation and Reprisal Policies 268 8 Consequences and Significance of the Werwolf 275 APPENDICES Appendix A: The Werwolf as a Research Problem: A Historiographical Essay 289 Appendix B: Charts and Tables 300 Chart 1: Dienststelle Prutzmann 300 Chart 2: The SS-Police Command Structure 301 Chart 3: An Example of Regional Werwolf Organization - The Werwolf Staff of HSSPF Gutenberger 302 Table 1: HSSPF in the Greater Reich, Autumn 1944 303 Table 2: Gauleiter in the Greater Reich, Summer 1944 304 NOTES 305 BIBLIOGRAPHY 417 ILLUSTRATION SOURCES AND CREDITS 425 INDEX 427 Acknowledgments First of all, I want to express my deepest appreciation to my PhD supervisor, Professor D.C. Watt. On many occasions, when the path seemed lost, Professor Watt kept me on course and provided a sense of direction for my work. I also found inspiration in his excellent scholarship, and I hope that this work fully meets the high standards that he has always set for himself and his students. Thanks also to Professors Richard Overy and Zara Steiner, who read the disser- tation from which this text is descended, and presided over my viva in 1991. Their help and advice are also appreciated. I would also like to thank the many librarians and archivists who helped me over the decade from 1985 to 1995, particularly Dr Wolfe, Mr Reese, and Mrs Marks, at the U.S. National Archives; Mme Hepp at the Service Historique de 1'Armee de Terre; Dr Werner at the Bundesarchiv; and Dr Ringsdorf at the Bundesmilitararchiv. Professor Nish, of the London School of Economics, kindly pointed me towards the Bramstedt Collection in the Robbins Library, while Professor Erickson, of the University of Edinburgh, helped me with sources related to the Eastern Front. A PhD student previously under my co- supervision here at the University of Victoria, Chris Madsen, helpfully volun- teered several pieces of information on the Werwolf that he came across in the course of his research on the demobilization of the German Navy in 1945-6. My compliments also to the Interlibrary Loans staffs at the University of New Brunswick and the University of Victoria for their extensive efforts to gather much essential material for me. A number of people provided me with their reminiscences, either in inter- views or by letter, and to these people I am especially grateful. Everyone who helped me out in this way is listed in the bibliography. My thanks are due also to the German Historical Institute, London, and to the viii Acknowledgments Central Research Fund of the University of London, which provided the gener- ous funding for research trips to Germany and France. I am also grateful for the work done by Mrs Margaret Pirie, of Fredericton, NB, who diligently typed her way through reams of material and word-pro- cessed an early version of the text. Thanks also to Mrs June Bull and Mrs Kathy Mariam at the University of Victoria, both of whom worked on my extensive rewrites of various chapters. Thanks as well to Rob Ferguson, at the University of Toronto Press, who gave me a hearing at a major publishing house and helped to guide my efforts through to the point of completion. Finally, I want to express my gratitude and love to my family, particularly my son, Alex; my mother; and my grandmother. Most of all, I want to thank my wife, Sharon, who has used her expertise as a librarian to help me in the prepa- ration of my bibliography and has patiently supported me through a long and sometimes trying exercise. I could have done nothing without her. February 1997 Victoria, BC Foreign Terms and Abbreviations Abwehr lit. 'defence'; German Military Intelligence AFP Agence France-Presse Allgemeine-SS General-SS 'Antifa' Anti-Fascist Committee BdM Federation of German Girls (Bund deutscher Madel), female branch of the HJ BdS Security Police Commanders (Befehlshaber des Sicherheitsdienst) Biirgermeister mayor CAD Civil Affairs Division CIC American Army Counter-intelligence Corps DAF German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront) Deuxieme Bureau French Intelligence Edelweiss Piraten dissident youth gangs EPD German Unification Pary (Einigungspartei Deutschlands) FAK German Front Intelligence (Front Aufklarung) FFI French Forces of the Interior (Forces Fran?aises 1'Interieur), armed wing of the French Resistance FHO Foreign Armies East (Fremde Heere Ost), German High Command Intelligence on the Eastern Front Fliisterpropaganda whisper propaganda franc-tireur sniper in civilian clothes Gau (pi. Gaue) Nazi Party administrative region Gauleiter Nazi regional chief Gauleitung regional Nazi Party leadership staff Gebirgsjager German mountain troops Gestapo Secret State Police during the Third Reich (Geheimstaatspolizei); part of the RSHA