This Date in History: June 13

Odilo Globocnik, SS-Gruppenführer, born April 21, 1904 in Trieste, Austria, Gauleiter of Vienna, SS and Police Leader for Lublin, in charge of Operation Reinhard, Higher SS and Police Leader for the Adriatic Coast (Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer für das Adriatische Küstenland), winner of the German Cross in Gold and German Cross in Silver, committed suicide by poison on May 31, 1945 at Paternion, Austria (in the district of  Villach) in the Austrian state of Carinthia), said on June 13, 1938 on power: “It was always easier to acquire power than to use it and maintain it.”  (2,000 Quotes From Hitler’s 1,000-Year Reich)

British soldiers took Globocnik’s body to be buried in a local churchyard, but the priest reportedly refused to have Globocnik resting in consecrated ground.  A grave was dug outside the churchyard, next to an outer wall, and the body was buried.

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On June 13, 1944,  Michael Wittmann and his 2nd Company in the 101st SS Heavy Panzer Detachment, as well as elements of the 1st Company and elements of the Panzer Lehr Division, began what would later become famous as the Battle of Villers-Bocage in Normandy, France.  At one point he commanded Tiger 205.  At Hill 213 and the village itself, Wittmann’s 2nd Company engaged elements of the British 22nd Armored Brigade.  When the fighting was done the next day, the British brigade had suffered some 217 casualties while losing twenty-three to twenty-seven tanks.  Wittman’s company lost one man killed and three wounded.  (Waffen-SS Tiger Crews at Kursk: The Men of SS Panzer Regiments 1, 2 & 3 in Operation Citadel, July 5-15, 1943)