Mohnke, who had joined the Nazi Party in September 1931, rose through the ranks to become one of Adolf Hitler's last remaining general officers at the end of World War II in Europe.

[7] Mohnke led the 5th company of the 2nd Battalion of the Infanterie-Regiment Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, at the outset of the Battle of France in 1940.

[8] It was around this time that Mohnke was allegedly involved in the killing of 80 British (of the 48th division) and French prisoners of war (POWs) near Wormhoudt.

Mohnke was never brought to trial over these allegations, and when the case was reopened in 1988, a German prosecutor came to the conclusion there was insufficient evidence to bring charges.

[9] The case briefly resurfaced once again in late 1993 when it became evident that the British government had not revealed some pertinent files from its archives during the earlier investigation.

[13] Mohnke was implicated in the killing of 35 Canadian prisoners at Fontenay-le-Pesnel, as part of the Normandy Massacres, albeit he never faced a trial owing to a lack of conclusive proof of his involvement.

Mohnke told historian Thomas Fischer that, at times, he had to take strong painkillers, such as morphine, due to the severe pain in his shortened right leg (from his combat injuries in April 1941) but whether these things affected his decision-making process is not known.

Then being "free enough from pain", SS-Obersturmbannführer Kurt Meyer talked him into taking a command with the 12th SS Panzer Division.

As the situation in Normandy deteriorated for Germany and the front was pushed back to the Seine, Mohnke was one of the few to lead organized resistance on the western bank in order to protect the river crossings there.

He led this Kampfgruppe until 31 August, when he replaced the badly wounded Theodor Wisch as commander of the Leibstandarte (LSSAH).

The plan was for an armored push through the American lines, all the way to Antwerp to split the western Allies forces and buy the Germans time.

The retreating U.S. troops blew up important bridges and fuel dumps that Mohnke and Peiper had counted on taking intact, further slowing the German advance.

A short time later the LSSAH and I SS Panzer Corps were transferred to Hungary to try and bolster the crumbling situation there.

[22] After recovering from his wounds, Mohnke was personally appointed by Hitler as the Kommandant (Battle Commander) for the defense of the centre government district of Berlin (Zitadelle sector), which included the Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker.

[23] Since Mohnke's fighting force was located at the nerve center of the German Third Reich, it fell under intense artillery bombardment, which began on Hitler's birthday of 20 April 1945 and lasted to the end of local hostilities on 2 May 1945.

I decided that the accused man [Fegelein] deserved trial by high-ranking officers... We set up the court-martial... We military judges took our seats at the table with the standard German Army Manual of Courts-Martial before us.

No sooner were we seated than defendant Fegelein began acting up in such an outrageous manner that the trial could not even commence.

On the one hand, based on all available evidence, including his own earlier statements, this miserable excuse for an officer was guilty of flagrant desertion...

"[27]On 30 April, after receiving news of Hitler's suicide from SS-Sturmbannführer Otto Günsche, Mohnke took part in a conference where prior orders were implemented that those who could do so were to break out from the Soviet Red Army ring.

[28][29][30] The plan was to escape from Berlin to the Allies on the western side of the Elbe or to the German Army to the North.

The group headed along the subway but their route was blocked so they went above ground and later joined hundreds of other Germans civilians and military personnel who had sought refuge at the Schultheiss-Patzenhofer Brewery on Prinzenallee.

On 2 May 1945, General Weidling issued an order calling for the complete surrender of all German forces still in Berlin.

[37] There was also a campaign by British Member of Parliament Jeff Rooker to prosecute Mohnke for his alleged involvement in war crimes in relation to the Wormhoudt massacre.

[9] Following his release, he worked as a dealer in small trucks and trailers, living in Barsbüttel, West Germany.