Former Military Barracks Wittich

In the 1930’s several military barracks were built in Kassel and one of them was the The Wittich Barracks was finished in 1935.

The barracks were named after Lieutenant-General von Wittich who commanded in the war of 1870/1871 against France the 22nd infantry division and to honour him Kaiser Wilhelm renamed the 83rd infantry regiment to Infantry regiment Von Wittich.

After World war 1, during the Reichswehr time, the tradition of the 83rd (Von Wittich) was continued by the IIIth Preußischen Jägerbataillon I.R 15. Out of this battalion the 15th Motorized infantry regiment was made that would then be based out of the barracks from 1938.

This regiment would be part of the 29th Infantry division and also known as the Falke Division and would take part of the annexation of Czechoslovakia, the battle for Poland, battle of France, battle for Russia, Moscow, Stalingrad where it was completely destroyed on the 21st of January 1943.
It was reconstituted in France in the spring of 1943 from the 345th division and they were then transferred to Sicily, where they became the 29th Panzergrenadier division. They fought in Italy the battles of Salerno, Anzio as well as San Pietro and were once again destroyed in Northern Italy by the British just before the end.

They are infamous for 2 massacres that they committed:
• Poland 1939: The massacre of Ciepielow, where they killed at least 250 Polish prisoners of war of the 74th infantry regiment.
• Italy: On the 29th of April 1945 the massacre of San Martino di Luparo where civilians were used as shield against Partisans attacks and where they shot in the end as well 125 hostages

After the Second World War it was temporary occupied for civilian use as it was also not so badly damaged by the many bomber attacks. Nowadays the area has been turned into a living area with schools and housing.

In picture 1 and 2 is the former entry to the barracks with the original stone of the entry gate visible and picture 3 shows the exercise field.

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Source

• Text: Gio Theunissen
• Photos: Gio Theunissen