Helmut Dörner

Helmut Dörner (born June 26, 1909 in Munich-Gladbach ; † February 11, 1945 in Budapest ) was a German officer in the Schutzpolizei as well as the Schutzstaffel and Waffen-SS in World War II . At the end of the war he held the rank of SS-Oberführer . Dörner was one of twenty members of the Waffen-SS who were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. In 1944 he was responsible for numerous war crimes against the civilian population in Greece .

Military career

Dörner was the son of a businessman. He entered the general police service on October 6, 1927 as a police officer candidate. He completed his training at the protective police school in Bonn . After its successful completion, Dörner was transferred to the police service in Düsseldorf in 1928 . During his service there, Dörner completed his pre-military training with the Reichswehr from March 15, 1933 to November 1, 1934 in the state police department in Bonn in the rank of non-commissioned officer of the reserve . In 1934 Dörner transferred to the police service in Gladbach-Rheydt , where he served until 1937. On April 20, 1937, he was promoted to lieutenant in the protective police with effect from April 1, 1937. On May 1, 1937, he switched to the police service in Essen . In March 1938 Dörner took part in the invasion of Austria as part of the “ Anschluss ”. Previously, on January 20, 1938 , he had been promoted to lieutenant in the police force . On September 11, 1939, he was promoted to captain of the protective police .

Second World War

After the start of the Second World War , Dörner was assigned to the police division on October 1, 1939 , which had been established on that day by the main office of the Ordnungspolizei in cooperation with the military district command III on the military training area in Wander ( Mark Brandenburg ). There Dörner initially acted as a platoon leader . Later he was promoted to chief of the 2nd company. On January 1, 1940 Dörner was assigned to the main district 25 as SS-Hauptsturmführer of the reserve. On February 10, 1940, he was accepted into the Waffen SS .

In the spring of 1940 Dörner took part in the association of the police division in the western campaign. Here he was awarded the Iron Cross II and I Class on June 14 and June 19, 1940, respectively . From June 1941 he was deployed on the Eastern Front as part of the Eastern campaign . On August 5, 1941, he was wounded by a grenade off Luga , which led to the award of the black wound badge on October 2, 1941. On the same day he also received the infantry assault badge in silver. Dörner's division then advanced further east and played a key role in the Leningrad blockade . On December 24, 1941, Dörner was awarded the German Cross in Gold as SS-Hauptsturmführer of the reserve and chief of a 14th (Pz.Jg.) company . On January 1, 1942 Dörner was appointed commander of the 2nd Battalion of the SS Police Rifle Regiment . A few days later, on January 5, 1942, Dörner was promoted to major in the Schutzpolizei and at the same time promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer of the reserve. On April 1, 1942, Dörner was accepted into the service of an active SS leader in the Waffen SS with the rank of SS Hauptsturmführer . Here Dörner was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on May 15, 1942 with the rank of major . The award was made public in the press. Dörner's leadership achievements in the fighting on the Mostki taxiway in March 1942, which led to the connection between his unit and the 58th Infantry Division , are cited in the award statement .

In January 1943 Dörner completed a course at the Department Leader School for Rapid Troops in Paris . After his return to the Eastern Front, Dörner commanded parts of the SS Police Division in the Second Ladoga Battle from February 10 to February 24, 1943 as the leader of the Eastern Section . On April 20, 1943 he was promoted to SS-Obersturmbannführer . On May 23, 1943 Dörner was appointed commander of the SS Police Grenadier Regiment 8 , which he then commanded until mid-August 1944. In December 1943 the police division and its regiments were moved to Larisa . There the division was supposed to take part in the fight against partisans against the Greek People's Liberation Army ( ELAS ) as part of the Gamsbock company . The operational area was Grevena - Metsovo - Konitsa - Argos Orestiko . Here, on April 20, 1944, Dörner was promoted to SS-Standartenführer . War crimes were committed against the civilian population by members of the Police Division as part of this operation .

After the company Gamsbock was company Golden Eagle (3 to 15 July 1944) published as a port company. At least 230 people were killed as a result of atonement measures. The SS Police Grenadier Regiment 8 commanded by Dörner was particularly brutal here . In retaliation for a killed SS man, Dörner's regiment carried out a massacre of the local civilian population in the village of Grevena on July 8, 1944 . The village, with around 700 inhabitants, was empty as its inhabitants had fled from the Germans. However, Dörner's units encountered two old men who they killed. Three other toddlers were found in the area and shot. After further combing the area, members of the regiment drove 42 men, women and children into a sheepfold and set it on fire. People burned alive. Only one little boy escaped because he was able to escape through a manure drain. However, he was persecuted and shot. During this time, Dörner's headquarters were in Kipourio . When the regiment withdrew on July 13, 1944, Dörner ordered the village to be burned down. A plaque commemorates the massacre today.

The von Dörner regiment then withdrew via Romania to Hungary in front of the Red Army . On November 16, 1944 Dörner received the award of the oak leaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (650th award). In the justification for the award of the oak leaves, which was also well received in the press, Dörner's achievements were listed in September and October 1944, when his regiment played a decisive role in the destruction of a Soviet regiment near Szegedin . He was also responsible for the successful repatriation of a trapped battalion near Debrecen . In addition, Dörner's regiment distinguished itself in the fighting on the Szolnok bridgehead. In these battles, Dörner's regiment was subordinate to a tiger division. The fighting led to the binding of three Soviet corps, whereby the III. Panzer Corps at Debrecen could be relieved. From August 17 to 21, 1944 Dörner was briefly entrusted with the leadership of the 4th SS Police Panzer Grenadier Division , as the previous division commander, SS Standartenführer Karl Schümers had fallen in Arta ( Greece ).

On December 2, 1944, Dörner was removed from his post and transferred to the command reserve of the Waffen SS, where he was assigned to the IX. SS Mountain Corps was used as regimental and combat group commander. On January 15, 1945 he was promoted to SS-Oberführer in this position . On February 1, 1945 Dörner received as leader of a division combat group within the IX. SS Mountain Corps awarded the swords for oak leaves (129th award). On February 11, 1945, Dörner fell when the IX. SS Mountain Corps under the command of SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch in Budapest at the Bolny Academy .

literature

• Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 .
• Franz Thomas with the collaboration of Günter Wegmann: Die Eichenlaubträger 1940–1945 , Volume 1: A – K, Biblio-Verlag 1997, ISBN 978-3-7648-2299-6 .
• Erwin Lenfeld and Franz Thomas: Die Eichenlaubträger 1940–1945 , Weilburg-Verlag 1983, 2nd edition, ISBN 3-900100-07-1 .
• Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. : The German Defeat in the East: 1944–45 , Stackpole Military History 2007, ISBN 978-0-8117-3371-7 Short biography on google.books
• Werner Ebeling, Franz Thomas, Günter Wegmann: The knight's cross bearers of the German Wehrmacht 1939–1945 The knight's cross bearers of the infantry: Canders – Dowerk: PART III / Volume 4, ISBN 978-3-7648-2534-8 .
• Hermann Frank Meyer: Bloody edelweiss. The 1st Mountain Division in World War II , Links-Verlag 2007, ISBN 978-3-86153-447-1 Aufriss google.books

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Mitcham p. 259.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Ebeling / Thomas / Wegmann p. 354.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q} Ebeling / Thomas / Wegmann p. 355.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Scherzer p. 276.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Lenfeld / Thomas p. 677.
6. ↑ Ebeling / Thomas / Wegmann p. 353.
7. ↑ Meyer p. 573.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Meyer p. 571.
9. ↑ Meyer p. 572.
10. ↑ Meyer p. 582.
11. ↑ Meyer p. 579.
12. ↑ Γρεβενά, village in the municipality of Grevena of the locality of Grevena of the city or municipality of Grevena of the prefecture of Grevena
13. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Meyer p. 580.
14. ↑ Mitcham p. 254.