In June 1943, SS-Sturmbannführer Max Wünsche was transferred from the SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Leibstandarte SS to
12.SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend, and took command of SS-Panzer-Regiment 12 when the Allied landed in Normandy. Wünsche led his young SS-Panzergrenadiers through hard and costly fighting during the days after the invasion, experiencing particularly bitter combat at Caen during which he was wounded. In the following battles Wünsche's regiment was credited with the destruction of 219 Allied tanks up to the beginning of July 1944, which gained Wünsche the award of the Oakleaves to his Knight's Cross. By early August 1944, his regiment was reduced to a handful of still operational panzers and was encircled in the Falaise Pocket along with the rest of 12.SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend, which had lost over 8,000 men by the time. Wünsche, his adjutant SS-Hauptsturmführer Georg Isecke, SS-Untersturmführer Fritz Freitag and a wounded medical officer, escaped out of the pocket on foot. During the escape Wünsche was wounded in the calf and was later captured by the British. Wünsche spent the rest of the war as a Prisoner of War in camp 165 at Caithness in Scotland which was a special camp for high ranking German officers. He was released in 1948 and returned to Germany and became a manager of an industrial plant in Wuppertal until his retirement in 1980. Max Wünsche died aged 80 on April 17 1995. He was known for his outstanding bravery and leadership. Awards i.a.: Knight's Cross with Oakleaves, German Cross in Gold and Wound Badge in Silver. Images: Max Wünsche as SS-Stubaf. in Feb. resp. March 1943. Credit: Bekors. c. Bundesarchiv.
I had the wonderful opportunity to met with Max Wünsche and his charming wife in 1976 in Germany. He took me to his home and we talked for hours. He had five sons - no daughters. A very succesful businessman and he kept a low profile in post war Germany. A very fine gentleman.
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