German Forces

SS-Brigadeführer FRITZ WITT (1908-1944)

Peter Witt

SS-Brigadeführer (Major General) FRITZ WITT, commander of 12th SS-Panzer-Division "Hitlerjugend" receives a model of an 8-wheel armoured scout car. The model was a birthday present by the division's recce battalion to their divisional commander's 36th birthday on May 25, 1944. To the left of Witt, his adjutant SS-Sturmbannführer (Major) Heinrich "Hein" Springer (*November 3, 1914). About three weeks after this photo was taken, on June 14, Fritz Witt was killed in action near Caen-Vernoix/Normandy when a British naval shell hit his HQ, killing him and three of his staff officers instantly while trying to reach a ditch. Fritz Witt, recipient of the Knight's Cross with oakleaves, found his last resting-place at the German military cemetery of Champigny-St. Andre/France.