A Photograph of Waffen-SS Standartenführer Max Wünsche

A photograph depicting a portrait of Max Wünsche sitting on a wall in Berghof, the reverse marked “Max Wünsche at Berghoff”; measuring 85 mm x 114 mm; extremely fine condition.

Footnote: Max Wünsche (April 20, 1914 - April 17, 1995) was a highly decorated Standartenführer of the Waffen-SS. He was born on April 20, 1914 and joined the SS in July 1933. He graduated from the SS-Junkerschule in 1935 and was promoted to Untersturmführer. He was then posted to the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, where he was assigned as an orderly officer for Hitler, serving in the Führerbegleitkommando (a SS bodyguard unit in charge of Hitler’s personal protection). Between 1940 and 1942 Wünsche served during the invasion of the Netherlands, the Battle of France, the invasion of the Balkans, and the invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa). Max was put in command of a battalion in a panzer regiment of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler in 1942, where his battalion first saw action in Kharkov. On February 25, 1943 Wünsche led his battalion against an attack of the Russian 350th Rifle Division, where he destroyed 47 artillery pieces, anti-tank guns, which lead to 800 Russian casualties. In June 1943 Wünsche was transferred to take command of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend where his division saw action when the allies landed in Normandy (Operation Overlord) on June 6, 1944. The division became encircled and trapped in the Falaise pocket on the night of August 20th. Wünsche escaped on foot but was later captured by British soldiers. He was taken prisoner and spent the remainder of the war in camp 165 at Caithness, Scotland, in a POW camp for high-ranking German Officers. In 1948 he was released and returned to Germany, where he died in 1995. List of Awards: Iron Cross 1939 (2nd Class - May 25, 1940) - (1st Class May 31, 1940), German Cross in Gold on February 25, 1943 as SS-Stambannführer in the 1st SS-Panzer Regiment), Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (Knight’s Cross on February 28, 1943 as SS-Sturmbannführer and commander of the 1st SS-Panzer Regiment) - (548th Oak Leaves on August 11, 1944 as SS-Obersturmbannführer and commander of SS-Panzer Regiment 12 Hitlerjugend).