SS Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke was one of the original 120 Members of the SS Staff Guard "Berlin" formed in March 1933. From those ranks, Mohnke was to rise to become one of Adolf Hitler's last remaining generals.
Mohnke was born in Lübeck on March 15, 1911. His father, who shared his name with his son, was a cabinetmaker. After his father's death, he went to work for a glass and porcelain manufacturer, eventually reaching a management position. Mohnke joined the Nazi Party on September 1, 1931, and the SS two months later.
Mohnke led the Fifth Company of the Second Battalion of the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler at the outset of the Battle of France in 1940, taking command of the 2nd Battalion on May 28, after the battalion commander was wounded.
He commanded the 2nd Battalion during the Balkans Campaign, where he lost a foot in a Yugoslavian air attack on April 6, 1941, the first day of the campaign. It was the decision of the medics that his leg would need to be amputated, but Mohnke overrode them. His wound was so grievous that they were still forced to remove his foot. While recuperating he was awarded the German Cross in Gold, due to the severity of his injury.
It was Mohnke who planted the seed for the formation of the LSSAH Panzerabteilung early in 1942, after returning to active service. He appointed Ralf Tiemann as his adjutant, whose first official task was finding recruits. Tiemann then proceeded to compile a list, eventually with enough names to fill two companies. While the newly wed Sepp Dietrich presented his new wife to his officers on January 14, Mohnke presented the Divisional Commander with his personnel list, which had in the meantime turned into transfer orders. Dietrich, who was caught unawares, finally relented to Mohnke's pressure and signed the paper. So was born the Panzerwaffe of the Leibstandarte "Adolf Hitler". It was not to be though, and Mohnke was relieved of his command and transferred to the replacement battalion on March 16, 1942.
On September 2, 1943, 16,000 new recruits of the Hitlerjugend born in 1926, took part in the formation of the 12th SS Panzerdivision Hitler Jugend. Obersturmbannführer Mohnke was given command of the SS-Pz. Gren. Rgt 26, which was the second regiment formed in the 12th SS Hitlerjugend.
Mohnke was one of the few to lead organized resistance on the Western Bank in order to protect the river crossings during the Falaise Pocket. He led this Kampfgruppe until August 31, when he replaced the injured Theodor Wisch. This promotion is the subject of much speculation as to why Mohnke was given command of the LSSAH when SS Standartenführer Joachim Peiper had much more combat experience. Peiper, the youngest regimental commander in the Waffen SS, was perhaps considered too junior to command a division.
Operation Wacht am Rhein was the final major offensive and last gamble Hitler was to make. Mohnke, now in command of his home division, was to lead his formation as the spearhead of the entire operation in the Ardennes. Attached to the I SS Panzer Corps, the LSSAH - once one of the most elite and highly trained units in the entire German military - was now just a shadow of its former self. The large numbers of casualties sustained by the LSSAH meant that it had been reinforced with extremely young soldiers who had hardly been trained before they were sent to the front. To top it off, the crisis in the Reich meant that the LSSAH had dangerously low amounts of fuel for the vehicles that they depended on to make the division a viable fighting force. There was one major factor that enabled Mohnke to lead his dwindling division into one of the most famous battles - the officer corps under Mohnke consisted of battle hardened and experienced veterans. On December 16, 1944, the operation began, with Mohnke designating his best Colonel, Standartenführer Joachim Peiper, and his regiment to lead the push to Antwerp.
By 07.00 hrs on the 17th, Peiper's regiment had seized the American fuel dump at Büllingen. At 12.30 that same day at a crossroads near Malmedy, Peiper's men shot and killed at least 86 US POW's. The Malmedy Massacre, as it was to become known, is one of the most infamous killings of the war. Since Kampfgruppe Peiper, the perpetrators of the massacre, were under Mohnke's command there have been several accusations that he was personally responsible, yet he was never found guilty of the crime. By the evening of the 17th, the leading element of the LSSAH was engaged with the 99th US Division at Stavelot. Mohnke's division was behind their deadline by at least 36 hours by the end of the second day. Progress was further delayed by the retreating troops blowing up important bridges and fuel dumps that Mohnke had counted on taking intact.
With each passing day, enemy resistance stiffened and the advance was eventually halted on all fronts. Desperate to keep the assault going, the German High Command ordered that a renewed attack begin on January 2, 1945. Yet this time, the Allies had regrouped their forces and were ready to repulse any attacks launched by the Germans. The operation formally ended on January 27, 1945, and three days later Mohnke was promoted to SS Brigadeführer. A short while later LSSAH and the 'I SS Panzer Korps' were transferred to Hungary to bolster the crumbling situation there. Mohnke was injured in an air raid where he suffered, among other things, ear damage. He was removed from front line service and put on the Führer reserve.
After recovering from his wounds, Mohnke was personally appointed by Hitler as the Commander of the Reich Chancellery Defense. He formed the Kampfgruppe Mohnke out of 9 SS battalions, including the remnants of LSSAH Wach Regiment, LSSAH Ausbildungs und Ersatz Battalion from Spreenhagen, and the Führer Begleit Kompanie and the Reichsführer SS Begleit Battalion. Although Hitler had appointed General Helmuth Weidling as Defense Commandant of Berlin, Mohnke remained free of Weidling's command to maintain his defense objectives of the Reich Chancellery and the Führerbunker.
Since his fighting force was located at the nerve center of the German Third Reich it fell under the heaviest artillery bombardment of the war which began as a birthday present to Hitler on April 20, 1945, and lasted to the end of hostilities on May 8, 1945. Under pressure from the most intense shelling, Mohnke and his SS Troops put up extremely stiff resistance against impossible odds. The combined total of his SS Kampfgruppe and General Weidling's LVI Panzer Corps totaled 250,000 men and 700 AFVs against the 2.5 million men of three Russian Army groups.
The Russian race to take control of the Reich Chancellery condemned Mohnke's men to bitter and bloody street fighting. Completely encircled and cut off from reinforcements, without hope of relief or withdrawal, his Kampfgruppe fought off the Russian advances, inflicting heavy and costly casualties.
While the Battle of Berlin was raging around them, Hitler ordered Mohnke to set up a Military Tribunal for Hermann Fegelein, adjutant to Heinrich Himmler, in order to try the man for desertion. Mohnke, deciding that the Obergruppenführer deserved a fair trial by other high ranking officers, put together a tribunal consisting of Generals Hans Krebs, Wilhelm Burgdorf, Johann Rattenhuber, and himself. Following a failed attempt to try Fegelein, and finding him completely flagrant and belligerent and not in a right state of mind to stand trial, Mohnke dismissed the case and released him to General Rattenhuber. Fegelein was not seen alive again.
With the news of Hitler's death, many of his remaining top officials, including Mohnke, planned to escape from Berlin to the Allies on the western side of the Elbe. They split into three groups. Mohnke's group left the Fuhrerbunker on May 1, and included Hitler's personal pilot, Hans Baur, the chief of his bodyguard, Hans Rattenhuber, secretary Traudl Junge, secretary Gerda Christian, secretary Else Krüger, Hitler's dietician, Constanze Manziarly, Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck, and various others. Mohnke planned to break out towards the German Army that was positioned in Prinzenallee. The group was captured whilst hiding in a cellar by the Soviets on the morning of May, 2.
Later on May 2, 1945, General Weidling ordered the complete surrender of all resisting German Forces still remaining in Berlin. However, Mohnke's SS Personnel kept up pockets of resistance throughout the city. Some groups did not surrender until May 8, 1945.
Mohnke was kept in solitary confinement until 1949, then transferred to the Generals's Prison in Woikowo. He remained in captivity until October 10, 1955. Following his release, he worked as a dealer in small trucks and trailers, living in Barsbüttel, Germany.
Despite a campaign, led by the British member of Parliament Jeff Rooker, to prosecute him for his alleged involvement in war crimes during the early part of the war, Wilhelm Mohnke was able to live out the remainder of his years in peace. He died in the coastal village of Damp, near Eckernförde in Schleswig-Holstein in August 2001, at the venerable age of 90.
Mohnke was born in Lübeck on March 15, 1911. His father, who shared his name with his son, was a cabinetmaker. After his father's death, he went to work for a glass and porcelain manufacturer, eventually reaching a management position. Mohnke joined the Nazi Party on September 1, 1931, and the SS two months later.
Mohnke led the Fifth Company of the Second Battalion of the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler at the outset of the Battle of France in 1940, taking command of the 2nd Battalion on May 28, after the battalion commander was wounded.
He commanded the 2nd Battalion during the Balkans Campaign, where he lost a foot in a Yugoslavian air attack on April 6, 1941, the first day of the campaign. It was the decision of the medics that his leg would need to be amputated, but Mohnke overrode them. His wound was so grievous that they were still forced to remove his foot. While recuperating he was awarded the German Cross in Gold, due to the severity of his injury.
It was Mohnke who planted the seed for the formation of the LSSAH Panzerabteilung early in 1942, after returning to active service. He appointed Ralf Tiemann as his adjutant, whose first official task was finding recruits. Tiemann then proceeded to compile a list, eventually with enough names to fill two companies. While the newly wed Sepp Dietrich presented his new wife to his officers on January 14, Mohnke presented the Divisional Commander with his personnel list, which had in the meantime turned into transfer orders. Dietrich, who was caught unawares, finally relented to Mohnke's pressure and signed the paper. So was born the Panzerwaffe of the Leibstandarte "Adolf Hitler". It was not to be though, and Mohnke was relieved of his command and transferred to the replacement battalion on March 16, 1942.
On September 2, 1943, 16,000 new recruits of the Hitlerjugend born in 1926, took part in the formation of the 12th SS Panzerdivision Hitler Jugend. Obersturmbannführer Mohnke was given command of the SS-Pz. Gren. Rgt 26, which was the second regiment formed in the 12th SS Hitlerjugend.
Mohnke was one of the few to lead organized resistance on the Western Bank in order to protect the river crossings during the Falaise Pocket. He led this Kampfgruppe until August 31, when he replaced the injured Theodor Wisch. This promotion is the subject of much speculation as to why Mohnke was given command of the LSSAH when SS Standartenführer Joachim Peiper had much more combat experience. Peiper, the youngest regimental commander in the Waffen SS, was perhaps considered too junior to command a division.
Operation Wacht am Rhein was the final major offensive and last gamble Hitler was to make. Mohnke, now in command of his home division, was to lead his formation as the spearhead of the entire operation in the Ardennes. Attached to the I SS Panzer Corps, the LSSAH - once one of the most elite and highly trained units in the entire German military - was now just a shadow of its former self. The large numbers of casualties sustained by the LSSAH meant that it had been reinforced with extremely young soldiers who had hardly been trained before they were sent to the front. To top it off, the crisis in the Reich meant that the LSSAH had dangerously low amounts of fuel for the vehicles that they depended on to make the division a viable fighting force. There was one major factor that enabled Mohnke to lead his dwindling division into one of the most famous battles - the officer corps under Mohnke consisted of battle hardened and experienced veterans. On December 16, 1944, the operation began, with Mohnke designating his best Colonel, Standartenführer Joachim Peiper, and his regiment to lead the push to Antwerp.
By 07.00 hrs on the 17th, Peiper's regiment had seized the American fuel dump at Büllingen. At 12.30 that same day at a crossroads near Malmedy, Peiper's men shot and killed at least 86 US POW's. The Malmedy Massacre, as it was to become known, is one of the most infamous killings of the war. Since Kampfgruppe Peiper, the perpetrators of the massacre, were under Mohnke's command there have been several accusations that he was personally responsible, yet he was never found guilty of the crime. By the evening of the 17th, the leading element of the LSSAH was engaged with the 99th US Division at Stavelot. Mohnke's division was behind their deadline by at least 36 hours by the end of the second day. Progress was further delayed by the retreating troops blowing up important bridges and fuel dumps that Mohnke had counted on taking intact.
With each passing day, enemy resistance stiffened and the advance was eventually halted on all fronts. Desperate to keep the assault going, the German High Command ordered that a renewed attack begin on January 2, 1945. Yet this time, the Allies had regrouped their forces and were ready to repulse any attacks launched by the Germans. The operation formally ended on January 27, 1945, and three days later Mohnke was promoted to SS Brigadeführer. A short while later LSSAH and the 'I SS Panzer Korps' were transferred to Hungary to bolster the crumbling situation there. Mohnke was injured in an air raid where he suffered, among other things, ear damage. He was removed from front line service and put on the Führer reserve.
After recovering from his wounds, Mohnke was personally appointed by Hitler as the Commander of the Reich Chancellery Defense. He formed the Kampfgruppe Mohnke out of 9 SS battalions, including the remnants of LSSAH Wach Regiment, LSSAH Ausbildungs und Ersatz Battalion from Spreenhagen, and the Führer Begleit Kompanie and the Reichsführer SS Begleit Battalion. Although Hitler had appointed General Helmuth Weidling as Defense Commandant of Berlin, Mohnke remained free of Weidling's command to maintain his defense objectives of the Reich Chancellery and the Führerbunker.
Since his fighting force was located at the nerve center of the German Third Reich it fell under the heaviest artillery bombardment of the war which began as a birthday present to Hitler on April 20, 1945, and lasted to the end of hostilities on May 8, 1945. Under pressure from the most intense shelling, Mohnke and his SS Troops put up extremely stiff resistance against impossible odds. The combined total of his SS Kampfgruppe and General Weidling's LVI Panzer Corps totaled 250,000 men and 700 AFVs against the 2.5 million men of three Russian Army groups.
The Russian race to take control of the Reich Chancellery condemned Mohnke's men to bitter and bloody street fighting. Completely encircled and cut off from reinforcements, without hope of relief or withdrawal, his Kampfgruppe fought off the Russian advances, inflicting heavy and costly casualties.
While the Battle of Berlin was raging around them, Hitler ordered Mohnke to set up a Military Tribunal for Hermann Fegelein, adjutant to Heinrich Himmler, in order to try the man for desertion. Mohnke, deciding that the Obergruppenführer deserved a fair trial by other high ranking officers, put together a tribunal consisting of Generals Hans Krebs, Wilhelm Burgdorf, Johann Rattenhuber, and himself. Following a failed attempt to try Fegelein, and finding him completely flagrant and belligerent and not in a right state of mind to stand trial, Mohnke dismissed the case and released him to General Rattenhuber. Fegelein was not seen alive again.
With the news of Hitler's death, many of his remaining top officials, including Mohnke, planned to escape from Berlin to the Allies on the western side of the Elbe. They split into three groups. Mohnke's group left the Fuhrerbunker on May 1, and included Hitler's personal pilot, Hans Baur, the chief of his bodyguard, Hans Rattenhuber, secretary Traudl Junge, secretary Gerda Christian, secretary Else Krüger, Hitler's dietician, Constanze Manziarly, Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck, and various others. Mohnke planned to break out towards the German Army that was positioned in Prinzenallee. The group was captured whilst hiding in a cellar by the Soviets on the morning of May, 2.
Later on May 2, 1945, General Weidling ordered the complete surrender of all resisting German Forces still remaining in Berlin. However, Mohnke's SS Personnel kept up pockets of resistance throughout the city. Some groups did not surrender until May 8, 1945.
Mohnke was kept in solitary confinement until 1949, then transferred to the Generals's Prison in Woikowo. He remained in captivity until October 10, 1955. Following his release, he worked as a dealer in small trucks and trailers, living in Barsbüttel, Germany.
Despite a campaign, led by the British member of Parliament Jeff Rooker, to prosecute him for his alleged involvement in war crimes during the early part of the war, Wilhelm Mohnke was able to live out the remainder of his years in peace. He died in the coastal village of Damp, near Eckernförde in Schleswig-Holstein in August 2001, at the venerable age of 90.
SS Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke was one of the original 120 Members of the SS Staff Guard "Berlin" formed in March 1933. From those ranks, Mohnke was to rise to become one of Adolf Hitler's last remaining generals.
Mohnke was born in Lübeck on March 15, 1911. His father, who shared his name with his son, was a cabinetmaker. After his father's death, he went to work for a glass and porcelain manufacturer, eventually reaching a management position. Mohnke joined the Nazi Party on September 1, 1931, and the SS two months later.
Mohnke led the Fifth Company of the Second Battalion of the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler at the outset of the Battle of France in 1940, taking command of the 2nd Battalion on May 28, after the battalion commander was wounded.
He commanded the 2nd Battalion during the Balkans Campaign, where he lost a foot in a Yugoslavian air attack on April 6, 1941, the first day of the campaign. It was the decision of the medics that his leg would need to be amputated, but Mohnke overrode them. His wound was so grievous that they were still forced to remove his foot. While recuperating he was awarded the German Cross in Gold, due to the severity of his injury.
It was Mohnke who planted the seed for the formation of the LSSAH Panzerabteilung early in 1942, after returning to active service. He appointed Ralf Tiemann as his adjutant, whose first official task was finding recruits. Tiemann then proceeded to compile a list, eventually with enough names to fill two companies. While the newly wed Sepp Dietrich presented his new wife to his officers on January 14, Mohnke presented the Divisional Commander with his personnel list, which had in the meantime turned into transfer orders. Dietrich, who was caught unawares, finally relented to Mohnke's pressure and signed the paper. So was born the Panzerwaffe of the Leibstandarte "Adolf Hitler". It was not to be though, and Mohnke was relieved of his command and transferred to the replacement battalion on March 16, 1942.
On September 2, 1943, 16,000 new recruits of the Hitlerjugend born in 1926, took part in the formation of the 12th SS Panzerdivision Hitler Jugend. Obersturmbannführer Mohnke was given command of the SS-Pz. Gren. Rgt 26, which was the second regiment formed in the 12th SS Hitlerjugend.
Mohnke was one of the few to lead organized resistance on the Western Bank in order to protect the river crossings during the Falaise Pocket. He led this Kampfgruppe until August 31, when he replaced the injured Theodor Wisch. This promotion is the subject of much speculation as to why Mohnke was given command of the LSSAH when SS Standartenführer Joachim Peiper had much more combat experience. Peiper, the youngest regimental commander in the Waffen SS, was perhaps considered too junior to command a division.
Operation Wacht am Rhein was the final major offensive and last gamble Hitler was to make. Mohnke, now in command of his home division, was to lead his formation as the spearhead of the entire operation in the Ardennes. Attached to the I SS Panzer Corps, the LSSAH - once one of the most elite and highly trained units in the entire German military - was now just a shadow of its former self. The large numbers of casualties sustained by the LSSAH meant that it had been reinforced with extremely young soldiers who had hardly been trained before they were sent to the front. To top it off, the crisis in the Reich meant that the LSSAH had dangerously low amounts of fuel for the vehicles that they depended on to make the division a viable fighting force. There was one major factor that enabled Mohnke to lead his dwindling division into one of the most famous battles - the officer corps under Mohnke consisted of battle hardened and experienced veterans. On December 16, 1944, the operation began, with Mohnke designating his best Colonel, Standartenführer Joachim Peiper, and his regiment to lead the push to Antwerp.
By 07.00 hrs on the 17th, Peiper's regiment had seized the American fuel dump at Büllingen. At 12.30 that same day at a crossroads near Malmedy, Peiper's men shot and killed at least 86 US POW's. The Malmedy Massacre, as it was to become known, is one of the most infamous killings of the war. Since Kampfgruppe Peiper, the perpetrators of the massacre, were under Mohnke's command there have been several accusations that he was personally responsible, yet he was never found guilty of the crime. By the evening of the 17th, the leading element of the LSSAH was engaged with the 99th US Division at Stavelot. Mohnke's division was behind their deadline by at least 36 hours by the end of the second day. Progress was further delayed by the retreating troops blowing up important bridges and fuel dumps that Mohnke had counted on taking intact.
With each passing day, enemy resistance stiffened and the advance was eventually halted on all fronts. Desperate to keep the assault going, the German High Command ordered that a renewed attack begin on January 2, 1945. Yet this time, the Allies had regrouped their forces and were ready to repulse any attacks launched by the Germans. The operation formally ended on January 27, 1945, and three days later Mohnke was promoted to SS Brigadeführer. A short while later LSSAH and the 'I SS Panzer Korps' were transferred to Hungary to bolster the crumbling situation there. Mohnke was injured in an air raid where he suffered, among other things, ear damage. He was removed from front line service and put on the Führer reserve.
After recovering from his wounds, Mohnke was personally appointed by Hitler as the Commander of the Reich Chancellery Defense. He formed the Kampfgruppe Mohnke out of 9 SS battalions, including the remnants of LSSAH Wach Regiment, LSSAH Ausbildungs und Ersatz Battalion from Spreenhagen, and the Führer Begleit Kompanie and the Reichsführer SS Begleit Battalion. Although Hitler had appointed General Helmuth Weidling as Defense Commandant of Berlin, Mohnke remained free of Weidling's command to maintain his defense objectives of the Reich Chancellery and the Führerbunker.
Since his fighting force was located at the nerve center of the German Third Reich it fell under the heaviest artillery bombardment of the war which began as a birthday present to Hitler on April 20, 1945, and lasted to the end of hostilities on May 8, 1945. Under pressure from the most intense shelling, Mohnke and his SS Troops put up extremely stiff resistance against impossible odds. The combined total of his SS Kampfgruppe and General Weidling's LVI Panzer Corps totaled 250,000 men and 700 AFVs against the 2.5 million men of three Russian Army groups.
The Russian race to take control of the Reich Chancellery condemned Mohnke's men to bitter and bloody street fighting. Completely encircled and cut off from reinforcements, without hope of relief or withdrawal, his Kampfgruppe fought off the Russian advances, inflicting heavy and costly casualties.
While the Battle of Berlin was raging around them, Hitler ordered Mohnke to set up a Military Tribunal for Hermann Fegelein, adjutant to Heinrich Himmler, in order to try the man for desertion. Mohnke, deciding that the Obergruppenführer deserved a fair trial by other high ranking officers, put together a tribunal consisting of Generals Hans Krebs, Wilhelm Burgdorf, Johann Rattenhuber, and himself. Following a failed attempt to try Fegelein, and finding him completely flagrant and belligerent and not in a right state of mind to stand trial, Mohnke dismissed the case and released him to General Rattenhuber. Fegelein was not seen alive again.
With the news of Hitler's death, many of his remaining top officials, including Mohnke, planned to escape from Berlin to the Allies on the western side of the Elbe. They split into three groups. Mohnke's group left the Fuhrerbunker on May 1, and included Hitler's personal pilot, Hans Baur, the chief of his bodyguard, Hans Rattenhuber, secretary Traudl Junge, secretary Gerda Christian, secretary Else Krüger, Hitler's dietician, Constanze Manziarly, Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck, and various others. Mohnke planned to break out towards the German Army that was positioned in Prinzenallee. The group was captured whilst hiding in a cellar by the Soviets on the morning of May, 2.
Later on May 2, 1945, General Weidling ordered the complete surrender of all resisting German Forces still remaining in Berlin. However, Mohnke's SS Personnel kept up pockets of resistance throughout the city. Some groups did not surrender until May 8, 1945.
Mohnke was kept in solitary confinement until 1949, then transferred to the Generals's Prison in Woikowo. He remained in captivity until October 10, 1955. Following his release, he worked as a dealer in small trucks and trailers, living in Barsbüttel, Germany.
Despite a campaign, led by the British member of Parliament Jeff Rooker, to prosecute him for his alleged involvement in war crimes during the early part of the war, Wilhelm Mohnke was able to live out the remainder of his years in peace. He died in the coastal village of Damp, near Eckernförde in Schleswig-Holstein in August 2001, at the venerable age of 90.
Mohnke was born in Lübeck on March 15, 1911. His father, who shared his name with his son, was a cabinetmaker. After his father's death, he went to work for a glass and porcelain manufacturer, eventually reaching a management position. Mohnke joined the Nazi Party on September 1, 1931, and the SS two months later.
Mohnke led the Fifth Company of the Second Battalion of the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler at the outset of the Battle of France in 1940, taking command of the 2nd Battalion on May 28, after the battalion commander was wounded.
He commanded the 2nd Battalion during the Balkans Campaign, where he lost a foot in a Yugoslavian air attack on April 6, 1941, the first day of the campaign. It was the decision of the medics that his leg would need to be amputated, but Mohnke overrode them. His wound was so grievous that they were still forced to remove his foot. While recuperating he was awarded the German Cross in Gold, due to the severity of his injury.
It was Mohnke who planted the seed for the formation of the LSSAH Panzerabteilung early in 1942, after returning to active service. He appointed Ralf Tiemann as his adjutant, whose first official task was finding recruits. Tiemann then proceeded to compile a list, eventually with enough names to fill two companies. While the newly wed Sepp Dietrich presented his new wife to his officers on January 14, Mohnke presented the Divisional Commander with his personnel list, which had in the meantime turned into transfer orders. Dietrich, who was caught unawares, finally relented to Mohnke's pressure and signed the paper. So was born the Panzerwaffe of the Leibstandarte "Adolf Hitler". It was not to be though, and Mohnke was relieved of his command and transferred to the replacement battalion on March 16, 1942.
On September 2, 1943, 16,000 new recruits of the Hitlerjugend born in 1926, took part in the formation of the 12th SS Panzerdivision Hitler Jugend. Obersturmbannführer Mohnke was given command of the SS-Pz. Gren. Rgt 26, which was the second regiment formed in the 12th SS Hitlerjugend.
Mohnke was one of the few to lead organized resistance on the Western Bank in order to protect the river crossings during the Falaise Pocket. He led this Kampfgruppe until August 31, when he replaced the injured Theodor Wisch. This promotion is the subject of much speculation as to why Mohnke was given command of the LSSAH when SS Standartenführer Joachim Peiper had much more combat experience. Peiper, the youngest regimental commander in the Waffen SS, was perhaps considered too junior to command a division.
Operation Wacht am Rhein was the final major offensive and last gamble Hitler was to make. Mohnke, now in command of his home division, was to lead his formation as the spearhead of the entire operation in the Ardennes. Attached to the I SS Panzer Corps, the LSSAH - once one of the most elite and highly trained units in the entire German military - was now just a shadow of its former self. The large numbers of casualties sustained by the LSSAH meant that it had been reinforced with extremely young soldiers who had hardly been trained before they were sent to the front. To top it off, the crisis in the Reich meant that the LSSAH had dangerously low amounts of fuel for the vehicles that they depended on to make the division a viable fighting force. There was one major factor that enabled Mohnke to lead his dwindling division into one of the most famous battles - the officer corps under Mohnke consisted of battle hardened and experienced veterans. On December 16, 1944, the operation began, with Mohnke designating his best Colonel, Standartenführer Joachim Peiper, and his regiment to lead the push to Antwerp.
By 07.00 hrs on the 17th, Peiper's regiment had seized the American fuel dump at Büllingen. At 12.30 that same day at a crossroads near Malmedy, Peiper's men shot and killed at least 86 US POW's. The Malmedy Massacre, as it was to become known, is one of the most infamous killings of the war. Since Kampfgruppe Peiper, the perpetrators of the massacre, were under Mohnke's command there have been several accusations that he was personally responsible, yet he was never found guilty of the crime. By the evening of the 17th, the leading element of the LSSAH was engaged with the 99th US Division at Stavelot. Mohnke's division was behind their deadline by at least 36 hours by the end of the second day. Progress was further delayed by the retreating troops blowing up important bridges and fuel dumps that Mohnke had counted on taking intact.
With each passing day, enemy resistance stiffened and the advance was eventually halted on all fronts. Desperate to keep the assault going, the German High Command ordered that a renewed attack begin on January 2, 1945. Yet this time, the Allies had regrouped their forces and were ready to repulse any attacks launched by the Germans. The operation formally ended on January 27, 1945, and three days later Mohnke was promoted to SS Brigadeführer. A short while later LSSAH and the 'I SS Panzer Korps' were transferred to Hungary to bolster the crumbling situation there. Mohnke was injured in an air raid where he suffered, among other things, ear damage. He was removed from front line service and put on the Führer reserve.
After recovering from his wounds, Mohnke was personally appointed by Hitler as the Commander of the Reich Chancellery Defense. He formed the Kampfgruppe Mohnke out of 9 SS battalions, including the remnants of LSSAH Wach Regiment, LSSAH Ausbildungs und Ersatz Battalion from Spreenhagen, and the Führer Begleit Kompanie and the Reichsführer SS Begleit Battalion. Although Hitler had appointed General Helmuth Weidling as Defense Commandant of Berlin, Mohnke remained free of Weidling's command to maintain his defense objectives of the Reich Chancellery and the Führerbunker.
Since his fighting force was located at the nerve center of the German Third Reich it fell under the heaviest artillery bombardment of the war which began as a birthday present to Hitler on April 20, 1945, and lasted to the end of hostilities on May 8, 1945. Under pressure from the most intense shelling, Mohnke and his SS Troops put up extremely stiff resistance against impossible odds. The combined total of his SS Kampfgruppe and General Weidling's LVI Panzer Corps totaled 250,000 men and 700 AFVs against the 2.5 million men of three Russian Army groups.
The Russian race to take control of the Reich Chancellery condemned Mohnke's men to bitter and bloody street fighting. Completely encircled and cut off from reinforcements, without hope of relief or withdrawal, his Kampfgruppe fought off the Russian advances, inflicting heavy and costly casualties.
While the Battle of Berlin was raging around them, Hitler ordered Mohnke to set up a Military Tribunal for Hermann Fegelein, adjutant to Heinrich Himmler, in order to try the man for desertion. Mohnke, deciding that the Obergruppenführer deserved a fair trial by other high ranking officers, put together a tribunal consisting of Generals Hans Krebs, Wilhelm Burgdorf, Johann Rattenhuber, and himself. Following a failed attempt to try Fegelein, and finding him completely flagrant and belligerent and not in a right state of mind to stand trial, Mohnke dismissed the case and released him to General Rattenhuber. Fegelein was not seen alive again.
With the news of Hitler's death, many of his remaining top officials, including Mohnke, planned to escape from Berlin to the Allies on the western side of the Elbe. They split into three groups. Mohnke's group left the Fuhrerbunker on May 1, and included Hitler's personal pilot, Hans Baur, the chief of his bodyguard, Hans Rattenhuber, secretary Traudl Junge, secretary Gerda Christian, secretary Else Krüger, Hitler's dietician, Constanze Manziarly, Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck, and various others. Mohnke planned to break out towards the German Army that was positioned in Prinzenallee. The group was captured whilst hiding in a cellar by the Soviets on the morning of May, 2.
Later on May 2, 1945, General Weidling ordered the complete surrender of all resisting German Forces still remaining in Berlin. However, Mohnke's SS Personnel kept up pockets of resistance throughout the city. Some groups did not surrender until May 8, 1945.
Mohnke was kept in solitary confinement until 1949, then transferred to the Generals's Prison in Woikowo. He remained in captivity until October 10, 1955. Following his release, he worked as a dealer in small trucks and trailers, living in Barsbüttel, Germany.
Despite a campaign, led by the British member of Parliament Jeff Rooker, to prosecute him for his alleged involvement in war crimes during the early part of the war, Wilhelm Mohnke was able to live out the remainder of his years in peace. He died in the coastal village of Damp, near Eckernförde in Schleswig-Holstein in August 2001, at the venerable age of 90.
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