Hans: I saw a few examples of the way they fought. They would cut lines, cut trees, or seize small villages and then wait for someone to come. Then they would kill them, but at times they mutilated them to send a message. I saw two comrades who were bringing supplies to our camp ambushed, and while wounded had their throats cut. Another scene was young soldiers had been shot in the back of the head, stripped naked, and had their genitals cut off. We could not figure this hatred out, but it had to be the anti-German propaganda that the reds put out. They told everyone we were killing women and babies so it was okay to get revenge.

This was false, but it encouraged these red partisans to commit great acts of terror. They even did this to their own people, so much so that the Ukrainians formed militias to fight them as well. These battles alone were very bloody, I saw some prisoners they brought in and they were dirty and bloody. The militias were mostly our allies and did a good job of combating the partisans. We were not on the east front very long, as when the Normandy landings happened we were sent west to face the Allies. We faced the same type of war in the west regarding partisans, except they were the resistance. They were led by Allied operatives, and did the same tricks, cutting lines, closing roads, and taking shots.

When they were caught we turned them over to the police or local militia who would deal with them. I will say that I do not want to give the impression these groups were large, they were not. We rarely had to deal with them, but it did happen. Mostly one could travel freely with no problems. As we discussed, sometimes their actions were very organized and had the support of a village. I saw this in the east where women partisans had attacked German units and informants told the police who did it. We went into the village and a survivor pointed out those he saw help. They came out begging to be left alone.

We searched the huts and found illegal military weapons, not just shotguns, which were allowed, but machine pistols. Their huts were destroyed and the women were seized by the police, they wailed and threw fits. One comrade found a picture of a rabbi in one hut. Our leader worried where the men were, it was surmised they were off fighting as well. We found out later that these were Jews and the men already died fighting German and militia units. One of the loudest even tried to hide she was a Jew by holding a rosary up, hoping that would free her. While I was a prisoner I was with a few soldiers from the Leibstandarte, the Führer's bodyguard. They told of the same stories during the Battle of the Bulge. In Belgium, the Allies were successful in setting up bands who carried out attacks on German units. They sent arms, ammo, and explosives to use against us.

They talked about the recklessness of these people, they would shoot out of a window of a fully occupied home, just thinking the soldiers would keep moving since they were retreating. They did not understand the laws of war, their house would be leveled, and all in it. One soldier spoke of a time that a man shot at a truck, hitting a LAH [Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler] soldier in the thigh, they stopped and returned fire as the man ran away to a garage, and they threw in grenades. To their horror and anger, he ran to his family who was hiding, and they all died. I tell you this because there are accusations against the SS claiming we killed many civilians, I believe there is much more to the story. We did not go around shooting at anything, unless it shot at us first. We had to conserve ammo and civilians were not our targets. In the east and west we wanted to make a good relationship with the people. If they were kind to us, we were kind to them, if they ignored us, we ignored them, if they attacked us, we attacked them.

Any German reprisal was just that, it was a reaction to an initial action. While it is written that the partisan war was bloody, it was only bloody because the red partisans made it that way. I feel no sympathy for someone who is not in the military who commits an act of war. They have a very sympathetic press who has treated them as heroes, yet in truth they were common criminals who followed a political agenda. When they were caught and faced punishment they became whiny cowards.

You fought in both Normandy and Arnhem, how did you view the Allied soldiers and what action did you see?

Hans: With great admiration, they seemed to have unlimited supplies while we did not. Their power awed us all, General [Wilhelm] Bittrich said how great the Allied air fleets alone were. Frundsberg was moved to the frontline to defend hilly land against he British. They had unlimited artillery and bombs to throw at us. Our orders were to hunker down and defend our hill. We had well hidden anti-tank guns and rocket launchers. When they had the ammo they could give Tommy a beating. I had my first Panzerfaust and tried to hit a Cromwell [British tank] but missed. Other comrades were successful and scored hits leaving me embarrassed. We held up the British until being outflanked and forced to retreat in late July. I was lucky to get out with only minor wounds; they trapped many men in the Falaise pocket. We retreated east towards the Reich, but surprisingly I did not feel like we were beaten, I thought new things would happen to help us win.

I felt we were better soldiers than the Allies, and fought for a higher cause defending Europe. They were here to destroy Europe, that's why so many non-Germans came to the SS. They understood what we were fighting for and wanted to defend their freedom. My division was eventually sent to Holland to refit and rebuild. It was during this time the Allies dropped [parachuted] at Arnhem [city in Netherlands], which was a disaster for them. We knew something was happening as they were flying over us often and strafing the roads. A farmer who brought our company milk everyday was killed by a plane strafing him on his way back home. I remember seeing the landings, I saw the parachutes in the distance and we were told to 'alarm march' to the zones. We heard gunfire all around, but had no idea what was happening. Our leaders formed holding perimeters to contain the landing zones, and others moved into Arnhem to drive out the enemy. On our way to the town our leaders told us to be very careful at what we shoot at, as civilians were trapped and being used as shields.

There was to be no needless destruction unless occupied by the enemy and receiving fire. Arnhem was not damaged very much by our recapture, but it was bombed or shelled by the Allies at the start, I remember that Nijmegen [the Netherlands] was also hit hard early on. Then after the war all you saw was pictures of destroyed buildings that the description said were destroyed by Germans. I saw my first British prisoners here and they were mostly pleasant and seemed like good soldiers. This battle reminded me of what I read during the 1940 campaign, friendly prisoners who were glad to be out of it. I think they were really surprised we beat them, as they knew victory seemed very close. We treated them well, and quickly moved them off to camps.

I remember there were air drops made so we could give them medicine and food, which we were low on. They thanked us for the good treatment and I heard some say they did not expect it. Their propaganda was saying the same thing as in Russia, that the SS killed everyone.