Post by hunter on Oct 14, 2019 9:09:17 GMT
The 18th of December 1944: SS-Untersturmführer Stiewe and an unidentified SS-Rottenführer pose under an American ‘M8’ armoured car.
Siegfried Stiewe was born in the Pomeranian town of Damerkow (today Dąbrówka in Poland) on the 13th of January 1924 and joined the Waffen-SS on the 1st of May 1942. After basic training he was assigned to the 3. (le.SPW) Kompanie of company commander SS-Hauptsturmführer Knittel and was promoted to SS-Sturmmann on the 1st of January 1943. He attended the SS Junkerschule in Braunschweig and graduated in October 1944. He then returned to the SS-PzAA1 and served as Knittel's aide in the Ardennes. Stiewe is listed as missing near the Hungarian city of Komárom since March 1945. The late Walter Herrmann from 2./SS-PzAA1 - was our eyewitness:
"After we had walked quite a distance we came across a road. Two Russians walked towards us from the other side of the road. We took cover and let them pass. We then crossed the road ‘im Sprung auf marsch, marsch’ (get up, on the double). The two Russians were alarmed by the noise this made and opened fire. Of all people, [SS-]Sturmmann Fischer, who earlier had fallen asleep in his foxhole, was shot through a knee. Of course we had to drag him along. One arm around Stiewe, the other around me. Since Stiewe was 1.80m tall and I was just 1.64m short, Fischer hung around his neck whereas I had to cope with his full weight. It did not take long before I collapsed and I was replaced by [SS-]Unterscharführer Warnke. He was about the same height as Stiewe which meant the wounded man was able to hobble along on his good leg. We approached a forest and hoped to be safe. Shortly before the forest someone shouted: ‘Eu Stotterkoj’ (stojte kto – halt, who goes there). Stiewe replied: ‘Verwundete’ (wounded men). On the other side the response was: ‘Nemetzkis, Nemetzkis!’ (Germans, Germans!) and then they opened fire like I had never experienced before or since. Like all comrades I immediately hit the dirt. At the barracks yard we had been drilled to turn on our belt buckles. I then crawled away. When I got the chance to look up I saw my comrades run. I also jumped up and followed them. When I noticed rifles, machine guns and overcoats laying around, I realised why my comrades were faster than me. While running I threw off my dispatch case, got out of my overcoat and then I also managed to run faster. The comrades lay in a small swale. We were totally exhausted. Fortunately the Russians did not follow. The wounded Fischer was there but Stiewe and Warnke were nowhere to be seen. I asked him, didn’t they carry you? They had collapsed the moment the shooting had started. He had turned around and just ran until someone supported him. That was [SS-]Rottenführer Prosdewitz, but he also had not seen the two. We then asked [SS-]Unterscharführer Erwin Viergutz […] He suggested I should take command. I then told the others that I would walk in the direction of the battle noises. Those who wanted to join me should do so, otherwise I would go on my own. All along we had heard the sound of tank guns as background music and Stiewe believed this to be the sound of our Tiger and Panther tanks. He refused to believe that this was the sound of T-34’s. It was clear to me that in the direction of these battle noises lay our only chance to find our lines. With the wounded in the middle we walked on. Somewhere we reached a river which we followed. We then reached a road which crossed the river. Russian tanks, jeeps and other combat vehicles moved from right to left, ambulances from left to right. We carried the wounded on our shoulders as we waded into the river on the other side of the road. At some distance from the bridge the clambered out of the water. After some time we reached a village were we found marks of SPW tracks in the sand. Two of us sneaked into the village. They met a man who stated he was German and who told them that the last German soldiers had left the village for the neighbouring village the previous evening. He accompanied them to our hideout and showed us the way to the neighbouring village. As we approached that village we spotted an 8.8cm ‘Flak’ gun. A soldier shouted ‘Sie kommen’ (they’re coming), threw his rifle away and fled. The gun crew came forth and we identified ourselves as Germans. With that we had really made it back to our lines. Our wounded were carried to an aid station and we moved on. Meanwhile it was 5.00hrs."
SS-Unterscharführer Hermann Warnke (Ribnitz, Mecklenburg, the 28th of May 1923) is also missing since March 1945, their graves are not listed by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräbersfürsorge e.V. Walter Herrmann explained that none of the members of the group considered recovering the bodies of Stiewe and Warnke:
“in our hopeless situation all we could think about was survival”.
He continued:
“late November 1945 I was released from American captivity. Approx. 1954/55 Stiewe’s father – Oberstleutnant Josef Stiewe – paid me a visit. I had found the names of Stiewe and Warnke in the missing-persons lists and had provided the corresponding missing-in-action statements. That’s how the father got my address. I gently informed him that he should not count on the safe return of his son. I spared him the specifics."