SS Artillery Abt 616, France May 1940 - -Info please

[Stew]

I have an Iron Cross first class and scratched on the back is
S.S Art Abt 616 ,Wittes 31.5.40”

My researches indicate that Wittes is near Dunkirk Calais and Lille ,and the date (31 May 1940) was around the time of the Dunkirk evacuation (24th May -4 June). Hitler ordered a halt of the German army on 24 May.
I am interested in knowing more about S.S.Art Abt 616.
Please tell me what sort of unit this was and what happened to it as the war progressed.
Thanks

[Simon O.]

No such thing as SS artillerie abteilung 616, however.

this will be Schwere Artillerie Abteilung 616 of the Heer, otherwise written s.Art.Abt.616

[Justin P]

Taken From http://www.sturmvogel.orbat.com/artillery.html


Art.Abt. 616 26 Aug 1939 with one 15cm Kanone and one 21cm Mörser batteries
6 Mar 40 re-equipped and reinforced to three 21cm Mörser batteries
10 May 40 assigned to XIX Panzer Corps, Panzer Group von Kleist, 12th Army, Army Group A
16 Feb 41 transferred from 1st Army, Army Group D
5 Apr 41 XVIII Mountain Corps, 12th Army, the Balkans
1 May 41 1. and 3. transferred from 12th Army, Army Group A
14, 20 Jun-8 Sep 41 XXXXVII Corps (mot.), 2nd Panzer Group, Army Group Center
9-22 Sep 41 XXXXVI Corps (mot.), 2nd Panzer Group, Army Group Center
23-28 Sep 41 17th Panzer Division
29 Sep-25 Oct 41 XXXXVII Corps (mot.), 2nd Panzer Group, Army Group Center
26 Oct 41-? 2nd Army, Army Group Center
4 Jun 42 VII Corps, 2nd Hungarian Army, Armeegruppe von Weichs
[Niehorster: Jul 42, Army Group South Reserves]
26 Sep 42 attached to 24th Panzer Division, LI Corps, 6th Army, Army Group Don
5 Oct 42 attached to 24th Panzer Division, LI Corps, 6th Army, Army Group Don
6 Nov 42 LI Corps, 6th Army, Army Group B
Jan 43 destroyed at Stalingrad
30 Apr 43 reformed as leichte battalion (RSO) with three batteries
Jul 43 XXXXI Panzer Corps, 9th Army, Army Group Center
June 44 destroyed

[Simon O.]

XIX Armeekorps was in the Dunkirk area at the time.

Worth doing a bit more research here, sounds like this was one of the heavy artillery units used to pound the French and British at Dunkirk.

[Stew]

thank you Simon and justintime,I have had another close look at the medal - what I reported as upper case "S.S" was incorrect ...they are lower case characters - possibly a "s."followed by "s" and perhaps the second "s" is followed by a faint lower case "c".


BTW the recipient of this EK1 survived the war and after spending 10 years in Russia he returned to Germany.He died in 2001 . His name and rank are scratched on this medal too.

[Simon O.]

Well the first 's' could be for Stab though it's usually St or what about a 2 or 3 for either of those batteries?

By the way, the XIX Armeekorps was one of, if not the elite formation of the French campaign. Commanded by Guderian, chief of staff Walther Nehring and Ia Fritz Bayerlein. It reads like a who's who of the panzertruppe.