The Fate of Fritz
The unknown fate of my uncle Fritz (Friedrich) Menze has occupied the hearts and minds of his family members for decades. Conscripted to the Waffen-SS shortly after his 17th birthday, he was declared missing in action in Russia only weeks after he had become a soldier. Intensive research by my uncle Clemens shows that Fritz most likely died in the final days of January 1944 as part of the Red Army’s advance to break the siege of Leningrad (today’s St. Petersburg).
In a letter from December 1995 to his siblings, Clemens lists the sources of his research: letters from Fritz to his family and friends, conversations with his cousin Klemens Behler who fought in the same area as Fritz at the same time and who survived the war, the third volume of “Nederlandse vrijwilligers in Europese krijgsdienst 1940–1945” (“Dutch volunteers in European war service 1940–1945”), published in 1989 and dealing with the 4th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Brigade “Nederland” — the military unit Fritz had been assigned to, though being neither Dutch nor a volunteer.
Further, Clemens unsuccessfully tried to gain more information about Fritz’ fate by contacting several relevant organizations, including an association dedicated to soldier graves, and by issuing an ad in the monthly journal “Berkenkruis” (birch cross) for Flemish and Dutch war volunteers.
In December 1973, the tracing service of the German Red Cross had stated that with very high probability Fritz had died in the battles between Leningrad and Narva, Estonia — without giving details.
The following is meant to detail what is known about Fritz’ fate, heavily drawing on my uncle Clemens’ research, complemented by books published after 2003, when Clemens passed away.
1 November to 26 December 1943: training, assignment to brigade “Nederland” and deployment to Croatia
Born on 24 August 1926 in the small village of Tietelsen, Fritz was conscripted to the Waffen-SS after he had just turned 17 years old. In an unsuccessful attempt to avoid the Waffen-SS, he had in fact volunteered to join the paratroopers of the Wehrmacht. On 31 October 1943, he cycled from his home village to the nearby village of Ottbergen to take several trains to Nürnberg where he would start his military training on 2 November — in line with his conscription order.
In a letter to his family, dated 2 December, Fritz describes his training as having to build communications infrastructure three, four times a week, four hours each day — either putting wires for radio operations in trenches or above the ground. This training to eventually serve in a signal company was complemented by combat training.
On 7 December, Fritz left Nürnberg and subsequently arrived in Morhange (German: Mörchingen) in the Alsace region with some of his fellow soldiers. He was stationed there until 14 December, during which time it was decided that Fritz would be assigned to the 4th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Brigade “Nederland” (4. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade “Nederland”). At this point, the brigade was being consolidated and at the same time deployed to fight against partisans in the area of Agram (today’s Zagreb, Croatia). In his letter from 26 December, Fritz mentions that he had been stationed North of Agram for three days at that point in time.
4th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Brigade “Nederland”
Less than three weeks after Germany had invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, a Dutch Volunteer Legion (Freiwilligen Legion Niederlande) was formed by the Waffen-SS to participate in the “crusade against Bolshevism” — in line with the wider approach by the Waffen-SS to recruit young “Germanic” men in Germany-occupied countries in Northern and Western Europe. The invasion of the Soviet Union gave momentum to the attempts started in 1940 to get “Germanics” volunteering to serve in the German military forces.
“In the eyes of Hitler and his Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, all ‘Germanics’ were potential cannon-fodder for Germany alone.”[1]
From January 1942 to April 1943, the Dutch Volunteer Legion was deployed at the Eastern Front before being withdrawn to Thuringia, Germany. The Legion was to be absorbed by a new SS Division named “Nordland”, comprising other “Germanic” Volunteer Legions. However, due to concerns by the leader of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging), Anton Mussert, about using a purely Scandinavian-sounding name, the creation of an exclusively Dutch Waffen-SS formation was decided. Subsequently, in October 1943 the Dutch Volunteer Legion was officially redesignated as 4th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Brigade “Nederland” — now using the Dutch name for the Netherlands in its title and not anymore the German one, Niederlande. SS-Oberführer Jürgen Wagner assumed command of the brigade.
In the process of the redesignation, a large recruitment programme during the summer of 1943 had been undertaken to enlist more soldiers into “Nederland”. The brigade was organized around two armoured infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, a reconnaissance company, an engineer company, an anti-tank company as well as a signal company[2] to which Fritz was assigned and which was commanded by SS-Hauptsturmführer (equivalent to the officer’s rank of captain in the German and also other armies) Wilhelm Thissen.
Moved from Thuringia to Croatia, the brigade received some 1,500 reinforcements, including Fritz. In December 1943, the brigade recorded some 9,342 soldiers of all ranks. The brigade still lacked anti-aircraft and artillery guns, and the reconnaissance company comprised an under-strength motley collection of motor vehicles.[3]
“Among the problems that Wagner had to deal with on an immediate basis was that of communications, which were essential for the correct execution of orders. SS-Hstuf. Thissen had only a signal company under his command, rather than the complete Abteilung that was needed for the communications requirements of the whole brigade. The lack of radio sets made it difficult for Wagner to communicate properly with his unit commanders.”[4]
27 December 1943 to 25 January 1944: deployment to the Oranienbaum Front
On 27 December, Fritz and the entire brigade received orders to deploy to the Oranienbaum Front in Russia, following the rest of the III (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps (III. (germanisches) SS-Panzerkorps) to which the brigade was subordinated.
After the rapid German advance against Leningrad in 1941, the Soviet salient at Oranienbaum on the Gulf of Finland had remained firmly in Soviet hands, representing a veritable thorn in the side of the German positions. On 15 January 1944, the Red Army began its offensive from the Oranienbaum bridgehead towards the South and Southwest.
On 1 January, while passing through Tilsit (today’s Sovetsk, Russia), Fritz had sent a greeting card to his parents. Two days later, the brigade had reached its new area of operations on the western edge of the Oranienbaum bulge, which should come under attack about two weeks later.
Fritz’ unit, the brigade’s 54th signal company, was responsible for radio communications between the brigade headquarters and the companies. According to a letter from Fritz dated 8 January, some 50 Dutchmen were part of his company.
Fritz was still behind the front until 17 January. At that time, the weather was relatively mild, with some 30 centimeters of snow depth and a temperature of about minus 10 degrees Celsius. Since 22 January, Fritz was stationed with six other soldiers of his company in a village close to the front. Along with two others, he was assigned to a team that had to repair communication lines. The team was sent out two, three times a day but not during nighttime because of partisan activities in the area.
In his very last letter, dated 25 January, Fritz wrote that there was an airfield next to the village that had already been partly destroyed and partly prepared for demolition.
This letter is the last sign of life from Fritz. His further fate is closely linked to the withdrawal of the brigade “Nederland” to the Luga River.
The last days of January 1944
The brigade “Nederland” announced a withdrawal plan to its units on 26 January and on the same day there were two air raids on the coastal station of the brigade’s 54th signal company. The brigade was now divided into three combat groups, named after their respective commanders Collani, Jörchel and Breymann. The 54th signal company to which Fritz belonged was assigned to the Breymann combat group. On 27 January, this combat group came under heavy Soviet artillery fire at a crossroads east of Kopor’e.
At noon on 28 January, the Breymann combat group began to retreat and, following the Baltic Sea road, withdrew to Peipiya without contact with the Red Army. However, during the following night, the retreat was severely disrupted by the rapidly advancing Soviet troops. The troops pushed through swamps and forests past the retreating Breymann group, overran the group and trapped it near Peipiya. Under heavy fighting and sustaining severe losses, the group managed to fight its way free in the direction of Koskolovo, so that it could continue its retreat, heading first to Kotly, southeast of Koskolovo.
Coming from the Kotly area, the Breymann combat group reached the Luga River in the area of Keikino and Jamburg (today’s Kingisepp) on 30 January — after a disorderly retreat resembling flight. However, it became clear that the Red Army had already crossed the Luga River west of Keikino. Soldiers fled in small, randomly formed groups from the Soviet troops, trying to make it further west to the nearby Narva River. On 31 January, whatever was left of the 54th signal company got the order to scout the road between Fedorovka, neighboring Keikino to the north, and Hungerburg (today’s Narva-Jõesuu) at the Narva River. At this point in time, the snow was more than knee-deep and the temperature was around minus 35 degrees Celsius.
In the next few days it was possible for the German military forces to stabilize the front along the Narva River. The severity of the fighting is shown by the losses the brigade “Nederland” suffered between 1 January and 31 March 1944. The total number of soldiers reported by the brigade commander as being either dead, missing, wounded or ill was 3,728.
What most likely happened to Fritz
Fritz’ commanding officer, SS-Hauptsturmführer Thissen, wrote a letter to Fritz’ father only on 10 March 1944, saying Fritz had gone missing in action on 7 February in the area of Keikino, while executing an order to repair communication lines. However, by 7 February this area had been in Soviet hands for almost a week already and the remainder of the brigade “Nederland” had made it to the Narva River — so Thissen’s letter is unreliable.
After Fritz’ final letter on 25 January, there is no record of him, also not as prisoner of war in the Soviet Union. It seems to be the most likely scenario that Fritz died — either immediately or after being wounded — between 29 and 31 January, while the Breymann combat group his company was part of retreated under heavy fighting from Peipiya via Kotly to the Luga River at Keikino — an area of approximately 150 square kilometers.
Fritz had the unfortunate fate to spend his teenage years under a totalitarian dictatorship, which not only left Europe in ruins, committed genocide on an industrial scale and numerous war crimes, but also abused its own youth for its inhuman and cruel goals.
