Wolfgang Egon Herbert Schmidhuber

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NSDAP
Membership of the NSDAP was not researched.

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The career history is compiled from information in the handwritten service record and the dates mentioned in the two assessments, from Wolfgang Schmidhuber’s personnel file held in the Bundesarchiv in Freiburg.

A further source was the Deutsche Dienststelle in Berlin. Where their data was not contained in the personnel file, their data was added. The sources are marked differently. The handwritten service record with numbers 1-23, the two assessments with I – VIII and the Deutsche Dienststelle with the abbreviation WASt.

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*Black = Service record personnel file
*Brown = Assessment of 1.3.1943
*Blue = Assessment of 1.7.1944
*WASt = Letter Deutsche Dienststelle Berlin 03.05.2010
* ? = Not everything could be deciphered with certainty.
* Red = Explanations of abbreviations etc.

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Assessments

01.04.1943
Panzer Troops School (School for Fast Troops, Wünsdorf) Officer Candidate Course II (Training Ground Zossen).
“Solid character, still very young and not yet fully developed. Open, still somewhat delicate person. Prepared to commit himself to the National Socialist idea. Fully proven before the enemy….. Weak points: Still somewhat soft.”
01.07.1944
Panzer Grenadier Training Battalion 108 (Busche Barracks Leisnig). “Has only been serving with the battalion since 26.06.1944. Cannot therefore be assessed from here due to too short a period of membership.” An earlier assessment was therefore drawn upon. The Commander Officer Cadet Course 4 of the Panzer Troops assessed on 23.08.1943 as follows: “Likeable young officer, still somewhat soft. Readily allows himself to be shaped and trained. Good upbringing, somewhat sensitive. Very solid character. Valuable officer and comrade, of irreproachable National Socialist bearing. Understands from inner involvement in events how to convey his thoughts well and usefully. Proven before the enemy, considerably wounded….”
In the assessment of 01.07.1944 it is stated for the first time that Wolfgang Schmidhuber can speak English.

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1) Fit for garrison duty at home to Rifle Replacement Battalion 108, Dresden
2) Fit for garrison duty at home to Officer Course to unit Dresden

The family history

It is thanks to the fortunate circumstance that a personnel file of Wolfgang Schmidhuber exists in the Bundesarchiv that we know his career history in relatively complete detail.

What perhaps makes Wolfgang Schmidhuber even more interesting is his father, Major General Gerhard Schmidhuber. None of the members of the Commando Company of Panzer Brigade 150 known so far has such a prominent parent. In Wolfgang Schmidhuber’s personnel file there is a copy of his Dresden birth certificate (No. 192). The identity of his parents is therefore established beyond doubt and any confusion is entirely excluded. In this case we will not undertake family research; a brief mention will suffice. Highlighted here is only the posthumous tribute by a Hungarian daily newspaper in 2007. Raoul Wallenberg had persuaded Major General Schmidhuber to protect the Budapest Ghetto against the Hungarian Arrow Cross.

One should however also not forget that the Major General had previously taken part in the Polish campaign, the Western campaign in France, the invasion of Yugoslavia, and the war against the Soviet Union.

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………………………………………………..Gerhard Schmidhuber 1934……….Major General Gerhard Schmidhuber
………………………………….d……………Source: BArch Pers 6/1863………..Source: Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers

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Skorzeny trial file
In the Dachau war crimes trial against Otto Skorzeny, who had set up Operation Greif, Wolfgang Schmidhuber is mentioned by name on several occasions. In the interrogations only Wolfgang Schmidhuber and a First Lieutenant Schmitt are mentioned by name when it concerns fallen members of the Commando Company of Panzer Brigade 150. The trial file is bilingual, English and German, hence the somewhat unusual grammar often found in the quotations. Let us now examine a few statements about Wolfgang Schmidhuber. The trial file contains the transcript of the sworn statement of Kurt A. Siebauer (Fiche 17). Kurt Siebauer was also a member of the Commando Company and, according to his own statement, never crossed the front line. Kurt Siebauer spoke most extensively about First Lieutenant Schmidhuber.

Here are the statements of Kurt Siebauer regarding Wolfgang Schmidhuber.

Q.: Do you know anyone, officer or man, who went in this uniform (meaning the American uniform) into the American lines?
A.: Yes….. Captain SCHMIDHUBER.
Q.: Do you know that he crossed the line?
A.: Yes.
Q.: How do you know that?
A.: From the group that went with him.
Q.: Who was that?
A.: I don’t know any names.
Q.: Do you know the first name of this Captain?
A.: No, but I can describe him. He was 5 feet 10 tall (1.78 m.), platinum blond, had a lean face, weighed about 150 pounds and had grey-blue eyes.
Q.: How old was he?
A.: He appeared to me to be about 28 or 29 years old. He had a woman’s voice, a high voice, similar to a homosexual.
Q.: Do you know from the people who went with him that he crossed the lines in American uniform and that this American uniform was taken from those in the Red Cross parcels?
A.: Yes, with the exception of the trousers, which were taken from prisoners.
Q.: Tell us a bit more about this Captain.
A.: He was supposed to have crossed the line, but was stopped about 3 km behind the line by 2 MPs. He had been told by his German superior not to talk, as he spoke only poor English. When he spoke to the MPs, they told him to put his hands up. The MPs started shooting, and the gunner that the Captain had in his jeep fired at the MPs and killed them. When the group came back, I was first told he was dead. Then I was told he was wounded. I don’t know which was correct. In any case he endangered the lives of all his men. Our group said that if he were ever assigned to us, we would shoot him.
Q.: Who was the leader of the group?
A.: Lt. Köhler

Otto Skorzeny also briefly commented on Wolfgang Schmidhuber during his trial (Fiche 12). The most interesting aspect of this is that he could still remember that Wolfgang Schmidhuber was buried in Engelsdorf (Ligneuville).

Perhaps a brief mention should be made here of the US uniforms originating from Red Cross parcels. These Red Cross parcels came from various prisoner of war camps. Concerning these events there are several witness statements, including American ones, in the Skorzeny trial file.

Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V.
The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge communicated in writing upon request that in the area where Wolfgang Schmidhuber fell, the reinterments by the Americans took place to Ittenbach. He was therefore included for this cemetery. For Wolfgang Schmidhuber only the Ittenbach cemetery was recorded; a verifiable grave location does not exist. This means that Wolfgang Schmidhuber must be one of the unknown soldiers who found their final resting place in Ittenbach.

Where Wolfgang Schmidhuber had been buried up to that point was not specifically researched, but details appear in various sources. There is the statement by Otto Skorzeny about the temporary whereabouts of the body of Wolfgang Schmidhuber. Skorzeny’s statement does however find confirmation in the documents of the Bundesarchiv.

Bundesarchiv Department PA, formerly Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)
According to information from the Deutsche Dienststelle in Berlin, Wolfgang Schmidhuber was killed in action on 21.12.1944 at 3:14 hrs east of Malmedy.
The personnel index cards* held in the Bundesarchiv were consulted by me in March 2021. In the report mentioned by the Deutsche Dienststelle, dated 21.03.1945, something further is mentioned regarding the cause of death. Although the cause of death cited here does not appear to correspond with the witness statement in the Skorzeny trial, it should be mentioned here. According to the report, a shell splinter in the left chest was said to have been the cause. The First Lieutenant was buried in a cemetery in the Belgian Ligneuville (Engelsdorf). Even the grave location is given: v. L. 1 Field No.1 (from the Left 1st Field Number 1). No date of reinterment is given.

How it could subsequently come about that Wolfgang Schmidhuber was buried among the Unknown at Königswinter-Ittenbach is unknown. The relatives in Zittau were notified in October 1946; the death was registered at the Zittau registry office on 02.12.1947.
_{*Reference see Sources}

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Information from the International Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva

(International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC)
K.A.

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War Cemetery Königswinter-Ittenbach (NRW) Memorial grave of two Unknown Soldiers.