Helmuth Raithel, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetHelmuth Raithel
Waffen-SS officer
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany
About Helmuth Raithel
- Helmuth Raithel (9 April 1907 – 12 September 1990) was a German officer who held the rank of SS-Standartenführer (colonel) in the Waffen-SS during World War II.
- While still at school, Raithel was swept up in the excitement of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch of 9 November 1923 led by Adolf Hitler, and was subsequently awarded the coveted Blood Order, even though he was not a member of the Nazi Party.
- He joined the Reichswehr (interwar German Army) in 1926.
- After World War II broke out he fought in the invasion of Greece in summer 1941, then against the Soviet Red Army in northern Finland before transferring to the Waffen-SS in 1943. Raithel subsequently commanded a regiment of the newly formed 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) and led it during fighting against the Yugoslav Partisans in the Independent State of Croatia.
- Raithel was seriously wounded in mid-1944 and was replaced.
- When a new Waffen-SS division was to be raised in June 1944, the cadre was provided by the 13th SS Division and Raithel was appointed as the divisional commander.
- The 23rd Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Kama (2nd Croatian) never reached full divisional strength and did not see action as a formation, but elements of the division fought briefly in southern Hungary in early October 1944.
- Raithel quickly suppressed a mutiny by the Bosnian Muslim soldiers of the division in mid-October 1944, but it was disbanded and its reliable troops were absorbed by the 13th SS Division and the 31st SS Volunteer Grenadier Division.
- Raithel was then appointed to command a regiment of 6th SS Mountain Division Nord in Alsace, where his regiment fought the United States Army.
- He received a serious head wound during fighting northeast of Frankfurt in early April 1945 and was captured by the Americans. Raithel recovered from his wounds and had a career in agriculture after the war, working in South Africa for many years.
- He returned to Bavaria when he retired and earned a doctorate of history from the University of Munich.
- His interest in mountaineering continued and he regularly climbed in the Alps into his seventies.
- He maintained contact with his former comrades from the 6th SS Division, attending many reunions.
- On 12 September 1990 at the age of 82, he was returning home from the Semmering Pass in eastern Austria when he was killed in a traffic accident.
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