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Herbert Otto Gille | |
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| Born | (1897-03-08)8 March 1897 |
| Died | 26 December 1966(1966-12-26) (aged 69) |
| Allegiance | |
| Branch | German Army Waffen-SS |
| Service years | 1914–1919 1934–1945 |
| Rank | SS-Obergruppenführer andGeneraloberst of the Waffen-SS |
| Commands | SS Division Wiking IV SS Panzerkorps |
| Conflicts | World War I World War II |
| Awards | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds |
| Other work | HIAG, Waffen-SS lobby group |
Herbert Otto Gille (8 March 1897 – 26 December 1966) was a high-ranking GermanSS general, and divisional & corps commander of the Waffen-SS. He commanded theSS Division Wiking duringWorld War II. Gille was a recipient of theKnight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, making him the most highly decoratedWaffen-SS member of the war. After the war, Gille opened a book store and became active inHIAG, alobby group and a revisionist veteran's organisation founded by former high-ranking Waffen-SS personnel inWest Germany in 1951.
Gille served inWorld War I and was awarded theIron Cross First and Second Classes. Gille joined the Nazi Party and the SS in 1931. In 1934 he joined the SS combat support forces. As the commander of a battalion in an SS-V regiment, Gille participated in theinvasion of Poland and in the western campaign. In 1940 he was appointed a regimental commander in theSS Division Wiking, led byFelix Steiner.
With his regiment, Gille participated in theOperation Barbarossa in 1941 and in advance to Kuban in 1942; he received the Knight's Cross on 8 October 1942. He then took command of the Wiking Division on theEastern Front. Early in 1944, Gille participated in the breakout of the Group Stemmermann from theKorsun-Cherkassy Pocket. Gille received the diamonds to his Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords on 19 April 1944. In January 1945 Gille, as leader of theIV SS Panzer Corps, participated in a failed attempt to relieve the encircled German and Hungarian troops in theBattle of Budapest. In March 1945 he led the IV SS Panzer Corps in the failedLake Balaton Offensive. He surrendered to the U.S. forces in Austria.
Gille was released in 1948. In the early 1950s, Gille became active inHIAG, alobby group and a revisionist veteran's organisation founded by former high-ranking Waffen-SS personnel inWest Germany to campaign for their legal, economic and historical rehabilitation. Gille, alongsideFelix Steiner,Otto Kumm andPaul Hausser, became an early leading figure within HIAG. In 1951 Gille launched the periodicalWiking-Ruf ("Viking Call"). Initially it was aimed at the veterans of the SS DivisionWiking. Within its first year of existence, in 1952, it became the official publication of HIAG and was eventually renamed toDer Freiwillige ("The Volunteer").[1]
Gille faced his share of controversy with the organisation. In 1952, HIAG held its first major meeting inVerden. It began respectably, with Gille announcing that the veterans were ready to 'do their duty for the Fatherland' and Steiner declaring support for 'freedom, order and justice'. But the next speaker delivered a different message. Former paratroop generalHermann-Bernhard Ramcke, who had been invited to demonstrate so-called solidarity with the Wehrmacht, condemned the Western Allies as the 'real war criminals' and insisted that the blacklist on which all former SS members then stood would soon become "a list of honor".[2] The outburst caused a furor within West Germany. Periodicals as far as the U.S. and Canada carried headlinesHitler's Guard Cheers Ex-chief andRabble-Rousing General Is Worrying the Allies, with the latter article reporting that Ramcke's speech had been greeted with "roars of approval and cries 'Eisenhower,Schweinehund!' ("Eisenhower, pig-dog")."[3][4]
Internal disagreements began to emerge within HIAG in the mid-1950s as to the stance of the organisation: Steiner and Gille favored a more political, outspoken orientation, while the rest of the leadership favored a moderate approach so that not to jeopardize HIAG's goals of legal and economic rehabilitation, which, in their opinion, could only come from the establishment.[5] Gille died in 1966.
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by SS-ObergruppenführerFelix Steiner | Commander of5. SS-Panzer-Division Wiking 1 May 1943 – 6 August 1944 | Succeeded by SS-OberführerEduard Deisenhofer |
| Preceded by SS-BrigadeführerNikolaus Heilmann | Commander ofIV. SS-Panzerkorps 6 August 1944 – 8 May 1945 | Succeeded by dissolved on 8 May 1945 |
| International | |
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| People | |
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