Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller

Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller (29 August 1897 – 20 May 1947) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He led an infantry regiment in the early stages of the war and by 1943 was commander of the 22nd Air Landing Division. Under his orders, troops of the division committed atrocities against Greek civilians. He was later commander of occupied Crete and his harsh methods of controlling the island saw him nicknamed "The Butcher of Crete." After the war he was convicted and executed by a Greek court for war crimes.

Biography

Müller was born in Barmen, Prussia. When World War I began, Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller served as an infantryman with the 2nd Infantry Regiment. In 1915, he was promoted to second lieutenant and transferred to the 266th Regiment. After the war, Müller remained in the army and continued to rise through the ranks, attaining the rank of major in 1936. Shortly after World War II commenced, Müller was promoted to lieutenant colonel.

As the commanding officer of 105th Infantry Regiment, he saw action against the Soviet Army, for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in 1941 and Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross in 1942. In August 1942, Müller was appointed commanding officer of 22nd Air Landing Division. Müller became notorious as a brutal commander responsible for several atrocities against Greek civilians.¹

The attacks on civilians included the massacres at Viannos, Anogeia, Amari, Damasta, Skourvoula and Malathyros. During the autumn of 1943, Müller led the German forces in their victory over the Italian-British forces in the Dodecanese Campaign. On 6 October 1943, on the island of Kos, under his orders, German forces killed and buried in mass graves over one hundred captured at the end of the , who would not side with their former allies.