Hans Günter Gipmann from Essen/Düsseldorf Germany (born in 1924). Reached the Rank of SS Oberschärführer He was a member of the Hitler Youth, awarded the HJ Leistungs Badge in Silver. As well as DLRG Life saving permit, as well as a Land War Training HJ Certificate. He was assigned in 1942 to the Waffen SS after volunteering to the SS Signals School in Nürnberg, Germany. Taking his SS Oath on the 12th of May 1942. He was deployed with the first company of the SS Signals Detachment 17 – SS Nachrichten Abteilung 17 “Götz vn Berlichingen” He was trained on the K98 Rifle, Handgrenade Model 24, MG 34, Luger P08. He was to be used on the frontline in the best case as a, Radio Man and Troop Leader. In the Second case as a MG42 Gunner or Panzerfaust Gunner. Awarded the War Merit Cross Second Class with Swords in 1942, in combat awarded the Iron Cross Second Class on the 20th of July 1944 and the Tank Destruction Badge on the 28th of March 1945. Unit History: The division was raised near Poitiers, France, as the Panzer-Grenadier-Division “Götz von Berlichingen” in October 1943. It was formed from scratch, with the majority of its original cadre coming from replacement units and conscripts, many of whom were Romanian Germans and French volunteers. After September 8, 1943, around five hundred Italian volunteers, coming from units deployed in France were enlisted in “Götz von Berlichingen”. The division was granted the honour-title Götz von Berlichingen.[nb 2] Obersturmbannführer Otto Binge oversaw the formation of the division, with the newly promoted Brigadeführer Werner Ostendorff taking command in January 1944. The Götz von Berlichingen was placed under the LXXX Army Corps, a part of Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt’s Heeresgruppe D. As part of a plan to number all named SS divisions in early 1944, the division was re-titled the 17th SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division “Götz von Berlichingen”. In February 1944, the division still lacked vehicles. During the same year, on the orders of LXXX Army Corps, the division began to round up French vehicles in an attempt to complete its mobilization. By March, most of the major combat formations were fully motorised, although two of the six infantry battalions were still on bicycles. On 1 June, the Götz von Berlichingen found itself at Thouars in France, with no tanks (although the crews were fully equipped with 42 Sturmgeschütz IV assault guns), only a few months’ training, and below strength in officers and Non-commissioned officers. After the Allied invasion of June 6, 1944, the Götz von Berlichingen was ordered to Normandy to take part in the efforts to reduce the Allied beachhead. On June 10 the division made contact with 182 paratroopers of the 3rd Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, and B Company, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, at the village of Graignes. This small group of paratroopers had been dropped mistakenly by the U.S. 9th Army Air Force Troop Carrier Command and had decided to try to hold their positions. The ensuing battle, and the criminal execution of wounded paratroopers and French civilians by the “Götz von Berlichingen”, has since been known as the Battle of Graignes. On June 11 the reconnaissance battalion engaged in combat near the town of Carentan with the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division. The Americans secured the town and were advancing south by the morning of June 13. SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 37, supported by the assault guns of the division’s Panzer battalion and Oberst (colonel) Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte’s 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment, attacked the advancing American paratroopers. In what the Americans dubbed the Battle of Bloody Gulch, the Germans routed two paratroop companies before their attack was stopped by the arrival of Combat Command A of the U.S. 2nd Armored Division. For the rest of the month, the division was engaged in heavy fighting for the bocage country near Saint Lô and Coutances. During this period, the Götz von Berlichingen suffered heavy losses and by the beginning of July, its strength was reduced to 8,500 men. The division was in the line of advance for Operation Cobra, and suffered heavy losses attempting to halt the Allied offensive. It was encircled by the U.S. 2nd Armored Division around Roncey where it lost most of its armored equipment.[3] It was then ordered to take part in the Mortain Offensive, codenamed Operation Lüttich. After the failure of this offensive, the division was split into four Kampfgruppen, ‘Braune’, ‘Gunter’, ‘Fick’ and ‘Wahl’. These small units managed to escape encirclement in the Falaise Pocket, but suffered heavy losses and remained in almost constant combat against the advancing Americans until the end of the month, when the division was transferred to Metz for a much-needed rest and refit. In July the reserve battalion of the division was involved in counterinsurgency action against Operation Bulbasket in the Vienne Department. In early September, the division absorbed what was left of the SS Panzergrenadier Brigade 49 and SS Panzergrenadier Brigade 51, raising its infantry strength. However, replacements for missing panzerjaeger and assault guns arrived slowly. On September 8, the division was put back into the line and was tasked with destroying the newly formed bridgehead over the Moselle River held by the US 5th and 80th Infantry Divisions. After heavy fighting for the American bridgeheads at Dornot and Arnaville, the division fell back and began to prepare to defend Metz itself. Over the next two months, the division saw heavy fighting to the south and east of Metz, suffering very heavy casualties. On November 8, a USAAF air raid hit the divisional command post. With the Götz von Berlichingen’s combat units in tatters (the 38th SS Regiment had been reduced to a strength of about 800 men by November 15, 1944[4]) and with no command structure, Hitler authorized the division to withdraw from Metz. The 38th SS Regiment was largely destroyed at Metz and reformed in November with troops…

An interesting booklet, glorifying Hitlers rise and fuelling a myth of success to the German people. This is sold for historical purposes only and according to our Terms and Conditions. 

Really interesting lot here, Nancy Craig was a reporter for NBC, it seemed she interviewed Dr  R. Hildebrandt Rainer Hildebrandt, son of the art historian Hans Hildebrandt and the painter Lily Hildebrandt, studied physics in Berlin, later philosophy and sociology at the Faculty of Foreign Studies, and earned his doctorate under Franz Rupp on a topic in psychology.[1] At his university, a lively circle of resistant lecturers and students gathered from 1939/40 on. Among them were Harro Schulze-Boysen and Horst Heilmann as well as the professor Albrecht Haushofer and the student Rainer Hildebrandt. He had contact with the wider circle of the July 20, 1944, conspirators and was a member of the Haushofer circle: “A long look goes out to the companions. I lost my best friends, Albrecht Haushofer and Horst Heilmann, in the Nazi Reich and was myself imprisoned for 17 months. I learned to fight against injustice.” Hildebrandt was imprisoned for “Wehrkraftzersetzung” and connections to resistance groups. After the beginning of the Cold War, Hildebrandt, together with the writer Günther Birkenfeld, the then chairman of the Junge Union Ernst Benda and the then FDP city councilor Herbert Geisler, founded the anti-communist Kampfgruppe gegen Unmenschlichkeit (KgU), which was financed by secret services, as a licensee of the Allied Command. At the beginning, this Kampfgruppe was headed by Rainer Hildebrandt, whose main goal was initially to set up a tracing service to track down the many arrested and disappeared or abducted and missing and deceased persons in the Soviet occupation zone. Other files existed in parallel, such as one of denunciators who had imprisoned fellow citizens or those that provided information on the political, economic and military situation. According to his own account, there were three kidnapping attempts against Hildebrandt, including by the GDR State Security. According to Hildebrandt’s recollections, the first kidnapping attempt failed on July 24, 1949. After his retirement from the KgU, Hildebrandt devoted most of his time to public relations work and then to the Arbeitsgemeinschaft 13. August, which was founded shortly after the construction of the Berlin Wall. Until the end, Hildebrandt directed the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. On October 1, 1992, Hildebrandt was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of Berlin, and in 1994 Roman Herzog awarded him the Federal Cross of Merit I Class. In 1995 Hildebrandt married Alexandra Hildebrandt. On January 9, 2004, Rainer Hildebrandt died at the age of 89. In 2004, the International Human Rights Award Dr.-Rainer-Hildebrandt-Medaille was established. It is awarded annually since 2005 to individuals who have campaigned for human rights in a non-violent manner. The jury includes Henry Kissinger, Avi Primor, Joachim Gauck, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, and Sergei Khrushchev. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainer_Hildebrandt Here is the Op Vittles information and video clip. https://www.c-span.org/video/?464908-1/operation-vittles