Kampfgruppe Dirnagel

[WWIIBuff]

Hi all,

I just wanted to show a small sampling of a Waffen-SS grouping I recently received from a friend. The grouping is from SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Rodolf Dirnagel. Herr Dirnagel was the commanding officer of 2./SS-Flak Abteilung "Ost". In early 1945 he led Kampfgruppe Dirnagel as an anti tank unit against US armored divisions.

Enjoy
John

[WWIIBuff]

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[Kp.-Laporte]

Amazing pictures, John, congrats on your new gains! Hardly ever saw nicer photos of SS-Führer in full formal tunic. Any idea who the other officers are on the last pictures?

[JRA]

Wow

Wow,

what a great grouping. Congrats John, really great!
Thanks for sharing!

Jeroen

[Adrian]

Nice pictures John!
Do you have any of him wearing his flak badge?

Best regards,
Adrian.

[Rick Research]

Do you have any portrait photos of him late in the war? I would LOVE to see his ribbon bar-- he should have gotten his SS 12 in ? 1941 or so (would be interesting to see if "war service" really DID "count double," as did pre-1933 time)... and how/if he also wore the NSDAP long service 15 and 10 he should have been entitled to.

You have all his SS Seniority List dates etc? Quite an interesting career-- 5 years in the ranks and then in 8 more years skyrocketed from 2nd Lt to Lt Colonel!

French MacLean's "The Camp Men" shows him at Dachau in 1935 and Sachsenburg in 1936, and says his U.S. National Archives File is # A3343 SSO-154.

I was rather surprised to see an obvious frontline officer like him with both classes of the KVK with Swords, usually a sign of rear area/routine activities.

Do you know what happened to him after November 1944?

[WWIIBuff]

Kampfgruppe Dirnagel

Thanks Guys!!!

This is my first real research project here and it's quite fun so far. I haven't had a chance to finish scanning all the photos yet (three albums) but I'll try and find pics that show the items you asked for. Unfortunately there are not any really good portrait photos of him, but I'll see what I can come up with. I'll also post some more award docs.

Rick the only dates I have on him are those showing on his award docs. I don't have his DOB or any other dates regarding seniority, service, etc. The only other information I've found on him so far is in the records of the US War Crimes Trials at Dachau. In case #12 1449 (US vs Rudolf Dirnagel et al) tried 14 Aug 1947, Dirnagel and his senior officer, Kurt Martin, were tried for the execution of 5 to 6 bailed out US pilots that he had interrogated. I have been told by a professor at the University of Law in Amsterdam that he was acquited of the charges and the Germans did not retry him. The rest is still a mystery so far.

The only other information I have comes from a two page article in "Siegrunen" #42 on Kampfgruppe Dirnagel. Unfortunately his Kampfgruppe was only formed in March 1945 so it wasn't around very long.

Is there some way to find out what he was doing at Dachau? Is there also some way to get a copy of his National Archives file?

Thanks for the help.
John

[Rick Research]

Ah, I didn't post what I've got in case you already had all that:

Born 21 January 1912 in Memmingen, Bavaria. NSDAP member number 126,221 which indicates he joined in 1929-- at age 17!!!! That is also the 1929 Nürnberg Party Rally Badge he is wearing beside his SA Sports Badge in the photo of him shaking paws with Himmler, so he was an EARLY and UNDERAGE nazi, as well as a tiny little guy!

His SS membership number was 8,107, indicating he joined in 1931, still only 19. But he was not commissioned as an SS officer until 1936-- so he spent 5 years in the ranks:

SS Untersturmführer 20 April 1936
SS Obersturmführer 12 September 1937
SS Hauptsturmführer ??.??.??
SS Sturmbannführer 20 April 1943
SS Obersturmbannführer 9 November 1944 you've actually got.

Singularly unimpressive as a commission, isn't it? I have never seen anything else for SS commissions than those typed out sheets: quite weird given the usual impressive formality of German military commissions.

I'm a "former Imperial officers" guy, so out of my depth on SS specifics. The 1 December 1937 SS Seniority List (Dienstaltersliste), which has been reprinted (as have 1935, and 1944--for Sturmbannführers up) shows Dirnagel in

3. SS Totenkopf-Verband "Thüringen," which matches his rank and cuff title in your parade photos above. He then held the SS Honor Ring and Honor Sword, SA Sports Badge (no National Sports Badge) and was a Lebensborn "supporting member."

From what I can tell, "Thüringen" was the guard unit at Buchenwald Concentration Camp-- which people knowledgeable in that field should be able to confirm for you from the photos.

The 1 October 1944 SS DAL shows him as "Commander SS Flak Replacement Regiment." Wartime lists dropped Sports Badges, and NONE of the SS Lists ever listed full awards, but what shwos are his Iron Crosses 1st and 2nd Classes, the Black Wound badge visible in the photo you showed above of him as a Sturmbannführer, both classes of the War Merit Cross with Swords, and the generic emblem used to indicate ANY WW2 "Assault" Badge-- in this case the very scarce Army Flak one.

MacLean's one paragraph listings for officers adds that he was married and officially 'agnostic."

Dirnagel's EK1 document was signed by Herbert "Loch" (born 1886, alive 1958), a fellow Bavarian, General der Artillerie with eventual backdated seniority of 1.10.41, commander of XXVIII Army Corps ("acting" at the time document made out), later commander of the 18th Army, and then CO in the Eifel at the end of 1944-- a Knight's Cross winner.

Dirnagel's army Flak Badge document was signed by Fritz "Brand" (born 1889, alive 1957), who served as senior general for artillery at the Army High Command HQ 1 October 1939 to 30 September 1943.

[Jason von Z.]

Dear John,
I am not sure how much information on Kampfgruppe Dirnagel you have been able to collect so far, but if you can even read a little bit of German you should try a book entitled "Die Flugabwehrverbände der Waffen-SS" by Hans Stöber. It has a 30-page section on SS-Flak-Ersatz units, including a 6-page piece on Kampfgruppe Dirnagel itself. I am not sure what information is contained in the Siegrunen issue that you mention, but knowing Landwehr and his extremely poor scholarship and extensive plagiarism, it is probably just a bad English translation of the Stöber's book anyway. I would recommend you go straight to the German book as it has some interesting details on the actions of the Kampfgruppe. For a much broader picture of the fighting in the area of Dirnagel's Kampfgruppe, which will put it in a better perspective as well as giving you more information on the unit, you should look at another book by Stöber (co-written by Erich Spiwoks), "Endkampf zwischen Mosel und Inn". Between these two books you should be able to get a rather good picture of the combat operations of Kapmfgruppe Dirnagel, as they will provide a lot more information than anything you can find in English. I hope this helps your research!

Jason