ϟϟ-Division „Reich“ and the Capture of Belgrade

Serbian officer surrendering to Reich officer 

SS-Feldgendarmerie in the Balkans

Reich officer SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritz Klingenberg

Fritz Klingenberg interrupted his university studies of science and history at the University of Rostock in 1934 and joined the SS-Verfügungstruppe. He became one of the first ever graduates of the new SS-Junkerschule at Bad Tölz in 1935. Klingenberg served with SS-Division Reich during the Invasion of Yugoslavia in March 1941. He was best known for his unorthodox and audacious capture of the Yugoslavian capital Belgrade for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. On the morning of April 12 1941, SS-Hauptsturmführer Fritz Klingenberg disobeyed orders, and decided to reconnoiter Belgrade. Klingenberg and members of his motorcycle assault company crossed the Danube river and approached the city with only six men. They encountered some Yugoslav troops, who had captured a drunk German tourist, whom they in turn captured. Receiving some reinforcements the Reich detachment unfurled a large swastika and raised it over the embassy to declare the capture of the city. Two hours later, the mayor of Belgrade arrived at the embassy and surrendered the city to Klingenberg. It was not until the next day that a sizeable German force arrived to secure the city. On December 21 1944, the front veteran Fritz Klingenberg was promoted to SS-Standartenführer and ordered to take command of the German-Latin 17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen southeast of Saarbrücken against the XV Corps of the U.S. 7th Army. When resistance finally collapsed on March 22 1945, Klingenberg was among the casualties. He was killed in action aged 32 by a tank shell during a firefight on the western edge of Herxheim and is buried at the German War Cemetery in Andilly in France, Block 35 Row 10 Grave 731. Credit: Helmut Günther, Hot Motors, Cold Feet. Top image: Serbian officer hand over the barracks to the Reich in April 1941. Oorlogsbronnen. Fair use. Middle image: Waffen-SS military police examining a Soviet SVT-40 rifle seized from a Yugoslavian partisan during the Balkans Campaign in 1941. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: Knight's Cross holder Fritz Klingenberg as SS-Hauptsturmführer in Soviet Union during Op. Barbarossa in July 1941. c. Bundesarchiv.