Joop Cuypers was born in Amsterdam on 1 August 1920. Together with his brother Max, he was one of the first to enlist in the Waffen-SS Standarte “Nordwest”, which mainly consisted of Flemish and Dutch volunteers. Their initial training was in the “Langenhorn barracks” near Hamburg Their class took their oath of allegiance in the presence of Himmler on June 22, 1941. After further training in Debica in Poland and Arys in East Prussia, he would be assigned to the “Waffen SS Freiwilligen Legion Niederlande” and posted to the Leningrad sector, where he arrived in January 1942 north of lake Ilmen. He would receive a baptism of fire and would be forced to immediately prove himself in battle. Soon after the arrival of the Legion, the le battalion infantry (Joop’s) received orders to fill in the lines at Pjatilipy on the Wolchow, to absorb the Soviet attempt to break the siege of the city. All through February the new Legionaries resisted one wave of attack after another, in a frozen landscape with bitter cold temperatures as low as -50 C. The legion suffered horrendous casualties since they absorbed most of the direct impact of the Russian offensive. Though they were well trained and determined they were still new and inexperienced soldiers. The losses were enormous, but the casualties on the Soviet side were even worse. After weeks of close quarters, fierce fighting, the Soviets were initially able to advance but were eventually pushed back. In April, the spring marked the end of the Soviet winter offensive. After the battle on the Wolchow Joop was transferred to a position closer to the city of Leningrad. During the winter of 1942/43 there were more battles to fight such as the 1st and 2nd battle of Ladago at Schusselburg. This was a small bottleneck in the German lines just east of Leningrad. The Russians repeatedly tried to break the siege of the city at this point.

SS Oberschutze Johannes Cuypers (1942) wearing the Iron Cross 2nd Class, Easter Campaign Medal Ribbon and the Infantry Assault Badge.

From his decorations it is obvious that Joop Cuypers distinguished himself in the course of these frozen battles. For his meritorious actions during the hard fighting in the Wolchow-Kessel region Joop was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class. The nature of the fighting was so close that he also qualified for the Infantry Assault Badge, which he also received. Finally, as a tribute to his endurance during this first horrible Russian winter, he was awarded the Winter Campaign Medal 1941-1942. Joop, now a veteran, had reached the rank of Rottenfuehrer (Corporal). During the summer of 1943 the III (Germanisches) SS-Panzer Korps was established. He attended the Unterfuererschulle in Grafenwohr and obtained the rank of Unterscharfuehrer (Sergeant). He was given command of a Motorised Assault Gun (Stumgeschuetz, or StuG III). And assigned to the SS-Panzerjaeger Abteilung 54 of the Korps. The III (Germ) SS-Panzer Korps was first stationed in Croatia and took part in the fight against Tito’s Communist partisans. In December of 1943, Joop, with the Korps was moved to the Leningrad sector (Oranienbaum salient) once again. On January 11 1944 the Soviets launched a massive attack against the Northern front. The Germans were forced to retreat to Luga where they failed to establish a bridgehead. Under heavy fighting they were forced further back to the Estonian city of Narwa. Here they dug themselves in and held on to July 1944.

It was during the later retreat, from Narwa to the Tannenberg Stellung, that he would be further decorated with the Iron Cross 1st Class for his courageous but doomed efforts as StuG commander to break the encirclement of the 48th Regiment (Gen. Seyffardt) during their retreat from Narwa. The 48th regiment and part of the SS-Panzerjaeger Abteilung 54 were covering the retreat of the III (Germ) SS-Panzer Korps and were the last to evacuate Narwa. On the night of July 26, 1944 the 48th regiment was about to become surrounded and was running out of ammunition. They were on a swampy road between Soldino and Laagna facing increasing Russian pressure and with their heavy vehicles stuck in the mud. Joop and part of SS-Sturmgeschuetz-Alteilung 54 desperately tried to clear an escape road and were engaged in heavy fighting, but the Soviet pressure was too great. When the 48th regiment reached Laagna (in Soviet hands) they opened fire until all ammunition was exhausted. At 09.07 the last communication message was received, it read “will retreat in the western direction though the forest south of Laagna”. Regiment 48 (Gen. Seyffardt) was now trapped behind enemy lines, of the 3,000 men who composed it only 27 survived.

SS-Unterscharfuehrer Johannes Cuypers, 1943.	SS Unterscharfuhrer Johannes Cuypers (front right with overseas cap). Narwa, July 1944.

In the months August and September the fighting over the Tannenberg Stellung in Estonia continued. Joop lost his Sturmgeschuetz in September due to enemy fire. SS-Panzerjaeger Abteilung 54 desperately needed to be rebuilt. From the originally 30 Guns there were only 4 left. On September 21, 1944 Joop was evacuated over sea from Pernau in Estonia to Koningberg in East Prussia. From Koningsberg he was sent to the Truppenuebungsplatz; Neuhammer am Queiss in Nieder Schlesien for the rebuilding of their unit. Here Joop reached his final rank of Oberscharfuehrer.

On February 10, 1945 Joop with SS-Panzerjaeger Abteilung 54 (#23 from there on) arrived with 3 new batteries of 10 StuG each in Pommerania. Operation Sonnenwende was about to start. Here they would continue to fight until the very end of the war. In the final hectic days between the rivers Oder and Elbe he became separated from his unit, and surrendered to Americans after learning that the war had ended. After spending time in American and French captivity, where they forced him to eat soap and clear land-mines without equipment, he was finally sent to Holland. The war tribunal in Maastricht sentenced him to three and a half years imprisonment for enlisting in a Foreign Service. During this time he met his future (German) wife whom he married upon his release. A year later he had a son, Max. He lived a happy life to the age of 77. His brother Max did not survive the war and was killed in the final weeks.