17th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Götz von Berlichingen"

The 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Götz von Berlichingen" (German: 17. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Götz von Berlichingen") was a German Waffen-SS division that saw action on the Western Front during World War II. It was formed in October 1943 from Germans, Volksdeutsche, Romanians, and Belgians, and included a cadre from the 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg. The division was first stationed in southwest France before being sent to Normandy in June 1944, where it launched a counterattack against the U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. The 17th slowed down their advance but was practically destroyed as of July 1944. The division was rebuilt in eastern France and took part in the Battle of Metz, where it took heavy losses, would later be rebuild returning to full strenght by the end of 1944, would later take part in Operation Northwind as a part of Simon's XIII SS Corps. After that its remnants would fight against the Western Allied invasion of Germany.

The last organized engagement fought by the division was on April 29, 1945, at Moosburg, Germany. It was there that the division's commander attempted to use Stalag VII-A, the largest POW camp in Germany, as a sort of hostage to buy time to escape across the Isar River. Their effort was frustrated when the commander of the 14th Armored Division learned of the plan, and ordered his Combat Command A to take Moosburg, capture the bridge across the Isar River, and most importantly, secure and protect the Allied Prisoners of War. The American infantry and tank force advanced to Moosburg, and without delay attacked the defensive positions of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division in front of the town. It fell following a brief, but ferocious battle. That same day the 14th Armored Division took over 7,000 German POWs, mostly SS.

On May 5, five days after Hitler's suicide, and three days before Nazi Germany's surrender, elements of the division attacked the 13th-century castle Itter Castle in Tyrol, Austria. Castle Itter (administratively a part of the Dachau concentration camp complex) was a prison for high-ranking French VIPs, the so-called Ehrenhäftlinge ("honor prisoners"), including politicians Paul Reynaud and Édouard Daladier, labor leader Léon Jouhaux, and former commanders-in-chief Maxime Weygand and Maurice Gamelin. The SS force wanted to execute all such prisoners. The attack was defeated by the 23rd Tank Battalion of the US 12th Armored Division under the command of Captain John C. 'Jack' Lee Jr., the former prisoners themselves, SS-Hauptsturmführer Kurt-Siegfried Schrader and anti-Nazi elements of the Wehrmacht under the command of Major Josef 'Sepp' Gangl, who died in the battle.

The remaining members of the division surrendered to the US 101st Airborne Division at Rottach-Egern, north of Kufstein, on May 6, 1945.

The division was raised near Poitiers, France, as the Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Götz von Berlichingen" in October 1943. It was formed from scratch, with the majority of its original cadre coming from replacement units and conscripts, many of whom were Romanian Germans and French volunteers. After September 8, 1943, around five hundred Italian volunteers, coming from units deployed in France were enlisted in "Götz von Berlichingen". Obersturmbannführer Otto Binge oversaw the formation of the division, with the newly promoted Brigadeführer Werner Ostendorff taking command in January 1944. The Götz von Berlichingen was placed under the LXXX Army Corps, a part of Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt's Heeresgruppe D.

As part of a plan to number all named SS divisions in early 1944, the division was re-titled the 17th SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division "Götz von Berlichingen".