116th Panzer Division – ‘Der Windhund’ are currently recruiting!

The 'New York Times' on the 27th March 1945 reported that…"the story of the 9th Army bridgehead became the chronicle yesterday of the desperate attempt by Field Marshal Kesselring to prevent the breakthrough by throwing the famous 116th Panzer Division, the best Panzer Unit of the German Army, toward it…the 116th fought outstandingly, the way it used to…it did not give up anything without a fight!"

But the best reason is better summed up in the words of Oberstleutnant Heinz Günther Guderian (see picture below), 1st General Staff Officer/Operations Officer of the 116th Panzer Division during the war and a post-war Generalmajor in the Bundeswehr, at the end of his book 'Normandy to the Ruhr - With the 116th Panzer Division in WW2', he evaluated the conduct of the Windhund Division during the war as follows...................

"Thus the battle ended for the 116th Panzer Division with an honourable capitulation, after the destructions of all its tanks, after the expenditure of all it's artillery ammunition, after the extermination of its Panzer Grenadiers, and in view of the impossibility of a breakout, in closed formation or in small groups, due to the development of the situation at large.

The Division kept its shield of honour clean at all times and in every respect. Its achievements and conduct was also recognised by the enemy".

Why re-enact as a German Soldier? 

  People sometimes ask - "How can you wear that uniform and not feel guilty about what the Germans did in WW2?"

Well, you can't help feeling a greater sense of self-consciousness when you are at an event dressed as a German soldier because some people will think that you are a Nazi... the embodiment of evil in the 20th century.

But, for those of us who study the subject, we know that the average German soldier was not unlike his Allied counterpart. The German soldier was a man called about to do a job, he had not made the war come about nor was he a political fanatic. He was well disciplined, obeyed his orders and fought bravely.

Toward the end of the war he became disillusioned, but nevertheless he did his duty well. In defeat, the German soldier retained his pride and self esteem. Even when his country lay in ruin, every man a prisoner and the people of his nation refugees, he knew that he had belonged to what was once considered the best armed forces in the world.

 In the end, the German soldier realized that he had fought for the wrong ideals and the wrong causes. He was misled by a criminal leadership into which he had placed his trust. He was ashamed of the atrocities that had been committed and he was trapped in history as an instrument of war.

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   Oberstleutnant Heinz Günther Guderian         

Let's give the final words to Heinz Günther Guderian again...

"The Empire of the Germans was destroyed, the dream that finally became reality for all patriots was destroyed. The Germans were chased out of flourishing areas. Most of the cities laid in rubble. The arrogance of  a criminal leadership pushed the people into disaster and even burdened it with a stain of guilt. The German people had fought bravely and in good faith, passed unspeakably hard tests , and made horrible sacrifices, but it was not "lost" as Hitler prophesied. New life grew out of the rubble, and now the core of its area is again united in liberty, and therefore, the partition of Europe is removed, and the danger of a still more terrible war probably banned. Now it is up to all of us to bring our whole Vaterland into fill bloom. We have honoured the legacy of our dead to keep the peace and to reestablish German unity in liberty, as far as it is in our power. We remember their sacrifices in mourning, but now at least with a better conscience".

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Still interested? Then our Recruitment Officer, Oberleutnant Wolfgang Kampfer would really like to hear from you!  

You can contact him on:

E-mail - panzer.grenadier@blueyonder.co.uk

We do not embrace the philosophies and actions of the original NSDAP (Nazi party), and we  wholeheartedly condemn the atrocities which made them infamous.

May the victims of this unspeakable horror rest in peace and never be forgotten!