Heer Generalmajor Balck and the Waffen-SS

[Helmut Von Moltke]

Hello,

Does anyone have any information on the relationship between Generalmajor Hermann Balck and the Waffen-SS? It is said that he was 'no friend of the Waffen-SS', but General der Panzertruppen Heinrich Eberbach was not either, yet praised Panzeremeyer and the Waffen-SS in Normandy, and wrote the foreword to 'Grenadiers'.

It is said that Balck, then commander of the XLVIII. Panzerkorps in conjunction with the II. SS-Panzerkorps during the relief operation of the 1. Panzerarmee at Tarnopol, an operation which he was responsible for, tried to pin the blame for the inperfection of the operation to the 9. SS-Panzerdivision 'Hohenstauffen' and severly criticised the command of SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Willi Bittrich and the performance of his soldiers, in orderr to protect himself from the rage of Adolf Hitler. Yet at the same time, he did not mind having Waffen-SS divisions under his command and when his 3 Panzerdivisions of his XLVIII. Panzerkorps was succesfully carrying out the duty of fire-brigade at critical areas like Brussilov or Zhitomir in the winter of 43-44, the 1. SS-Panzerdivision 'Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler' was among them and valued, and there were no command problems. One one occasion when the LAH returned to the command of XLVIII. Panzerkorps after 6 weeks absence and received their orders, the LAH answered 'Hurrah, we hear our master's voice'.

It has also been suggested that Balck had something to do with the infamous 'cuff-title' order in which generals of the Heer minimalised the achievments of the Waffen-SS formations in Hungary as Balck fought alongside the 6. SS-Panzerarmee. However in general Balck's criticisms of some Waffen-SS formations could be due to personal ambition instead of prejudice. Speaking of ambition, it has also been suggested that many Heer officers disliked Balck, with the exception of Generalmajor von Mellenthin, who wrote of Balck as: 'If Manstein was Germany's greatest strategist during World War II, Balck has strong claims to be regarded as our finest field commander. He has a superb grasp of tactics and great qualities of leadership.'

Thanks in advance, as this is an interesting subject.

Here are some photographs of Balck:

A Walter Frenz colour portrait of Balck, wearing the Ritterkreuz, Eichenlaub and Schweten.

Balck studying a map at his HQ. There is probably a photo sequence of this as a similar photograph with a different pose apperared in 'Sons of the Reich - II SS Panzer Corps' by Michael Reynolds.

A well known portrait of Balck. I remember this appeared in Mellenthin's 'Panzer Battles'.

K