SS OBERSTURMBANNFUHRER MAX WUNSCHE. The young soldiers of Max Wunsche’s Panzer Regiment 12, SS Panzer Division “Hitlerjugend”, earned everlasting glory during their heroic battle against the numerical superiority of the allied invasion troops. In that faithful summer of 1944, he and thousands of the youngsters under his command would serve at the front with the Hitler Youth Division in the cataclysmic environment of modern total war. Thousands of aircraft, rolling barrages of the batteries, massed tank attacks, hammered them with bombs and shells. The earth heaved thunderously, an inferno was unleashed. But faith was the strongest support of courage. Smeared with blood, covered with dust, gasping and fighting, doggedly dug into the earth, these youths brought the Anglo-Americans to a halt. The ferocious defense of the area around Caen and Falaise by the young soldiers of the Hitlerjugen Division is legendary and the gallantry and leadership of SS Obersturmbannfuhrer Max Wunsche, the dashing 29 year old commander of the division’s 12th SS Panzer Regiment, played no small part in keeping up the high degree of morale and fighting spirit of these troops. During the fighting which raged around Hill 112, his Panzer Regiment was responsible for the destruction of over 250 enemy tanks. In these battles he was a mass of nervous energy in perpetual motion, a vital, intense personality unmatched among present day warriors for sheer vigor, dauntless spirit, and the soaring zest for battle that is classically attributed to the criteria of a fighter. For the stubborn defense of his divisional area, as well as for his own personal bravery, Max Wunsche was decorated with the Oak leaves on 11 August 1944, and was promoted to the rank of SS-Standartenfuhrer. Max Wunsche’s military career had been extremely successful. As a young man of only 30, he had reached the rank of full Colonel, was commanding a Panzer Regiment, was an adjutant on Hitler’s staff, was in combat posting with the Leibstandarte as a platoon leader and company commander during the Polish and French campaigns winning both second and first class Iron Crosses. Max Wunsche also saw service during the Greek and Yugoslavian campaigns before being given command of the Sturmgeschutz Abteilung of the Leibstandarte in time for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Subsequently, he also commanded the 1st Abteilung of the division’s Panzer Regiment, winning the award of the Knight’s Cross during the intense fighting in the battle for Kharkov for skillfully leading his tank unit. Wunsche also served as divisional adjutant and performed duties as a staff officer, demonstrating his intelligence and versatility as a soldier, taking temporary command of units whose commanders had been killed or wounded, flying battlefield reconnaissance in a Fieseler Storch. And even serving briefly on two occasions as the LAH’s Chief of Operations. Such were the fighting qualities of the top commanders who would lead the 12th SS Panzer Division into battle in June 1944, which he had made great strides in shaping the youngsters of the Hitlerjugen Division into soldiers with extraordinary elan and fighting capability. Young, charismatic officers such as Max Wunsche, steered by years of combat in the most elite unit of the Waffen SS, were the best Germany had to offer. Where courage ranked foremost among human qualities and where courage was considered the guarantor of individual character. Max Wunsche proved in his amazing 1939-44 career that courage uttered a truth about all men, for which he is remembered for his indomitable spirit as much for his considerable personal qualities as for his prowess in combat. Max Wunsche was a leader of promise as well as a proficient commander and the bearer of a sharpshooter’s reputation and was daringly aggressive. Men of Wunsche’s caliber were becoming rare toward the end of 1944, only the most habile veterans would be able to survive the growing hordes of allied tanks swarming into the German land. Max Wunsche’s appearance endowed him with a nordic and heroic aspect, his outgoing personality left an indelible impression. Professionally serious, uninhibited wit, and penetrating intelligence, a quick-thinking daredevil and utterly determined. A bold and dynamic natural leader. Wunsche was captured on 24 August 1944, after a rearguard action around the Falaise Gap assisting the escape of thousands of German soldiers. At the time of his capture, he had been recommended for the Swords. The 12th SS fought with a skill and a pugnacity unexcelled by any unit of the Wehrmacht deployed at the invasion front. Max Wunsche was held in British captivity until 1948. He died in Munich on April 17 1995, three days before his 81st birthday.
