Hans Müller

* Early War
* Late War

### Rank

Leutnant (Second Lieutenant) (1910-1912) (1937-1939)Oberleutnant (Lieutenant) (1912-1916) (1939-1941)

Hauptmann (Captain) (1916-1919) (1941-1945)

## Additional Info

### Weapons

Gewehr 98 (Bolt-Action Rifle)P08 Luger (Semi-Automatic Pistol)

MP40 (Submachine Gun)

Gewehr 43 (Semi-Automatic Rifle)

StG 44 (Assault Rifle)

Hans Müller was a German officer of the Wehrmacht who fought in WW2. He is uncle to Peter Müller.

## Biography

Müller was born in rural Bavaria, 1892. He joined the Imperial German Army as an officer when he turned 18 in 1910, and fought in WW1 on the Eastern and later Western Front. He married a woman in 1912 and had 7 children with her. After the war, he left the army to return to Bavaria and work on his family's hop garden. When the National Socialists rose to power, Müller felt he had no choice but to support him as he was a conservative but did not trust any other party to represent his interests. Müller was however filled with a renewed sense of patriotism after seeing the country begin to prosper again, and he joined the Wehrmacht as an officer in 1937, along with his nephew, Peter.

Müller would fight in WW2. Initially he would fight in the Invasion of France, and then Operation Barbarossa, then the Allied Invasion of Italy and the Invasion of Normandy. He would be promoted to Hauptmann (Captain) in this time, making him second in command of a Company. During the battles in Northern France, his company would suffer heavy losses. As he was a veteran officer, he would be assigned to a newly formed Volksgrenadier division and be made second in command of one of their assault companies, who heavily utilised the new StG 44 rifles. As many members of this division had fought in Barbarossa and the Soviets were pushing to Berlin, they were moved to the Eastern Front and fought in numerous battles.

On the Eastern Front, Müller would meet Rudolf Brandt. Organisation of numerous German units had collapsed and Müller decided that after losing so many men over the years, he had had enough. He was going to get his men away from the Eastern Front and surrender to the Western Allies. Brandt disagreed and wanted to keep fighting to the end, but even though Brandt was a higher rank, some of his men would leave him to follow Müller as they had no morale and respected Müller more. Brandt threatened Müller and his men for deserting, but he couldn't do anything and so he had to let them go. This would be the one time Müller was able to save his men, as they successfully made it West and surrendered to the Allies. Müller was wounded on the way though, and although he was still able to move and lead his men, it became infected due to lack of medical care and he almost died, but was luckily saved by Allied doctors once they had surrendered.

Müller made it back to his family, a shell of his former self, and died in 1975.

## Personality

Müller was respected highly by those who fought with him, as he was a wise, older man that fought in the Great War. He was intelligent and took his job seriously, but was not happy to see Germany go to war against the world again in 1939. This would mean that he would always come across as brooding and cynical when discussing the nature of the conflict. Müller was also an incredibly lucky man. Numerous times in his military career he would come exceedingly close to death, but somehow survive. By the end of the war, Müller had lost many men under his command to the enemy, which would also contribute to his constant misery.

Hans in 1941Hans in 1943Hans in 1945