In the spring of 2024, HistoReich visited the German military cemetery at Marigny, where we saw the grave of SS-Obersturmbannführer Christian Tychsen. Taking advantage of the fine weather, we continue our visit. This time we visit the grave of a highly controversial officer of the 17.SS Panzergrenadier-Division "Gotz von Berlichingen".
Who is Erwin Horstmann ?
Erwin Horstmann was born on November 2, 1910 in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1932, he joined the SS (no. 29,096) and the NSDAP (no. 455,574). In 1934, he joined the SS-Junkerschule in Bad Tölz.
On April 20, 1935, he was promoted to the rank of SS-Untersturmführer II/Deutschland.
On April 1, 1936, he joined the Führerschule Braunschweig and became SS-Obersturmführer.
On November 9, 1938, promotion day, he was appointed SS-Hauptsturmführer at the 4./SS-Standarte "Germania".
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| SS-Obersturmbannführer Erwinn Horstmann |
War years
On October 1, 1939, the LAH restructured itself in Prague, ousting those officers deemed unsuitable for the Polish campaign. Horstmann, promoted, left Germania and took command of the 8.Kompanie of the 1. SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler.
On August 13, 1940, he took command of the 10.Kompanie.
On April 6, 1941, he took command of II./LSSAH (the division's 2nd battalion), succeeding SS-Sturmbannführer Wilhelm Monhke, who had been seriously wounded in an aerial bombardment just before the launch of Operation Marita.
On May 9, 1941, Horstmann was appointed SS-Sturmbannführer. On November 1, he returned to the SS officers' school in Bad Tölz.
In January 1943, he commanded the SS-Stug-Abt 9. of the 9.SS Panzergrenadier Division "Hohenstaufen". This was an armored unit made up of Stug IIIs.
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| A Stug III can be seen at the Musée des blindés in Saumur, France. |
On June 16, 1943, he was Kommandeur of I./SS-Pz.Gren-Rgt 25 of the 12 SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Hitlerjugend". The division was then in the process of being formed.
Transferred to Götz von Berlinchingen
On November 2, 1943, he was transferred again, taking command of SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 38 of the 17.SS Panzergrenadier-Division "Götz von Berlichingen". HistoReich had already written several articles on this SS division, particularly in the Saumur sector (Maine et Loire).
Normandy 1944, the death
On April 20, 1944, Erwin Horstmann was appointed SS-Obersturmbannführer, and as we all know, June 6, 1944 marked the Normandy landings, the Invasionsfront for the Germans.
In early July, the Götz faced the Americans near Sainteny. Horstmann launched the men of the II. and III. Battalion in suicidal counter-attacks that turned into pointless butchery. Nearly 50% of the men were killed or wounded, and SS-Sturmbannführer Ersnt Bolte was killed (see his grave below).
To answer for his irresponsible actions, SS-Standartenführer Otto Baum decided to court-martial him.
Following the example of Kapitänleutnant Karl-Heinz Harlfinger, Horstmann was left with only two choices: court-martial or suicide (!), although the German officers made sure to keep a pistol close at hand, just in case.
On July 8, 1944, 2 kilometers south-west of Auxais, a loud bang sounded: SS-Obersturmbannführer Horstmann had finally decided to shoot himself in the head...
The following day, SS-Obersturmbannführer Kurt Launer takes command of SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 38.
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| SS-Obersturmbannführer Kurt Launer when he was in Totenkopf Division |
German military cemetery at Marigny
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| German military cemetery at Marigny |
The Deutscher soldaten Friedhof in Marigny lies in the open countryside 2 kilometers from the village of Théreval in the Manche.
Created after the war, of course, American and German soldiers (4,246) were buried here. In the 1950s, the American remains were transferred to Saint Laurent sur Mer, but those of the Germans remained on site, and under French administration, the death toll rose to 5,713.
The cemetery was refurbished between 1958 and 1960, and inaugurated by the Volksbund on September 2, 1961. New remains from the villages, or simply those found during construction work, were added to the cemetery, which now counts 11,169 burials.
Mainly gathering victims from this region of Normandy, we find sailors, pilots, soldiers of the Panzer-Lehr Division, of the 17. SS-Panzer-Grenadier Division "Götz von Berlinchingen", the Das Reich...
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| German military cemetery at Marigny |
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| German military cemetery at Marigny |
The grave of SS-Obersturmbannführer Horstmann
SS-Obersturmbannführer Horstmann now lies in block 1 row 11 grave 425
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| The grave of SS-Obersturmbannführer Horstmann |
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| The grave of SS-Obersturmbannführer Horstmann |
Also worth seeing:
While we're at the cemetery, we can visit the grave of SS-Sturmbannführer Ernst Bolte.
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| The grave of SS-Sturmbannführer Ernst Bolte |
Ernst Bolte was born in Vehlen on June 28, 1914. In September 1939, he was appointed SS-Untersturmführer to the 7 Kompanie of the "Deutschland" regiment. On April 10, 1941, he was appointed SS-Hauptsturmführer and transferred to the 8 Kompanie of the "Deutschland" regiment.
When the 17.SS Panzergrenadier Division "Gotz von Berlichingen" was created, he took command of III/SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 38. A battalion with four companies. In June 1944, the SS Division joined the Invasionsfront, where Bolte was killed by shrapnel to the head on July 6, 1944, 1 kilometer from Sainteny.
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