Biographies of 17 commando soldiers of Operation Greif, which was part of the Battle of the Bulge.

☑️ It all began with this circular letter from Keitel and Westphal, after Otto Skorzeny had received the assignment for “Greif” from Hitler.

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Greif 1944 logo met adelaar en gotische letters

The beginning of a long journey
In December 2007, while browsing the internet, I came across video footage of an execution. It was the execution of Günter Billing, Manfred Pernass, and Wilhelm Schmidt.
Since the Ardennes Offensive was only vaguely familiar to me, I first had to educate myself. In doing so, I found a reference to Michael Schadewitz’s book, “Zwischen Ritterkreuz und Galgen”. The advertisement showed a photo of two prisoners of war; these were supposed to be Billing and Pernass. But that couldn’t be right. One was too short, the other wore glasses, and nothing else added up either.
So I quickly asked around on specialist forums. After finding that no one had noticed the discrepancy – it is, after all, easier to follow a ready-made story like lemmings – I set out to investigate myself.
I first questioned whether the three names of the soldiers who died in Henri-Chapelle on 23 December 1944 had even been correctly assigned. After all, who among us had known the three personally?
Fairly quickly I received confirmation that the names were correct and that they had been linked to the right soldiers. This made it undeniably clear: the two prisoners in winter coats were neither Pernass nor Schmidt, and certainly not Billing.
During my first visit to the graves in Lommel, Belgium, I immediately discovered the grave of Charles William Wiesenfeld – even though the inscription on the grave cross seemed to contradict this. But I would turn out to be right.
Initially I relied mainly on Michael Schadewitz’s book. But more and more sources followed, including the Deutsche Dienststelle in Berlin, the Bundesarchiv in Berlin, the Militärarchiv in Freiburg, as well as specialist forums devoted to entirely different subjects such as genealogy, ballet, or seafaring, all consulted in the course of the research.
That’s how I ended up, for example, at the Kölner Tanzarchiv. There, people initially found it hard to believe that a ballet master could have served as an elite soldier in the Ardennes. I convinced them otherwise. City archives, state archives, and local history societies were consulted. Countless letters and emails were written. Some contacts were disappointing; others brought far more than I had ever dared to dream.
One of the most important contacts I made during that early period was Richard Schoutissen of the Dutch Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers. From that moment on, he became an indispensable research partner: together we combed through archives, registers, and genealogical sources at home and abroad in search of traces of these soldiers and their families, and his knowledge, network, and persistence repeatedly moved the research forward at moments when I myself was stuck.

The families
Whenever I searched for surviving relatives, I could never be sure how they would react, since this subject touches a sensitive point in a family’s history. How would I react if it concerned, say, my grandfather or great-uncle? My goal was to use the help of relatives to build as clear a picture as possible of the events at the time. I wanted (and want) neither to pass judgment on these soldiers nor to glorify their decision to take part in “Greif”. No – first identify the two men in the photo, and then find out everything there was to know about the 14 soldiers buried in Lommel; that it would not remain limited to those 14 in Lommel was, at the time, completely unforeseeable. It was that first visit to Lommel that made me curious. Who were these men, and what devil had possessed them to take part in such a daring undertaking? For most relatives, knowledge of their family member’s participation in “Greif” was barely greater than my own. The now-deceased genealogist of the Pernass family was able to significantly expand his knowledge thanks to my research. Several other relatives now also know considerably more than before. In the case of Struller, it even happened that I visited the grave in Lommel together with relatives. Although, from today’s perspective, these soldiers had clearly committed themselves to the wrong cause, I always kept in mind that I myself might have made the same decision back then. From today’s viewpoint it is completely unthinkable that I would have let myself be harnessed to that cart. I must admit I had not expected so many family members to provide information, photos, and documents. Even so, I decided not to make everything public uncensored. Names of relatives are not disclosed, and details that could too quickly lead back to relatives have been made illegible by me. Siblings are generally left out of consideration.
Only Wilhelm Schmidt’s sister is quoted. And when Erhard Miegel’s sister-in-law is mentioned, it is of course clear that there must have been a brother as well.

Sources
Wherever possible, sources are cited so that anyone can verify the research. Anyone who wishes can redo the research using my sources and build further upon it.
Anyone who really wants to make progress should approach NARA in Washington and Alexandria, Virginia. There is certainly still much to discover there. Since I have only a limited command of English, I was dependent there on the help of people who conducted research on-site and who cost money. Unfortunately, with only moderate success. And I am certain that more can still be found there. For instance, John Mendelsohn’s book “The History of the CIC” (Volume 11 of Covert Warfare, ISBN 978-0-8240-7960-4) contains several references to further information held at the American National Archives.
Existing literature, too, surely still contains leads worth pursuing – although that is also where most sources of error are to be found. For example, in the book “Zwischen Ritterkreuz und Galgen”, two soldiers (Günther Schilz and Günther Schulz) were merged into one, causing the chronological account on pages 170 and 171 of the book to become somewhat muddled.
But thanks to Michael Schadewitz, I was able to add another “Greif” member, namely Oberleutnant Wolfgang Schmidhuber. His case makes very clear that hardly anyone still bothers to do real research anymore. Like lemmings, people simply copy from one another and accept everything on blind faith. Members of the Waffen-SS? Just because Skorzeny belonged to the Waffen-SS does not mean the members of “Greif” belonged to the Waffen-SS as well. If a cat has kittens in a fish shop, they’re still cats.
The present result would not have come about without the help of the various archives, the Deutsche Dienststelle, Richard Schoutissen of the Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers, and several forum members from a wide variety of forums. I extend my sincere thanks to them.

Book or internet
Even during my research, I initially posted various findings on forums, both in Germany and in the Netherlands. That led to some bizarre discussions. For instance, complaints arose that too much of the execution was visible, even though it was obvious to anyone engaged with this subject that one thing was certain at the end: death by bullet. Discussions about soldiers, tanks, and battles without a drop of blood, as if a cleanup crew swept through history after every shot, are rather strange.
Others debated whether Manfred Pernass’s nose was actually visible below the blindfold. I then decided, not least encouraged by Michael Schadewitz, to consider writing a book – even though I had absolutely no military background. When it became clear that publishers were unlikely to be interested – after all, there were no Muslims in the book – the idea of a website began to take shape. Preferably in English. That ultimately fell through because no one was willing to translate the entire text, or because people were unwilling to comply with the requirements of the major archives. My only choice was to write in German or in Dutch. The decision was simple: German it would be.
The Dutch foundation “Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers”, in the person of Richard Schoutissen, offered to publish the soldiers’ story on his website. But Richard’s contribution went far beyond simply providing a platform. From the very start of my research, he was an active research partner: together with him, I spent years searching Dutch and foreign archives, registers, and genealogical sources for traces of these soldiers and their relatives. His contacts, his experience with this kind of research, and his persistence helped me more than once at moments when I myself was stuck. His offer to publish the stories of “my boys” on his website was, in the end, the natural culmination of years of intensive collaboration. Richard and I then exchanged emails for weeks and created a page for each “Greif” member, each one based on the joint research that formed the foundation of this entire project. After that, someone still had to be found who was willing to check the whole text for typing errors and perhaps expose the occasional mistake. Genealogist Klaus F., whom I had met while searching for relatives of Rolf Meyer, agreed to take on this task. Many an old document I could not read myself, since handwriting is a discipline of its own, he was able to decipher for me. For that, too, I am deeply grateful to him. The biographies presented here are the result of this intensive collaboration, and in particular of the years-long, joint research carried out with Richard Schoutissen. The stories of the “Greifen” are now being published within a fitting framework. For I did not want the results of my research to drift around somewhere on the internet, only to be distorted and misused by certain people. Everything simply had to be accurate. I wanted to retain editorial control over the content – I owed that much to the relatives. Nothing was to be glossed over or even misrepresented. To state it very plainly: I want absolutely nothing to do with the regime that ruled Germany at the time, and nothing to do with right-wing ideology. That, however, does not stop Richard and me from engaging with the history and the individuals connected to the Third Reich. In my case: the men who had to pay with their lives for their actions, while those who pulled the strings escaped unscathed. This should not, however, imply that the deaths of these men were solely the responsibility of others.
With that, enough words have been exchanged. I hope the result of years of work can be appreciated. Once again, my thanks to everyone who helped with the research in any way, and in particular to Richard Schoutissen for his years of dedication, research, and collaboration.

Wolfgang Stienes († 2025)

“When grass has finally grown over a foolish affair, a camel is sure to come along and eat it all away again.”

Wilhelm Busch