Wilhelm Mohnke

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Wilhelm Mohnke : biography

15 March 1911 – 6 August 2001

He commanded the 2nd Battalion during the Balkans campaign, where he suffered a severe leg wound in a Yugoslavian air attack on 6 April 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.Fischer, Thomas. Soldiers of the Leibstandarte, p. 32. His wound was so grievous that they were still forced to remove part of his foot. During the eight months he was recuperating (due to the severity of his injury), Mohnke was awarded the German Cross in Gold on 26 December 1941.

It was Mohnke who planted the seed for the formation of the Leibstandarte Panzer Battalion early in 1942 after returning to active service. He appointed Ralf Tiemann as his adjutant, whose first official task was finding recruits. Tiemann 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 14 January, Mohnke presented the divisional commander (Dietrich), 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 der Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. It was not to be though, and Mohnke was relieved of his command and transferred to the replacement battalion on 16 March 1942.

Notes

Early life

Mohnke was born in Lübeck on 15 March 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 with number 649,684 on 1 September 1931. Shortly thereafter, he joined the SS with number 15,541. Mohnke began with the rank of SS-Mann (Private). After Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, SS Headquarters in Berlin requested that all SS regiments submit three names of their best soldiers for transfer to a personal guard unit for Hitler. Mohnke was selected for the unit in March 1933. He was assigned to SS-Stabswache Berlin which established its first guard at the original Reich Chancellery on 8 May 1933. In September the unit became known as the SS-Sonderkommando Berlin.Fischer, Thomas. Soldiers of the Leibstandarte, p. 1.