Hermann Priess

Hermann August Fredrich Priess (24 May 1901 – 2 February 1985) was a German general in the Waffen-SS and a war criminal during World War II. He commanded the SS Division Totenkopf ("Death's Head") following the death of Theodor Eicke in February 1943. On 30 October 1944 he was appointed commander of the I SS Panzer Corps and led it during the Battle of the Bulge.

Hermann Priess
Born(1901-05-24)24 May 1901
Marnitz, German Empire
Died2 February 1985(1985-02-02) (aged 83)
Ahrensburg, West Germany
Allegiance German Empire (to 1918)
 Weimar Republic (to 1933)
 Nazi Germany
Service/branch Waffen-SS
Years of service1919–31, 1934–45
RankSS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS
Service numberNSDAP #1,472,296
SS #113,258[1]
Commands heldSS Division Totenkopf
I SS Panzer Corps
Battles/warsEstonian War of Independence

World War II

AwardsKnight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
War crimes
Criminal statusDeceased
Conviction(s)War crimes
TrialMalmedy massacre trial
Criminal penalty20 years imprisonment

After the war, Priess was convicted of war crimes for his involvement in the Malmedy massacre, and was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. He was released from the Landsberg Prison in 1954.

Career

Born in 1901, Priess volunteered for military service in the army of the German Empire in January 1919, which was transformed to the Reichsheer in the Weimar Republic. Due to the limitations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, his regiment was disbanded. He then joined the paramilitary group Freikorps and fought in the Estonian War of Independence. In 1920, he returned to the army and was discharged in June 1931.[2]

On 24 October 1944, Priess succeeded Georg Keppler as commander of I SS Panzer Corps. He led this formation, as part of the 6th Panzer Army, in the failed Ardennenoffensive, which was dubbed the Battle of the Bulge. The objective of the offensive was to split the British and American line in half, so the Germans could then proceed to encircle and destroy four Allied armies, forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty with the Axis Powers. Subordinated to I SS Panzer Corps was Kampfgruppe "Peiper", led by Joachim Peiper. Peiper's command was responsible for the Malmedy massacre, a war crime in which 84 American prisoners of war were murdered by their German captors near Malmedy, Belgium.[3]

After the Ardennes offensive, the 6th SS Panzer Army was transferred to Hungary, where it fought against the advancing Soviet Army. The I SS Panzer Corps arrived in Hungary in early February 1945. There, Priess committed his forces in Operation Southwind against the Hron Bridgehead, a strong position formed by the Soviets over the Danube near the town of Esztergom, destroying the bridgehead by the end of February. He then commanded I SS Panzer Corps in Operation Spring Awakening, the last major German offensive of World War II. The attack, centered in the Lake Balaton area, began on 6 March 1945 and ended with a German defeat on 16 March 1945.[4]

War crimes trial and conviction

In May 1945, Priess surrendered to the U.S. forces. He started working for the US Army Historical Division at the Camp King. From May–July 1946, he became one of 73 defendants at the Malmedy massacre trial held in the Dachau internment camp. Along with Sepp Dietrich, Joachim Peiper and others, Priess was charged with his complicity in murder of over 300 American POWs and 100 Belgian civilians between 16 December 1944 and 13 January 1945.[5] Priess was found guilty of having ordered his men to fight with "reckless brutality and hardness", and relaying orders that the troops "were to be preceded by a wave of terror and fright, that no humane inhibitions were to be shown, and that every resistance was to be broken by terror."[6]

On 16 July, Priess was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. In October 1954, he was released prior to serving his full sentence from the Landsberg Prison. Priess died in 1985.[7]

Summary of SS career
Awards
Promotions
26 February 1935:SS-Untersturmführer[2]
15 September 1935:SS-Obersturmführer[2]
13 September 1936:SS-Hauptsturmführer[2]
20 April 1939:SS-Sturmbannführer[2]
1 August 1940:SS-Obersturmbannführer[2]
21 June 1941:SS-Standartenführer[2]
13 July 1942:SS-Oberführer[2]
15 July 1943:SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor of the Waffen-SS[11]
20 April 1944:SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS[4]

See also

References

Citations
  1. Westemeier 2013, p. 727.
  2. Stockert 1997, p. 407.
  3. Stockert 1997, pp. 409–410.
  4. Stockert 1997, p. 409.
  5. War Crimes Office (1948). "Case Number 6-24 (US vs. Valentin Bersin et al.)". U.S. Army Trial Reviews and Recommendations. United States Department of War. Archived from the original on 2017-09-25. Retrieved 2006-12-18. This is a web transcription of microfilmed archives of the original US Army documents. See the site's introduction Archived 2006-12-19 at the Wayback Machine for more information. The URL is to a HTML frame, you must select "US011" in the left pane to get to case "6-24". The direct URL to the case page is here Archived 2007-07-23 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. "United States vs Valentin Bersin, et al". October 20, 1947.
  7. Stockert 1997, p. 410.
  8. Thomas 1998, p. 172.
  9. Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 359.
  10. Scherzer 2007, p. 604.
  11. Stockert 1997, p. 408.

Bibliography
  • Berger, Florian (1999). Mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern. Die höchstdekorierten Soldaten des Zweiten Weltkrieges [With Oak Leaves and Swords. The Highest Decorated Soldiers of the Second World War] (in German). Vienna, Austria: Selbstverlag Florian Berger. ISBN 978-3-9501307-0-6.
  • Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II [The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2] (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8.
  • Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
  • Stockert, Peter (1997). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 3 [The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 3] (in German). Bad Friedrichshall, Germany: Friedrichshaller Rundblick. ISBN 978-3-932915-01-7.
  • 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.
  • Westemeier, Jens (2013). Himmlers Krieger: Joachim Peiper und die Waffen-SS in Krieg und Nachkriegszeit [Himmler's Warriors: Joachim Peiper and the Waffen-SS during the War and Post-War Period]. Paderborn, Germany: Ferdinand Schöningh. ISBN 978-3-506-77241-1.
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