Deutschland, Deutschland über alles!

[Robert T.]

2.6

THE BADGE OF COURAGE


For a German, the badge of courage was the MENSUR fencing scar, a unique tradition of the German student duelling fraternities. The scar (the schmiss, or sometimes called the renommierschmiss; the bragging scar), mostly on the left side of the face, where blows would fall from a right-handed duellist. This was the high-class tattoo of the day borne by a generation of doctors, jurists, professors and officials, certifying the owner’s claim to manly stature and cultivated rank. The duelling scar was certain to attract the pretty girls because it signified virility and breeding.
Schmisse were the products of male vanity and were regarded as jewellery because they guaranteed the wearer an active love life for the rest of their days. Newly bandaged warriors were often seen in the gardens, cafes and theatres. There were stories that students would approach a doctor to acquire such a scar or alternatively they would resort to self-infliction with a straight-edged razor. To make it more pronounce, some would pull it apart, irritate it by pouring in wine or sew a horse hair into the gash.
Academic fencing or mensur fencing is neither a duel nor a sport. It is a traditional way of training and educating character and personality. In the mensur, the fencers are protected by a chain mail shirt and armoured leather gloves, padding on the throat and right arm, and steel goggles with a nose guard. They fence with sharp sabres at arm’s length and stand more or less in one place, while attempting to hit the unprotected areas of their opponent’s face and head. Flinching or dodging or recoil ever so slightly bring dishonour, only parrying is allowed; the goal being less to avoid injury than to endure it stoically. Once blood is drawn, the mensur is halted and the wound is inspected by a doctor. If the wound is less than one inch wide or one inch deep, the fight continues until such a wound is produced on one of the opponents.
Among German men it was believed that in order to be considered fit for good society, it was necessary to be capable of dispensing satisfaction in a duel. German men acquired both their duelling skill and their class-consciousness while attending university. These institutions had their fencing masters, and the elite sword duelling fraternities that were formed primed students for the social expectations that would await them on their graduation. After graduation, these students would enter the upper echelons of German society and assume positions of power and authority. The mensur functioned as an assertion of manhood and was a phenomenon specific to central Europe.

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Erwin Koopmann took part in so many of those duels during his days at Marburg and Königsberg, that his left cheek and chin are scarred like a battlefield, showing at least 6 “schmisse”. One long scar near the left ear and another one above the upper lip have been airbrushed out on this studio portrait done around the year 1936.
Knight’s cross with Oakleaves recipient SS Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny who was a member of 'Burschenschaft Markomannia' at the University of Vienna and an engineer by profession, had such prominent duelling scars that he was often referred to as “Scarface” by the Americans during WW2. He supposedly engaged in at least ten personal mensur duels. Skorzeny would later credit his success in war to his experiences in the duelling society;

"During the war I never felt more afraid than when I had to fight my first single
combat in front of my classmates. My knowledge of pain, learned with the sabre,
taught me not to be afraid. And just as in duelling when you must concentrate on your
enemy's cheek, so, too, in war. You cannot waste time on feinting and sidestepping. You
must decide on your target and go in."

SS Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny

[Robert T.]

2.7

Mother and son


When Erwin named his first child after her, Jane Koopmann felt particularly proud, she kept saying how much the baby resembled Erwin when he was a small boy. “Mother” did not have the chance to see the young family grow up, she passed away less than two years later on July 28th 1930, leaving behind two sons….

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The right photo insert shows Zahnarzt Dr. Koopmann, a Dental Surgeon and before that an officer decorated several times during WW1; The Prussian Iron Cross 2nd class, Oldenburg Friedrich August Cross 1st and 2nd class and Lippe-Detmold War Honor Cross for heroic deeds.

[Robert T.]

2.8

Bezirksführer


During the 1920s, the German universities had become political breeding grounds of the extreme right: the lost war, embarrassment about the Treaty of Versailles, civil war, and a terrible economical situation created an atmosphere in which extremists flourished. Several young WW1 and Freikorps veterans like Erwin, joined the Stahlhelm Organization(*) and fell further under the influence of the far right. In the late 20s, the Stahlhelm was becoming increasingly radicalized and Erwin (a graduated lawyer) was now working full time for the Organization along with Franz Seldte. In early 1933, the “Steel helmet” became part of the NSDAP-DNVP coalition and in November was subordinated to the Sturmabteilung (SA).
A career opportunity then arose for Erwin, the Postschutz (a unit responsible with maintaining the security and protection of all post offices and communication installations of the Reich) was being formed and its leaders recruited from within the SA. He held the rank of Bezirksführer as Headmaster of Postschutzschule (Postal protection school) Besenhorst.

(*) Known as the “Steel Helmet, League of Frontline Soldiers” and founded on November 13th 1918, by Franz Seldte and a few friends, to support the financial demands of returning soldiers. In his youth, Seldte had been an active member of a student duelling Corps, showing a mensur fencing scar on his left cheek. He later fought on the Western front where he lost an arm and was decorated for bravery.

[Robert T.]

3. The deadly years

3.0

THE GAME OF WAR


For most Germans, as for Erwin, the trauma of the First World War and the shock of the unexpected defeat refused to be healed. Germany remained on a continued war footing: at war with itself, and at war with the rest of the world. When Hitler proclaimed himself Chancellor and Führer of the German Reich in August 1934 upon the death of President Paul von Hindenburg, he secretly ordered the creation of a German air force and the army was instructed to triple its strength to 300,000 men. While the size of the standing army was to remain at about the 100,000- mark decreed by the treaty of Versailles, a new group of conscripts equal to this size would receive training each year. By March 1935, Hitler felt confident enough to publicly announce that there would be compulsory military conscription in Nazi Germany and that the army would be increased to 550,000 men.

"Military service is honorary service to the German people. Every German is liable to
military service. In time of war, in addition to liability to military service, every German
man and every German women is liable to service to the Fatherland."

These are the opening clauses of the Military Service Law of 21 May 1935. All officers and soldiers of the German armed forces had to swear a personal oath of loyalty to the Führer, as Adolf Hitler now was called.

Erwin had volunteered for service even before the conscription call-up and was already a non-commissioned officer with Infantry Regiment 53, when he received his registration notice in the spring of 1937. He reported to the Lübeck Military District Command where he was issued a Wehrpass. In August 1939, he was commissioned a Leutnant der Reserve with I.R. 90 of the Hamburg 20th Motorized Infantry Division. He did not participate in the invasion of Poland in September, but remained behind as an instructor with I.R.90's Ersatz battalion. (Originally, each infantry regiment which took to the field at the beginning of the war left behind at its home station a battalion cadre bearing its own number and known as its Ersatz battalion. The primary purpose of this battalion was to receive recruits, train them, and dispatch them as replacements to the field regiments. At any given time it included reception (cadre) companies, training companies, convalescent companies and transfer companies. Typically the trained inductees combined with the convalescents into transfer companies for movement to a field unit.)
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Platoon leader Koopmann


Our Koopmann, slender like a deer
Jumps from one height to the next

He resembles our Theo Körner
And he always grips the bull by the horns

On the battlefield or in class
He especially likes a friendly face

In sunshine or in rain
He does not shrink from getting on the ground

He himself instruct us about everything
We cheerily jump after him as a group

And if we finally get tired
He immediately starts scolding us

Scolds us like a firm father
About damned aching muscles

And then he looks at our baby face
And starts laughing at once

The sandbox is an important place for him
He plans field strategies there

First come the leaders, then the snipers
One should be of use to the other

To catch the foe, that is the aim
And he calls it a game of war

[Robert T.]

3.1

All that you can't leave behind


After being promoted to Oberleutnant with 2./ I.R.90 on his 40th birthday (1/1/1940), Erwin was transferred in March to the operation area of the Western Front in preparation for the upcoming invasion of the Lowlands and France. It had been 21 years since he took part in armed conflicts, to him it really felt like it all happened yesterday. Back then, there were no worries, his mind was filled with fresh, lively, optimistic and patriotic thoughts with no other responsibilities. But now, a father was going to war, leaving behind a beloved wife and children, travelling back to the land where he once fought for German honor and the eternity of his brother’s faith.

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Erwin married Olga (Therese) Naß on August 21st 1928, the couple already had 4 young children when the war started; Jane, Ingeborg, Hermann (named after his late uncle) and Edwin, one baby girl named Irmgard was born during the conflict.
There was another family member; Kurt Koopmann, born in Berlin on September 6th 1921, he was adopted from a close relative.

[Robert T.]

3.2

THE WESTERN CAMPAIGN


The last time German soldiers had poured into France in 1914, their initial drive had taken them close to Paris, but they were driven back and had to endure four years of trench warfare. This time they would break the back of enemy resistance in less than a week. Early on May 10th 1940, the invasion of the Low Countries began, the key objective for the rapid success of the operation was the use of the panzer units of Army Group A., which were going to strike south through neutral Luxembourg and the wooden terrain of the Ardennes (considered too thick for forces to pass through).
In the northern sector, Oberleutnant Erwin Koopmann’s 20th Motorized Infantry Division (Sixth Army, part of Army Group B.) crossed the Dutch border at Roermond and concentrated the offensive in through Belgium, which was designed to lure the Allies into a trap. The majority of French forces were stationed in and around Belgium, with a paltry few stationed at the seemingly invulnerable Ardennes. Hitler split his army into two parts, sending some troops to Belgium, but the majority to the Ardennes. German forces broke through weak French defensives at Ardennes, bypassed the Maginot Line and then the Blitzkrieg moved with lightning speed as Guderian's tanks turned and raced headlong to the sea.
They reached the English Channel on May 21st, cutting off the Allied armies in the North. The Germans turned again, fighting their way north to secure the coastal ports and annihilate the trapped armies. Miraculously, the German high command called a halt to the advance. The reprieve lasted 48 hours, on the 27th of May, the evacuation of the British forces trapped in the Dunkirk pocket began. The German Panzer Divisions were ordered to resume their advance, but improved defences halted their initial offensive.

After Belgium had unconditionally surrendered on May 28th, a military communiqué reported that;
“THE REICH FLAG IS WAVING [AGAIN] OVER THE MONUMENT TO THE GERMAN YOUTH AT LANGEMARCK, THE SCENE OF THE HEROIC STRUGGLE IN 1914”

Adolf Hitler spent the following days visiting various headquarters near the front and at the same time, his own battlefields of World War I. On June 1st, the Führer as the victorious conqueror received homage from his soldiers at the Langemarck cemetery; the key symbol for the fallen German soldiers in WW1. The pictures taken by Heinrich Hoffmann on this occasion were to show the public that Hitler had now ensured that the German youth’s sacrifice to the Fatherland was not in vain. On that day, Erwin now fighting near the Belgian border at less than 25 kilometers from the Langemarck cemetery, was awarded the Clasp to the Iron Cross 2nd class for the bravery displayed during the first week of the invasion.

[Robert T.]

3.3

France Surrenders


On June 14th, Paris fell, undefended. The 20th Motorized Infantry Division (12th Army) was closing the ring around the French 2nd Army Group trapped against the Maginot Line. Less than a week later, Erwin Koopmann was presented with the Iron Cross 1st class for the courage he had shown while combating in the Flandern/Artois region earlier in the month.
On June 22nd, France was forced to agree to a humiliating armistice, Hitler dictates that the French capitulation takes place at Compiegne, a forest north of Paris. This is the same spot where twenty-two years earlier the Germans had signed the Armistice ending World War I.
After the cessation of hostilities in France, Erwin's division remained in the areas of Vesoul and Besancon and then were transferred to the demarcation line west of Autun and subsequently to Châtillon-en-Bazois.

[Robert T.]

3.4

The City of Lights


The brilliantly improvised German operational plan for the attack in the west had succeeded beyond all dreams. France had been utterly defeated in six weeks, but England, strangely, was not yet seeking terms. The plan had made no further provisions and as a result, more direct measures to break British resistance were considered.
So, on 16 July 1940 Adolf Hitler issued Directive Number 16, it read;

“As England, in spite of the hopelessness of her military position, has so far shown herself unwilling to come to any compromise, I have decided to begin to prepare for, and if necessary to carry out, an invasion of England... and if necessary the island will be occupied.”

The subsequent movement of the 20th Motorized was to an area west of Paris for training and the preparation of the planned invasion of England; Operation Sealion “Unternehmen Seelöwe”.
In July, Oberleutnant Koopmann was making the usual arrangements for an upcoming parade in the City of Lights, and while the Germans gorged themselves on their triumph and the delights of Paris, the RAF was spending the unexpected respite in bracing itself for the defence of Britain, which was to rob Germany of final victory.

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Generalleutnant Hans Traut

• Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross: August 5th 1940, Oberstleutnant, Commander of the I. Battalion of Infantry Regiment 90.

• Oakleaves (No. 67): January 23rd 1942, Oberst, Commander of Infantry Regiment 41 and Leader of the 10th Infantry Division (mot.).

• German Cross in Gold: December 15th 1943, Generalleutnant, Commander of the 78th Assault Division.

He was captured near Minks during the massive Soviet summer offensive of 1944, and remained in Russian captivity until autumn 1955.

[Robert T.]

3.5

Infantry Assault Badge


With the failure of the Luftwaffe to defeat the Royal Air Force, the German High Command became increasingly nervous about the chances of a successful invasion. Initially it was intended to invade in August, but on September 3rd, the High Command postponed Sealion to the 21st and then the 27th, which would be the last time that the tides would be suitable on that year.
On September 15th, the German Air Force launched a major attack to destroy the RAF. The Germans lost twice as many planes as the RAF, this signalled the end for Sealion. Hitler had it postponed indefinitely, while his attention was drawn towards the Soviet Union.
In October 1940, Erwin was awarded the Infantry Assault Badge in Bronze for having taken part in three or more motorized infantry attacks, in early December his division was moved from the area west of Paris to Magdeburg, Germany, for training and refitting.

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Generalleutnant Dietrich Kraiß

Kraiß was born in Stuttgart. He was commander of Infantry Regiment 90 (from September 1939 to March 1941), 168th Infantry Division (from July 1941 to March 1943) and 355th Infantry Division until May 1943. In November 1943 he took command of 352nd Infantry Division which was in 1944 with six other divisions, located in Normandy in front of the Allied invasion. His 352nd Infantry Division kept defensive positions around St. Lô and defended the Omaha Beach area. He was wounded during the fighting near St. Lô on August 2nd 1944, and died of his wounds four days later.

[Robert T.]

3.6

Operation Barbarossa


On June 22nd 1941, Germany launched their offensive into Soviet Union, the eastern horizon had hardly begun to lighten when thousands of German guns opened fire across the Soviet border. Hitler and his generals had not the slightest doubt that Germany would rapidly vanquish the Soviet state. They had carried out prolonged preparation, secretly concentrating on the Soviet frontiers a huge army, three million strong, which had experienced no defeat during two years of war and which had confirmed on the battlefield of Europe its doctrine of Blitzkrieg. They had worked out in details a war-plan (Barbarossa) according to which the main forces of the Red Army were to be wiped out in a single gigantic operation , and Soviet territory right up to the Volga occupied by the autumn of 1941
The German armies were divided into Army Group North, Center, and South under the command of Field Marshals Leeb, Bock, and Runsdstedt. They broke through deep into Soviet territory, trying to surround and destroy concentrations of Soviet forces and prevent a retirement by the effective forces of the Red Army towards the east, behind the Dnieper and Dvina rivers.

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At the beginning of the invasion, the 20th Motorized was part of Army Group Center (XXXIX Army Corps, Hoth’s 3rd Panzer Army), their initial strategic goal was to defeat the Soviet armies in Belarus, including occupation of Smolensk. They crossed the border at Olita, Lithuania; advancing towards Vilna; crossing the Dvina River at Vitebsk, followed by combat operation in the encirclement of Smolensk.
South of Smolensk, Guderian's 2nd Panzer Army was proceeding at good speed and its 29th Motorized Infantry Division took the city on July 16th. In the north, Hoth's 3rd Panzer Army was moving much more slowly. The terrain was swampy, the rain was still a problem and the Russians were fighting desperately to escape the trap that was developing. On July 18th, the great armoured pincers of the two German Panzer Armies came within 16 kilometers of closing the gap. But the jaws would not finally snap shut for another 8 days. It would take the Germans another 10 days to liquidate the pocket. In the end, although 300,000 Soviet soldiers were captured, more than 200,000 would break out to stand between the Germans and Moscow.

[Robert T.]

3.7

Way of the warrior


The battle for Smolensk reached its climax between July 21st and August 7th. During this struggle the Red Army Supreme Command deployed several dozen additional fresh formations in three echelons in the western sector and established a new front, called the reserve front, in the rear of the western front. The principal centres of fighting in this desperate battle were Smolensk, Yelnya, and Yartsevo.
On July 21st, Erwin was hit to the head by a shell splinter near the village of Isbanna, northeastward of Smolensk. He was later awarded the Wound Badge in Black.

[Robert T.]

3.8

Day of honor

Erwin’s son, Kurt, who was also serving with I.R.90, was presented with the Iron Cross 2nd class for his brave conduct during the early stages of Barbarossa.

[Robert T.]

3.9

The loss


The failure of the Germans to close the gap, thereby allowing 200,000 Soviets to escape from the Smolensk pocket, made Hitler give up on the concept of battles of encirclement. Four weeks into the campaign, it was clear to Hitler and his high command that despite immense losses of men and material that the Soviet Union was not about to fall apart and the flanks of Army Group Center were now becoming increasingly vulnerable to Soviet counterattacks. Hitler decided that tanks from Army Group Center should be sent to Army Group North and South as Germany would defeat Russia by inflicting severe economic damage.
The XXXIX Motorized Army Corps was subsequently transferred to Army Group North via Vitebsk, Ostrov, then all the way through Novgorod and Chudovo, with the orders to close the iron ring around Leningrad on the southeast side. After seizing Chudovo and Liuban on August 25th, they attacked in a northeastward direction towards Mga and the southern shore of Lake Lagoda. By August 30th, their first units reached the Neva River in the region of Ivanovskoye (now renamed Otradnoye, situated 40 km east of Leningrad on the left bank of the Neva River), they also held Mga and had cut the Northern Railroad to Moscow. On August 31th, the Soviets sent some reinforcements into the breach and managed to temporarily recapture Mga from the 20th Motorized Division, repelling several German assaults on Ivanovskoye.

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During those attacks, Unteroffizier Kurt Koopmann was killed in action and lies buried in Nikolskoye (located on the Tosna River, 6 km south of Ivanovskoye)
Kurt had been promoted to Fahnenjunker, effective on the 1st of September….
A good friend of the Koopmann family, Leutnant Dr Barfod (serving with 269. Infanterie-Division, which at the time belonged to 4. Panzergruppe and was also engaged on the Leningrad Front), wrote this letter to the grieving parents. (Please refer to page 3.1, about the adopted son);
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"In the field, October 9th 1941

Kurt Koopmann killed in action! As I read this, a small but stocky boy raises before me. Lively
blue eyes, his voice always a bit hoarse from forceful use; scars on his hands and face as
signs of violent arguments. Fighting was already his element as a schoolboy, who did not
have an easy life as the first of several children. His youth also was not easy for his
mother. She lived alone with her children in Kiel and had to bear the burden of his
education almost all alone. Fighting stayed the element of his life and he chose the
profession of an active officer for himself. In a manly sacrifice the young man now gave
his life much too early, while Germany is making its way to the top [of all nations]. As a
father, I can understand the loss of your eldest son very well, dear Mrs. and Mr.
Koopmann. I also know that all sincere consolation will not help you too much. You
have got to find new strength by believing into the good cause of his death and in the joy
about the development of your children.

Sincerely yours,”
Dr. Barfod

[Robert T.]

3.10

I HAD A COMRADE


In battle he was my comrade,
None better I have had.
The drum called us to fight,
He always on my right,
In step, through good and bad.

A bullet it flew towards us,
For him or meant for me?
His life from mine it tore,
At my feet a piece of gore,
As if a part of me.

His hand reached up to hold mine.
I must re-load my gun.
"My friend, I cannot ease your pain,
In life eternal we'll meet again,
And walk once more as one."


Von Ludwig Uhland

[Robert T.]

3.11

Tikhvin offensive operation


The 20th Motorized captured Sinyavino after heavy fighting on September 8th and occupied Shlisselburg the next day, closing the iron ring around Leningrad, but the intended attack of the XXXIX Motorized Army Corps on the city never happened. Before the bitter Russian winter took hold, Field Marshal Leeb wanted to strengthen his forces' grip on the Lake Ladoga area, but Hitler would have none of that, he ordered Leeb to seize the area of Tikhvin and then move to the north and link with the Finns on the Svir River.

At the beginning of October, the XXXIX Army Corps was moved to Chudovo to prepare for the attack. On October 16th, they started their advance on Tikhvin some 120 km away, to sever the last land connection between northwest and central Russia. Leading the way were the 12th and 8th Panzer along with the 20th and 18th Motorized Divisions. The Germans captured Malaya Vishera within one week, their progress stopped and started as the weather in turn thawed and froze the mud and ice amid a landscape cluttered with forests, lakes and swamps.

By the end of the month, Erwin Koopmann’s division fought its way into the impassable terrain southeast of Budogoshch, in order to establish the flank security of the 12th Panzer Division during the attack on Tikhvin. By the 8th of November the city had fallen, but Stalin’s forces counterattacked and on the 15th of November, Generalleutnant von Arnim was forced to retreat. As the Soviet attacks began rippling across the front, the XXXIX Motorized Corps was ill-deployed to deal effectively with the expanding torrent of attacks. The 8th Panzer and the 20th Motorized clung precariously to a string of strongpoints along the corps’ long right flank. The sudden drop in temperature, as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius at night, caused heavy casualties among the German troops who were still dressed in their summer uniforms.
Leeb was anxious about his extended front, and Hitler told him that Bock's move on Moscow would ease the pressure on his spread out troops, but not so, that did not happen. On December 8th, Leeb finally convinced Hitler to allow him to retreat to Volkhov, east of Lake Lagoda. By December 21st, the Panzers had made the dreadful journey back to where they had been two months earlier, having to cope with temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius….
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On November 5th, while fighting at Borowik, to the southwest of Tikhvin, Erwin got badly wounded to the right arm when hit by an infantry projectile. The wound was so severe that he was transported back to Germany for a long convalescence.