Franz Bäke

I posted earlier, "Bäke was a competent armored commander and I would go so far as to assume that he was very good at the echelons of regiment and below."

Considering the material that we've seen and discussed the last couple of days, I now think that comment may be a key to understanding why I felt as if something was incomplete about Bäke's record as presented on the internet (and apparently, in books as well).

Bäke was good at what he did -- but only to a certain point. His limitations, as I understand them from the information available, were that he did not seem to exhibit any particular genius for combat at echelons above regiment, and that his flair for armored combat seems to have been limited to the Eastern Front.

By the time he became a brigade commander, and later, a Generalmajor, I wonder if his meteoric rise through the ranks had not become in some regards a hindrance -- if perhaps, some of the older officers he was at that point commanding did not tend to perceive him as being a sort of "boy wonder" whose magic had waned. In other words, did Bäke in some ways fulfill the Peter Principle by rising to too high a rank too swiftly?

The record of the 106. Brigade, and later, the FHH-2 (former 13.) Panzer Division are decidedly average, but without more information it is difficult to say how much of this record is attributable to Bäke and how much was the result of the overall military environment which was in any case very unfavorable for the Germans in the final eight months of the war.

The situation has been muddied by the selective presentation of information (in books and various internet sites) by those who wish to promote Bäke's record -- and I'm sorry to say that I can only ascribe such selective presentation to intellectual dishonesty, or at the least, laziness that simply copied what information that was already easily available.

Cheers

BW

 

How big was Bake's divisional command? By March 1945, most of those Panzer divisions resembled understrength armored infantry divisions more than anything else. His new Panzer outfit probably was similar to his usual commands in armor strength for the exception of the fact that he would receive command of two (probably understrength) motorized infantry regiments.

I know that German Panzer divisions were cut down to two small battalions by Dec 1945 to around 90-100 tanks. I'm sure that March 1945 Panzer divisions were even weaker. This was a far cry from the 250-200 tanks in a Panzer division during 1941-1944.

 

Per Stoves, the division had a Panzer "regiment", a motorized infantry regiment, a reconnaissance battalion, two artillery battalions, as well division services. Probably something like the 106. Brigade's strength when Bäke assumed command of it.

The tank strength of the division would have varied, but Jentz (in Panzertruppen) mentions the unit getting 21 Panthers and 20 Mk IV tanks between 11-12 March 1945. By 15 March, the division totals showed 18 Mk IV and five Panthers -- either the new tanks had not yet arrived or combat had quickly whittled the new division down. In any case, the division's Panzer regiment did not appear to have many more tanks than an early war battalion.

Cheers

BW

 

Did the 106th have recon/artillery/service elements? I thought it was just a unit composed of mounted armored infantry and tanks.

So he basically received a single mixed Panzer battalion correspondingly supported by all arms.

 

Yeah, you're right about the 106. -- it had a Panzer battalion, a half-track-mounted PG battalion, a Jagdpanzer IV-equipped AT company, an armored engineer company, but no artillery mentioned.

Cheers

BW

 

Did his divisional-by-name command have an armored recon battalion or a "soft" one? Was there a SPW company/battalion in his panzergrenadier regiment?

How well did the improvised unit perform in the final months of the war?

 

Wolfy, Stoves' work does not answer these questions about the FHH-2's organisation.

I think your last question might be difficult to obtain a firm answer for. Many of the memoirs of German generals and other books on the Eastern Front tend to give the final months of the war a very brief treatment. Stoves claims that on 6 May 1945, the FHH-2 shot up 30+ T-34's and then surrendered to the Americans near Budvar, Czech Republic. This claim may be true or it may again simply be copied from the unit war diary with no real attempt at verification done. Given the discrepancy between Stoves' claim for what happened west of Luxembourg City and other records, I'm skeptical of the claim.

BTW, I guess some of this got discussed not to long before in this forum. Here is the link to a post by T.A. Gardner: http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-general/10194-panzer-division-feldherrnhalle.html#post307945

Cheers

BW

 

I read that thread, but it doesn't say much about Bake's final command.

 

Some information on the organization of units that Bäke commanded in from July 1944 forward -- provided by Caranorn:
===================
I can give you the Oob for the 106. as well as FHH2 as given in Tessin's...

Panzer-Brigade 106 "Feldherrnhalle":

Panzer-Abteilung 2106 (Panther) (4 Kp.)
Panzergrenadier-Battalion 2106 (5 Kp.)
Pionier-Kompanie 2106
Brigade-Einheiten 2106 (none listed under that number)

Panzer-Division Feldherrnhalle 2:

Panzergrenadier-Regiment FH3 (I. (gp.) 1-4, II. 5-8, III. 9-12, 13, 14)
Panzer-Regiment FH2 (II. 5-8, III. 9-12)
Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 13 (4 Kp.)
Panzerjäger-Abteilung FH2 (3 Kp.)
Panzer-Artillerie Regiment FH2 (I. (Sfl.) 1-3, II. 4-5, III. (schw.) 7-9)
Heeres-Flakartillerie-Abteilung FH2 (5 Bttr.)
Panzer-Pionier-Battalion FH2 (3 Kp.)
Panzer Nachrichten Abteilung 13

All of that doesn't mean that any and all those subunits were present with
the respective units, particularly in 1945, but allready in 1944 units would
be sent too the front lacking entire battalions, ocasionally ending up
engaged peace-meal. Though it's interesting to note that FH2 whad it's
Panther Battalion detatched to Italy and had a 3rd Battalion instead
(apparently from FH1).

 

I wish Paul were still here-he could tell it much better than I but-Bake not only being a RKT w/ Oaks and Swords, plus his single-handed destruction with defensive weapone (i.e) concentrated magnetic grenade charges and such, but was brave and popular as hell with his troops. Bake never destroyed any tanks using a panzerfaust. He had to run up to the tank, place his charge-pull the switch and run like hell. The man inspite of his physical looks-was one of the meanest 7 bravest ba*****s on the Russian Steppes.