2. Panzer Divison - Johann Hohenegger
A poignant grouping to Johann Hohenegger. It was brought back by a U.S. veteran as a souvenir from the Battle of the Bulge. Hauptmann Hohenegger is still listed as missing in action (MIA) to this day.
With the 78th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge (Unternehmen Wacht Am Rhein) upon us, I thought this would be a good time to share with you the Soldbuch of Hauptmann Johann Hohenegger, who was the commander of the 2nd Panzer Division’s Hummel battery (I. Abteilung / 3. Batterie of Pz. Art. Rgt. 74) during the Normandy Invasion and Ardennes Offensive. In December of 1944, he was part of Kampfgruppe ‘Cochenhausen’ which was stopped only a few kilometers from the Meuse River on Christmas Eve 1944 near the village of Celles, Belgium.
An old American veteran took this Soldbuch with him to a gun show in Washington (state) several years ago. The veteran claimed to have taken it from a dead German soldier during the war and had kept it for all of these years. He sold it to a collector who does not collect German documents and the information inside was unknown to both of them. I purchased it without knowing a lot of information about it, except for that there were five personal photographs tucked in the back and single bullet pierced through all of the documents.
It was a surprise when I found out it was an exceptional, first-issue Normandy and Ardennes-related Soldbuch to an officer in the 2nd Panzer Division. During the war, Hohenegger served as a Batterie Fuhrer (Stabsbatterie, Art. Ers. u. Ausb. Abt. 109, Pz. A.R. 74), forward observer, Ausbildungs Offizier, a liaison office with 2nd Panzer Div. Command at Kursk, and several other positions.
At Christmas time his story feels especially sad. He spent the last Christmas of his life in the woods next to the town of Celles, Belgium, surrounded in the Kessel by the Allies with no hope of rescue. It turns out that Hauptmann Hohenegger is still listed as Missing in Action (MIA) by the German Red Cross (Deutsches Rotes Kreuz – DDK). According to a letter I received from the Bundesarchiv, he was last seen near Celles Dinant / Belgium in December of 1944. It seems likely that his body was unidentifiable after the American soldier took his belongings.
Documents from the 2nd Panzer Division are some of the most sought-after pieces due to their prominent roles in many campaigns throughout the war. Being one of the fittest, most well equipped, and best-trained German divisions at the time of the Normandy invasion, it was regarded by Allied planners as one of the most dangerous units on the Western front. It is very rare to find a first-issue Soldbuch to a decorated soldier from the division, because of their high losses in many battles. Hohenegger’s Soldbuch presumably survived the sinking of the ship he was on in 1941 as well. The majority of the signatures in the Soldbuch are to German Cross in Gold (DKiG) winners.
Soldbuch photograph of Hauptmann Johann Hohenegger.
Here are some of the highlights of Hohenegger’s military career:
Born in 1919 and grew up in Salzburg, Austria. Joined Austrian 1./Artillerie Regiment 6 in 1937 and became part of the 2nd Panzer Division in 1938 (Vienna) within Artillerie Regiment (A.R.) 110. It was known as the Wiener Division, because of all the Austrians that were recruited into their ranks before the war.
Hohenegger and his battery (I./A.R. 110) took part in the initial barrage of the war during the invasion of Poland in September of 1939. He was wounded on September 17, 1939 at the battle of Tomaszów Lubelski by a grenade splinter to the left eye. Received Verw.Abz. Silber. By April 1940 A.R. 110 had been renamed A.R. 74.
Invaded France in 1940 through the Ardennes and was part of the surrounding force at Dunkirk. Awarded assault days at Vitry-le-Francois and Remiremont where he served as a forward observer. Received Iron Cross 2nd Class (EK II) for actions in France.
Fought in Greece where the 2nd Panzer Division pushed through the pass at Mt. Olympus, defended by the New Zealanders (who retreated to Crete and fought the Fallschirmjäger soon after). He received Sturmtag at Enge v. Petra and Elasson where Hohenegger served as a forward observer and artillery communications officer.
The two transport ships that left Greece (Marburg and Kybfels) with the artillery regiment personnel and division’s tanks were sunk in 1941 by mines. The loss of equipment caused a delay in the deployment to Russia and the 2nd Panzer was not sent to the front until the end of September 1941.
Invasion of Soviet Union in 1941. The division is unloaded at the front in October and instantly engaged in combat. Hohenegger received assault days for crossing the Desna river, Aleksejewskoje (two days near Vyazma), Spasskoje, Petschki (north of Moscow, south of Solnechnogorsk).
In December 1941, he served as a forward observer with Kampfgruppe ‘Decker’ which was the reconnaissance-in-force group from the 2nd Panzer Division credited with reaching the suburbs of Moscow in December of 1941. (Assault days listed as Nestrichow and Putschki in his Soldbuch).
Received Iron Cross 1st Class (EK I) in 1942 for defensive actions southeast of Rzhev (assault day in the forest northwest of Arshaniki). At this time he was the Stabsbatterie commander of the III. Abteilung of the Pz.A.R. 74. Near the end of 1942 he was serving as the adjutant of the III. Abteilung / Pz.A.R. 74.
Assaulted Kursk 1943 as part of the northern pincer west of Ponyri and Snava (assault day Kaschara 7 July 1943). At this time he was serving as: Verb. Offz. beim Kdo. 2.Pz.Div. (Liaison officer with 2.Pz.Div. command). He served in this position for most of 1943 until an illness (code 22) in September. He then served as the adjutant of the training Abteilung for a month and then became the battery commander for one of the training batteries (Art. Ers. u. Ausb. Abt. 109).
Sent to Normandy in response to the collapse of the front from Operation Cobra near Saint-Lo. Almost the entire western front in Normandy had collapsed. Took command of his unit the day after they disengaged from the Battle of Tessy-sur-Vire. Hohenegger was promoted to Hauptmann on the way to the front and arrived on August 4, 1944 as the commander of the 2nd Panzer Division’s Hummel battery (Pz. Art. Rgt. 74, I. Abteilung / III. Batterie). He was involved in the counterattack at Mortain (Operation Lüttich) and bitter fighting in St. Lambert and Mont Ormel, which was the final German assault to break out of the Falaise pocket.
Led the 2. Panzer Division’s Hummel battery during the Battle of the Bulge with Kampfgruppe ‘Cochenhausen’ that advanced within a few kilometers of Dinant on December 24, 1944. As a Hauptmann it is possible that he led both the combined artillery batteries that were part of the Kampfgruppe. If it had not been for fuel shortages, they would have been across the Meuse on December 21st. Instead, they had to wait for fuel in Ortheuville, which gave the Allies time to reinforce the area. Although not listed in his Soldbuch due to his death, Hohenegger would have had up to nine more assault days added to his Sturmtag list. They moved so far west that the lead elements near Foy Notre Dame were fighting British units.
Photos of documents from Hohenegger’s personnel file:
Here are some photos of the assault days listed in his Soldbuch during the first years of the war as well as photos of Panzer Artillerie Rgt 74:
Poland 1939
Born in Salzburg on 30.6.1919, Hohenegger was one of the first Austrians to join the ranks of the 2nd Panzer Division in 1938 during the Division’s time recruiting in Vienna before the invasion of Poland in September of 1939. Pictures from his personnel file at the Bundesarchiv shed some light on his military career before his Soldbuch was opened on 14.03.1939 by Oblt. Lawatsch (DKiG 16.10.1942 as a Hauptmann and commander of III. Abteilung / Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment 74).
He joined the Austrian 1./Art.Rgt. 6 (Innsbruck) on 30 September 1937 and was brought into the German Wehrmacht on 14.03.1938 after the Anschluss. By 1 August 1938 the unit had become the 1./Artillerie-Regiment 110 (Wien) of the 2. Panzer Division. He held the rank of Gefreiten R.O.A. – a reserve officer candidate (Reserveoffizieranwärter) until he was promoted to Unteroffizer R.O.A. on 1.6.39.
Hohenegger and his battery took part in the opening barrage during the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. He took part in roughly seventeen engagements (south of Krakow) and almost made it through the entire campaign of the 2nd Panzer Division, but was wounded in one of their last major engagements at Tomaszów Lubelski, which was the second-largest tank battle of the war in Poland. The Polish Armies Lublin and Krakow were surrounded by the Germans and attempted to break out to the southeast. Sadly for the Poles, this was at the same time that the Soviet Union invaded from the east. There was nowhere to go. Hohenegger was wounded by a grenade splinter to his left eye on September 17, 1939 and was pulled off the line the next day. After the wound he was transferred to Schw.Art.Ers.Abt. (mot.) 109 and promoted to Wachtmeister on 1 October 1939. In November he received the Sud. Erinnerungsmedl. Ohne Spange (Anschluss medal).
The wound to his eye must have been pretty serious, because his Wound Badge in Black was upgrade to a Verw.Abz. Silber on 9 February 1940. Hohenegger had taken part in the initial stages of the war where he saw a lot of combat and was wounded in the process. The 2nd Panzer Division had a high casualty rate in Poland, but was refreshed (and now more experienced) in time for the attack on France where they served again in a prominent role.
Normandy 1944
I reached out to the author, Frédéric Deprun, who gave me more information about Hauptmann Hohenegger’s time in Normandy and the circumstances under which he arrived. It turns out that he was not only the Hummel battery commander, but was in fact the commander of I. Abteilung (I., II., and III. batteries) and took over the transfer of Pz.Art.Rgt. 74 out of the Falaise Pocket during the final chaos and decimation of the regiment’s leadership. The I. and II. Batteries were comprised of Wespe self-propelled artillery, while the III. Battery was made up of the heavier Hummel Panzer Artillerie.
According to Frédéric Deprun:
"Pz.Art.Rgt 74 was almost decimated in terms of its leadership between August 12 (Carrouges) and indeed Saint-Lambert on the 20th and August 21. The losses were numerous on the Dives and the self-propelled support of the I. Abteilung was placed in artillery support to allow the Kampfgruppe Brassert and the Kampfgruppe Lüttwitz to leave the Kessel. The machines could not follow the second column and many officers were killed on the spot.
Hauptmann Hohenegger who had been placed in Reserve in 1943 and was responsible for the training of the Kanoniere in Ausbildung was urgently recalled on August 6, 1944 in the evening to replace Major Hausel [I. Abteilung commander], who fell in action at Mesnil-Adelée in the Manche. Hohenegger was in charge of the transfer of the Regiment shortly before August 20, the thankless task of taking command of a unit, which left all of its machines on the Dives."
The Allies launched Operation Cobra to break out of the Normandy beachhead on 25 July 1944. The bombings on the German defenses were massive and the breakthrough near St. Lo led to an almost complete collapse of the western front in Normandy. Bayerlein’s Panzer Lehr Division received the full force of the bombing.
“The whole place looked like a moon landscape; everything was burned and blasted,” wrote Bayerlein. “It was impossible to bring up vehicles or recover the ones that were damaged. The survivors were like madmen and could not be used for anything. I don’t believe hell could be as bad as what we experienced.”
Bombing of German lines during Operation Cobra.
The 2nd Panzer Division was shifted west near St. Lo to reinforce the positions there. Only a few days later, they attacked north of Mortain during the German counteroffensive Operation Lüttich. Of the divisions that took part in the assault, the 2nd Panzer Division was the closest to full strength.
On 6 August 1944, they advanced the furthest west of any unit (7 miles) to the village of Mesnil-Adelée. That evening the commander of I.Abt./Pz.Art.Rgt. 74, Major Hausel, was killed in action. The Allies had overwhelming air superiority and assaulted the advancing columns of the division. Hohenegger was quickly called to the front from his command position in the Reserves. He arrived and took over command of the I. Abteilung as they were retreating from Mesnil-Adelée.
The next two weeks were spent retreating as the German forces in Normandy were becoming surrounded in what became known as the Falaise Pocket. By 18 August 1944 the final encirclement was almost completed.
At the crossroads in St. Lambert remained a small bridge over the Dives that could allow vehicles to escape toward the Seine River. A bottleneck was quickly created as German forces tried to move east to avoid complete annihilation. Polish forces directed artillery from Mont Ormel onto the small escape route. This area became the scene of death and devastation. During the day of 19 August an armored column from the 2nd Panzer Division broke through the Canadian positions in St. Lambert, capturing half the village and maintaining an open road for six hours until being forced out. This allowed many Germans to escape along this route. The brave men of the 2nd Panzer Division played a significant role in keeping the escape route open for their comrades to escape until 21 August 1944.
August 20, 1944 was again full of fighting and Hohenegger’s unit was used in support of the 2nd Panzer, 10th SS ‘Frundsberg’ and 12th SS ‘Hitlerjugend’ Divisions at St. Lambert. The carnage was horrible. During the chaos on 20 August 1944 (listed as a Sturmtag in his Soldbuch) the Pz.Art.Rgt. 74 commander, Major Helmut Dous, was killed in action. His death left Hohenegger in command of what was left of the regiment in the Kessel. Many of the regiment’s officers had already been killed or wounded. The destruction was so terrible in the Falaise pocket that areas were considered uninhabitable. Pilots reported being able to smell the stench of battle flying over the area.
General Dwight Eisenhower recorded that:
“The battlefield at Falaise was unquestionably one of the greatest "killing fields" of any of the war areas. Forty-eight hours after the closing of the gap I was conducted through it on foot, to encounter scenes that could be described only by Dante. It was literally possible to walk for hundreds of yards at a time, stepping on nothing but dead and decaying flesh.”
It is hard to imagine the hell that Hohenegger saw – and somehow lived through – during those days. According to the Sturmtag list in his Soldbuch (Mont Ormel – 21 Aug 44) he remained in the Kessel until the very last day and escaped with the last retreating soldiers on 21 August. This was the last date that Germans left the Kessel and also the day that the remaining trapped soldiers started surrendering. The next week Hohenegger was promoted to Hauptmann.
One interesting fact is that one Hummel from the 2nd Panzer Division is thought to have escaped the Falaise pocket and made it across the Seine River– Hummel 316. One veteran’s account from Pz.A.R. 74 claimed that one Hummel and one Wespe made it out. According to Dugdale (Vol. I, Pg. 35) 2. Panzer reported to have 2 Hummels on 5 September 1944. Below is a picture of the only known Hummel 316 belonging to the 2nd Panzer Division that made it out of the Falaise Pocket:
Battle of the Bulge - Ardennes 1944
Hauptmann Hohenegger was the commander of the 2nd Panzer Division’s self-propelled artillery units in the lead elements of the attack through the Ardennes in December of 1944. Him and his men got further than any other German units during the battle - almost reaching the Meuse river before they ran out of gas.
Excerpt from ‘Flames of War’ article (History (flamesofwar.com)) :
For the Ardennes Offensive 2. Panzerdivision was attached to the XLVII. Panzer Korps commanded by General der Panzertruppe Freiherr von Lüttwitz. In addition to 2. Panzerdivision, the Korps consisted of the Panzer Lehr Division and 26. Volksgrenadierdivision. As soon as the Volksgrenadiere of 26. Volksgrenadierdivision had secured crossings over the Our and Clerf Rivers, 2. Panzerdivision was tasked to breakthrough the American lines, bypass Bastogne to the north and race towards the Meuse and capture the bridges there.
In the pre-dawn hours of 16 December, Pioneers and a battalion of Panzergrenadiers crossed the Our river in rubber boats in order to capture the village of Marnach. This was meant to clear the road from Dasburg towards Clerf and further towards Bastogne, but the soldiers of the US 28th Infantry Division entrenched there held the village stubbornly. Only in the evening, when Pioneers finished a 60-ton bridge, were the division’s tanks able to cross the Our and join the fight. The defenders were then slowly pushed back. In the morning hours of 17 December an advance guard reached the town of Clerf, less than two miles west of Marnach and headquarters of the US 110th Infantry Regiment. The advance guard was stopped by Shermans of the 707th Tank Battalion. They lost four Panzer IV tanks in the fight, but destroyed three Shermans in return. The defenders of Clerf were furthermore reinforced by a tank company of the US 9th Armored Division, but in the evening all the American Sherman tanks were either destroyed or forced to retreat. Clerf was finally captured. On 18 December what was left of the 110th Infantry Regiment was forced to withdraw to the west. However, the stiff resistance of the 28th Infantry Division had played havoc with the German timetable.
Meanwhile, CCR, US 9th Armored Division established two roadblocks east of Bastogne, the northern one near the village of Lullange, where the road from Clerf entered that leading to Bastogne. The second roadblock was further south near Allerborn. In the morning hours of 18 December the forward elements of Kampfgruppe Böhm reached the northern roadblock. With the tanks of Panzer Regiment 3 close behind, the roadblock was soon surrounded and annihilated. The southern roadblock was overrun shortly after dusk.
Oberst von Lauchert now turned his Division to the northwest so as to swing past Bastogne in the north and maintain the momentum of the westward drive.
All the delays allowed the American reinforcements to reach Bastogne before the Germans. One of these was Team Desobry from CCB of the US 10th Armored Division which deployed at Noville. The little village north of Bastogne was directly in the way of 2. Panzerdivision. Covered by the morning fog, the tanks of 2. Panzerdivision manoeuvred for an attack on the village. When the fog suddenly lifted, more than thirty tanks were revealed to the defenders of Noville. Accurate fire from the American tanks and tank destroyers caused the attack to fail. At midday the 1st Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel James L. LaPrade reached Noville and immediately counterattacked. However, the paratroopers were unable to reach the ridge lines due to the withering German fire. Elements of 304. Panzergrenadier Regiment infiltrated toward the south of Noville. Threatened by the prospect of being surrounded and short of ammunition, the defenders of Noville finally retreated towards Bastogne on the afternoon 20 December, but they held up the advance of 2. Panzerdivision for nearly two days and caused heavy casualties.
The Highwater Mark
Shortly after midnight Kampfgruppe Böhm, which had bypassed Noville to the north, captured a bridge over the Ourthe River at Ortheuville. This opened the road to Marche and Namur invitingly, but 2. Panzerdivision did not move, as their tanks had run dry and they had to wait for fuel. This allowed the advance elements of the US 84th Infantry Division to occupy Marche. When the advance finally resumed at nightfall 22 December, stiff resistance was encountered at Marche. Lüttwitz ordered Lauchert to turn the bulk of his division west towards Dinant and the Meuse, and to leave only a blocking force towards Marche.
Kampfgruppe Böhm raced up the highway towards Dinant, followed by Kampfgruppe Cochenhausen, finally reaching the woods near Celles before daylight on 24 December. The advance elements of the division were only 9 km away from the Meuse crossings. The remainder of 2. Panzerdivision was stretched all the way back to south of Marche with the dual mission of continuing the westward advance and of protecting the northern flank. Meanwhile, the American 2nd Armored Division began to arrive northeast of Celles. Their CCA moved south into Buissonville, while the 24th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron occupied Humain, blocking 2. Panzerdivision route of advance. The leading Kampfgruppen were cut off.
In the meantime Kampfgruppe Böhm had reached the village of Foy-Notre Dame were it encountered several tanks of the British 29th Armoured Brigade. Losing several vehicles to British fire and running out of fuel, the reconnaissance battalion went to ground. 2. Panzerdivision was stopped less than 5 km short of the Meuse crossings.
On 25 December CCB of the 2nd Armored Division launched its attack on the cut off German Kampfgruppen. It was a clear day, and the attack received excellent air support.
Kampfgruppe Böhm was soon destroyed. Lauchert ordered a relief attack to be conducted by Kampfgruppe Holtmeyer. The attack began on 25 December, but was soon stopped by the 2nd Armored Division. The remnants of Kampfgruppe Cochenhausen finally received permission to withdraw. Abandoning all their equipment about 600 men made it back to their own lines on the night of 26 December. 2. Panzerdivision was no longer combat effective. The Ardennes offensive had failed.
The end
After the two lead Kampfgruppen ran out of gas and were surrounded near the Meuse River on Christmas Eve, their annihilation was imminent. The skies cleared and the Allied air power came out in full force. The dominant air power foiled attempts by the Panzer Lehr and 2nd Panzer Div. to relieve the trapped men. Kampfgruppe ‘von Böhm’ was halted and destroyed near the village of Foy-Notre-Dame. A relief attack was ordered to be conducted by Kampfgruppe Holtmeyer. The attack began on 25 December, but was soon stopped by the U.S. 2nd Armored Division. On Christmas day, the U.S. 2nd Armored Division attacked Kampfgruppe ‘Cochenhausen’ in Celles. The remnants of Kampfgruppe Cochenhausen finally received permission to withdraw. On December 26th, 600 men of the Kampfgruppe (including Cochenhausen himself) abandoned their equipment and made it back to their own lines (moving from the eastern edge of the woods back to German lines). It appears that Hohenegger remained in the woods with 200-300 soldiers. He might have been the highest-ranking officer to remain with the troops after Cochenhausen escaped. It is possible that he could have been wounded and left behind and/or decided to stay with the others.
It took the Americans three days to clear the woods next to the village where they were holding out. The American procedure for clearing these woods on December 26th and 27th was simple and effective: first, heavy shelling on a given area, then a slow, methodical advance by the infantry line backed with tanks. This push through the woods produced 200 prisoners, 12 guns, and 80 vehicles. Hohenegger’s Soldbuch has a small arms bullet hole through it. The American infantry moving through the woods most likely wounded or killed him. In a strange twist to the story, a letter from the Bundesarchiv says that the International Red Cross in Geneva reported in 1950 that Hauptmann Hohenegger was brought to an American field hospital in Celles on 27 December 1944 with slight wound. The gunshot wound must have been much worse than was thought, or he met a different fate after his capture, that led to his death.
As I have researched his history during the war, Hauptmann Hohenegger’s Soldbuch has quickly turned into a poignant and cherished piece in my collection. I hope to research his earlier war career in Part II of this article. Until next time…JH
Hauptmann Hohenegger is listed as ‘Missing in Action’ with the International Red Cross.
