What was the campaign against France like?

Max: I was now in the 12th MG Company and we were moved to the Dutch border in May. Given the order to start the attack, we crossed and easily brushed the Dutch aside, they had no appetite for war. Our mission was to link up with our paratroops. I remember the long columns of prisoners, and we felt unstoppable. We advanced into France and attacked Tommy [British soldiers], stopping their attack at Arras and pushing them back to Dunkirk. It was with confusion and anger we were ordered to stop our attack. Sepp Dietrich was livid, and even pressed a new attack against the enemy on the opposite side of a canal; he earned the Knight's Cross for this decisive attack that could have kept going. The Führer appeared to have let Tommy off the hook, if Sepp Dietrich was allowed, we would have smashed the pocket.

I will tell you also, we were prepared for a long battle with the French, but our successful tactics routed them and brought us victory in a month. After Dunkirk, we had free movement in France; our biggest task was helping the millions of refugees who had been told to flee. Our medical unit often stopped to help French families needing food and care. We passed a pioneer unit helping a farmer rebuild his fence and recapture his cows. We called them the farmhand platoon after, I remember that.

Can I ask about the English claims that the LAH murdered 80 prisoners at Wormhout [France] in 1940?

Max: These are only claims. No one I have spoken to knows anything about this. Lately renewed cries have gone out to prosecute Willi, and others. I looked into this with Willi, as he is part of our comrade's association. We found not one soldier who saw anything regarding this incident. Either the English soldiers have made this story up, or our men are lying. Since our policy was very clear, with clear orders to take prisoners and bring no harm to them, it is hard to believe the English. I can tell you if a soldier killed a prisoner he would go before a court of honor. It is not impossible that soldiers, who survived humiliating defeats when they were told the fight would be easy, could make up lies regarding their enemy. I do know that some British units used illegal ammunition [exploding bullets, for example] and deception, but the units we fought against fought with honor. We would have had no cause to shoot prisoners, unless there were fights or unruly prisoners that invited retaliation. But this is not what they claim, they claim grenades were thrown at them in a barn and then they were executed, with some surviving. It makes no sense and I believe they concocted this while in POW camps as a way to get revenge on their enemies.

We fought the war with honor and had strict rules regarding treatment of prisoners; even partisans were many times afforded protection, when the rope should have been their fate. All men of the SS would have revolted in anger if we had to be used as executioners of civilians or prisoners. Did we at times have to do battlefield justice regarding partisans? Yes we did. It disgusted me to see our men used this way, but you must remember these were reprisals for crimes of murder in most all cases.

You won the Knight's Cross retaking Kharkov, can you describe this battle?

Max: At this time I was in command of a Panzer grenadier unit and so fought alongside our Panzer regiment. For the LAH this was our greatest victory, as we smashed a superior army. We had just returned after a long stay in France to halt the Russian advance post Stalingrad. Kharkov had fallen, and we engaged fresh Russian divisions; this time our division had better Panzers including a new weapon: the Tiger. The Tiger was able to knock out all enemy armor, and they feared this weapon. The LAH halted the Russians, and by March we were prepared to recapture lost ground. The city was the prize and [Sepp] Dietrich briefed us on how important the coming battle would be. The Russians fortified every barn, house and building in the surrounding area; we were hungry to attack to get payback for the loss at Stalingrad. Our guns were red hot and steaming after knocking out the many strongpoints.

When we attacked the city there was heavy snow, I remember that, and it was cold. This was our second winter on the Eastern Front, and now we were better prepared with warm clothing and better treatments for vehicles and weapons. The Panzer regiment smashed through the Russian defenses, and the grenadiers were right behind. Our men had to take every house, and the Panzers were engaged at every corner; the Russians were very cunning fighters and placed anti-tank guns at angles hard to see. I saw an opportunity to move into the square and took it, knocking out nests of resistance and forcing the enemy to scatter. We broke through to the square with minimal losses and secured the area while battling snipers and stragglers. We named the square after our division. My men were brave and faced uneven odds that would have stopped ordinary soldiers, but not the LAH.

In addition, a Russian hospital housed many wounded soldiers and civilians, close to our positions. They claim we shot all the wounded, we did not. I was appalled when we entered that the staff and doctors had fled, apparently the commissars ordered them to leave since they were too valuable to lose. Our medical staff was far behind, and not in the city, so many of the badly wounded succumbed, as there was no treatment. We did what we could for them, but several did die, and we had prisoners carry them outside. I witnessed German dead also, that prisoners told us, were refused any treatment. This was a very hard-fought battle and showed a smaller German force could still defeat a larger Russian army. It gave us renewed confidence and we held onto this area against heavy attacks with very little losses. I was proud when Dietrich advised me I was being awarded the Knight's Cross, but my men earned the award; it is the men under my command whom I owe the decorations to.