Description:

SYLVESTER STADLER (1910-1995) German officer of the Waffen-SS, a commander of 2nd SS Division "Das Reich" (1943-44) and recipient of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. TWO GERMANS INSTRUMENTAL IN THE MASSACRE AT ORADOUR-SUR-GLANE Important D.S. signed twice, 3pp. 4to., [Regimental Command Post], Nov. 19, 1943, to SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Wilhelm Kment. Headed "Proposal List Number 9", the document is a recommendation for the award of the Knight's Cross to Helmut Kampfe, providing details of his personal and military records. It also offers a narrative being Stadler's justification for the award. He notes that Kampfe has: "...incessantly distinguished himself by exceptional acts of bravery..." and details in particular his combat with his battalion on Oct. 12, 1943 in the Battle of the Dnieper. As the Germans were under intense artillery attack and retreating, the narrative states that Kampfe: "...he ran...at the retreating elements and took the lead, these elements kept on with great effort and tore through the foreign units with great energy before the counter-attack...18 tanks with only five men and fifty members of the army...As the darkness fell...he came alone with two S.P.W....and destroyed 160 of the enemy...through this unique attitude and commitment...the fight was saved...[Kampfe] has been repeatedly wounded...only his tenth wound...necessitated a hospital treatment..." Boldly signed in black ink on the first page and again at the conclusion of the narrative. Two file holes on left margin, small losses at upper-left corner, else very good. These two men would be associated again in one of the most notorious mass murders of the war, that undertaken by the 2nd "Das Reich" Division at Oradour-sur-Glane on June 10, 1944. On June 9, 1944 the same Helmut Kampfe recognized in this document was captured by the French Resistance and held prisoner at the village of Oradour-sur-Vayres. When the German forces learned that Kampfe had been kidnapped, they set out to try and locate him, resulting in regimental commander Sylvester Stadler, the same signatory as in this document, ordering SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Adolf Diekmann to have the local mayor choose thirty people to be hostages in exchange for Kampfe. On the following day, June 10, 1944, Kampfe was apparently murdered by his captors. This triggered the reprisal action known as the "Oradour Massacre", culminating in the deaths of 642 men, women and children....at the misidentified village of Oradour-sur-Glane. As the present document requested, Kampfe was awarded the Knight's Cross on Dec. 10, 1943.

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November 13, 2018 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

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