This Date in History: July 19

 

Fritz Haas, SS-Sturmbannführer, was born in Friedberg on July 19, 1912.  He served at the Dachau concentration camp in 1937.  From 1940 to 1943, Haas served in the 3rd SS Division “Totenkopf” and the 10th SS Division “Frundsberg” in 1944, where he won the Iron Cross First Class.  (The Camp Men: The SS Officers Who Ran the Nazi Concentration Camp System)

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The 101st SS Heavy Panzer Detachment was created on July 19, 1943 to be part of the Ist SS Panzer Corps.  The process involved incorporating the 13th (Heavy) Company of the Leibstandarte with two new heavy tank companies that also had Tigers; the new unit deployed to Verona, Italy on August 23, 1943 to combat the anticipated Allied invasion of that country now that the island of Sicily had fallen.  The unit remained in Italy until mid-October, when the unit sent some of its elements back to the Eastern Front.  (Waffen-SS Tiger Crews at Kursk: The Men of SS Panzer Regiments 1, 2 & 3 in Operation Citadel, July 5-15, 1943)