Opening of Modlin Soldatenfriedhof

 

 

On 9 November 1944, SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Herbert-Otto Gille (Kommandierender General IV. SS-Panzerkorps) dedicated the new Soldatenfriedhof (wartime cemetery) in Modlin, Poland. In addition to the ceremony itself, a reception was held shortly afterwards inside the Modlin Fortress. Here is a copy of the ceremony's program, which featured a speach by Gille, as well as various tunes played by the regimental band of SS Panzer Regiment 5 "Wiking." Besides Gille, in attendance were the commanders of the Totenkopf and Wiking Divisions, their staffs, and various local dignitaries from the German administration of occupied Poland.

SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Herbert-Otto Gille (Kommandierender General IV. SS-Panzerkorps) views the newly-dedicated ceremony. to the immediate right of Gille stands SS-Standartenführer Karl Ullrich, the commander of the Wiking Division.

After the ceremony's conclusion in the chapel of the Modlin Fortress, commanders and staff officers file out of the front door to their waiting staff cars. In the center stands SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Helmuth Becker, the commander of the Totenkopf Division. In the foreground on the left stands SS-Obersturmbannführer Manfred Schönfelder, Gille's Chief of staff; on the right stands Gille's aide-de-camp, SS-Untersturmführer Günther Lange. The Army officer standing in the center between Becker and Schoenfelder is Major Otto Kleine, the Ia or operations officer of the Wiking Division.

At some point during the events of that day, Gille greets the commanders of the Wiking and Totenkopf Divisions, Karl Ullrich (left) and Helmuth Becker, right. In the background stands SS-Obersturmführer Johann "Hans" Velde, the O1 or assistant corps operations officer of the IV. SS-Panzerkorps.

The diagram of the German War Cemetery in Modlin, 1944.

Source :
"From the Realm of a Dying Sun. Volume I: IV. SS-Panzerkorps and the Battles for Warsaw, July–November 1944" by Douglas E. Nash, Sr.
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