Ritterkreuzträger of 58. Infanterie-Division

The 58. Infanterie-Division was formed on 26 August 1939 in Wehrkreis X around Lüneburg as part of the second mobilisation wave, drawing on reservists including many First World War veterans and a small active cadre, and was initially deployed on defensive duties along the French border while continuing training. Its principal infantry regiments were Infanterie-Regiment 154, Infanterie-Regiment 209 and Infanterie-Regiment 220, supported by Artillerie-Regiment 158, Pionier-Bataillon 158 and other divisional units; later in the war the organisation was reduced and redesignated with Grenadier-Regiment 154 and Grenadier-Regiment 209 plus a Divisions-Füsilier-Bataillon. From 10 May to 25 June 1940 the division took part in the Battle of France, after which it performed occupation duties in Belgium until April 1941. Transferred to East Prussia, it joined Army Group North for Operation Barbarossa in June 1941 and advanced to the outskirts of Leningrad, where the front stabilised into prolonged positional warfare. For the next two and a half years it remained on the northern sector of the Eastern Front, fighting on the Volkhov, around the Demyansk Pocket, at Krasny Bor, Mga, Nevel and Strugi Krasnye. In early October 1943 the division was withdrawn from the Leningrad siege lines and rushed south to the 16th Army sector, where it helped contain the Soviet offensive that captured Nevel and continued defensive fighting into January 1944. When the Red Army finally broke the Leningrad blockade the division was hurried north again, with two of its regiments having to be extracted from encirclement near Luga before it was committed to the Battle of Narva in 1944. By the end of that year its remnants were trapped in the Memel bridgehead and forced to withdraw along the Curonian Spit toward Königsberg, where the last soldiers under Oberst Eggemann went into Soviet captivity in April–May 1945. Commanders included Generalleutnant Iwan Heunert (1939–1941), Generalleutnant Dr. Friedrich Altrichter, Generalleutnant Karl von Graffen, General der Artillerie Wilhelm Berlin, Generalleutnant Curt Siewert (1943–1945) and finally Oberst Fritz Klasing.

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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER


Oberstleutnant der Reserve Gerhard Hein (1916-2008), originally named Gerhard Franz Philippczyk, was born on 9 July 1916 in Klein Paniow in Upper Silesia and died on 6 June 2008 in Harrislee; he joined the Hitlerjugend in November 1931, served in the Reichsarbeitsdienst from 1933 to 1934, entered the Wehrmacht in 1936 as a Gefreiter, changed his surname to Hein in December 1938, and began active wartime service in September 1939 with Infanterie-Regiment 209 of the 58. Infanterie-Division. As Unteroffizier der Reserve and Zugführer of the 10. Kompanie, III. Bataillon, Infanterie-Regiment 209 during the Battle of France, he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 3 September 1940 for decisive actions on 19–20 June 1940 in urban combat at St. Evre, a suburb of Toul, where the right wing of his Bataillon came under heavy fire from previously unidentified enemy-held houses that threatened to stall the assault and cause heavy casualties; on his own initiative he led a small squad that cleared the houses, restoring momentum and sparing the unit unnecessary losses. Promoted to Feldwebel and later to Leutnant der Reserve, he took part in Operation Barbarossa and, as Führer of the 5. Kompanie, II. Bataillon, Infanterie-Regiment 209, was awarded the Eichenlaub on 6 September 1942 for a series of outstanding achievements including breaking through the Stalin Line near Priluga, capturing a battery of guns, holding a strongpoint for three days of intense fighting in forested terrain near Monastorek, defending against a night attack by about twelve tanks near Alexejewka, combat near Urisk before Leningrad, and an attack into Lubcy north of Novgorod on 15 March 1942. After multiple wounds rendered him unfit for further front-line duty he was given a farm in the Wartheland, yet the Reichsjugendführung claimed him as Reichsinspekteur der Wehrertüchtigungslager der Hitlerjugend with the rank of HJ-Oberbannführer; in this role he emphasised rigorous military preparation of youths and played a key part in organising the formation of the 12. SS-Panzer-Division „Hitlerjugend“. From May 1944 he served in the Waffen-SS, rising to SS-Sturmbannführer der Reserve and commanding SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 26 of the 12. SS-Panzer-Division „Hitlerjugend“ in Hungary before promotion to Oberstleutnant der Reserve and assignment to the staff of Generalfeldmarschall Ernst Busch in the final weeks of the war.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/58th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)

Ritterkreuzträger of Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 (StG 3)

Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 (StG 3) was a Luftwaffe dive-bomber wing formed on 9 July 1940 at Dinard in France from the Stab of Kampfgeschwader 28 and equipped primarily with the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, later redesignated Schlachtgeschwader 3 (SG 3) on 18 October 1943 at Eleusis as the Luftwaffe shifted toward broader close-air-support roles. Its first operations came during the Battle of Britain, when Stab and I. Gruppe attacked Channel shipping and coastal targets from bases near Cherbourg and Brétigny, suffering losses against RAF fighters while scoring hits on convoys such as Peewit. In early 1941 elements moved to Sicily for Mediterranean operations, striking Malta and the Royal Navy; on 10 January Ju 87s from units under StG 3 command scored multiple hits on the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, and later attacks damaged or sank other vessels including HMS Southampton. The wing then supported the invasions of Yugoslavia and Greece, operating from bases in Bulgaria, Larissa and Argos, before taking part in the Battle of Crete where its Stukas inflicted damage on British warships. Throughout the North African campaign from 1941 to 1943, I., II. and III. Gruppe flew intensive missions in support of the Deutsches Afrikakorps, operating from desert airstrips such as Derna, Tmimi, Fuka and Haggag el Quasaba, attacking Allied armour, supply lines and airfields until the Axis defeat in Tunisia forced withdrawal. After redesignation as SG 3 under Oberst Kurt Kuhlmey, the Geschwader continued close-support work on the Eastern Front and in the Balkans, converting progressively from Ju 87D to Focke-Wulf Fw 190F fighter-bombers. In June–July 1944 a composite formation known as Gefechtsverband Kuhlmey, built around elements of I./SG 3 together with other units, deployed to Immola in Finland and flew nearly 2,700 sorties during the Soviet summer offensive, helping stabilise the Finnish front at Tali-Ihantala. Thereafter SG 3 operated over the Baltic states, Courland and East Prussia until the final weeks of the war, with the Geschwaderstab last based at Finow under Major Bernhard Hamester.

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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER


Oberst Walter Sigel (1906-1944) was born on 12 January 1906 in Ulm and served as an officer in the Luftwaffe from 1934 until his death, rising to the rank of Oberst; as commanding officer of Sturzkampfgeschwader 76 he led the Junkers Ju 87 demonstration at Neuhammer on 15 August 1939 that became known as the Neuhammer Stuka-Unglück when low cloud caused thirteen other crews to crash fatally while he himself barely pulled out, and on the opening day of the Second World War he directed the German bombers in the attack on Wieluń. He received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 21 July 1940 as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of I./Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 for the outstanding success of his Gruppe in the Polish campaign and especially in the West, where his personal leadership from the front enabled effective strikes against troop concentrations in the Libramont–Givet area of southern Belgium, the Maginot Line south of Sedan, enemy tanks near Laon, columns near La Fère, St. Quentin, Lens, Arras, Béthune and Amiens, as well as against destroyers southwest of Calais and the harbour of Dunkirk, repeatedly facilitating the advance of German ground forces and repelling armoured counter-attacks. Promoted further, he was awarded the Eichenlaub (116th recipient) on 2 September 1942 as Oberstleutnant and Geschwaderkommodore of Schlachtgeschwader 3 in recognition of his continued command achievements during the air battles over the English Channel, in Greece, over Crete and throughout the North African campaign; Sigel was killed on 8 May 1944 when his aircraft crashed into the Trondheimsfjord in Norway.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturzkampfgeschwader_3

Ritterkreuzträger with Mützenabzeichen (Cap Insignia) and Traditionsabzeichen

The Schwedter Adler, also known as the Dragoneradler, was a distinctive German cavalry traditions badge originating in the early nineteenth century as a special honour for the Prussian Brandenburgisches Dragoner-Regiment Nr. 2, which was garrisoned in the town of Schwedt an der Oder and received the eagle insignia around 1815 in recognition of its service; the badge typically depicted a Prussian-style eagle, often with the inscription “Mit Gott für König und Vaterland” or similar motto elements, and was worn with particular pride as a unit tradition symbol. In the Imperial German Army, the Reichswehr and especially the Wehrmacht it continued to be authorised as a Traditionsabzeichen for successor formations, most notably Kavallerie-Regiment 6 and its subordinate troops (including elements of the 2nd and 4th Schwadronen as well as later reconnaissance and cavalry units that inherited the regiment’s lineage), where it was affixed to the front of the Schirmmütze or Feldmütze between the national Hoheitsabzeichen and the Reichskokarde, or sometimes positioned as a separate cap badge. Crafted in metal (silvered or gilt for officers, matt for other ranks) or occasionally embroidered in cloth for field use, the Schwedter Adler measured roughly 4–5 cm across the wings and served both as a mark of elite cavalry heritage and a visible link to Prussian military tradition throughout the Second World War, appearing on the headgear of troopers photographed as late as the Normandy campaign and on the Eastern Front; its use underscored the Wehrmacht’s practice of preserving pre-1918 regimental identities even after the formal dissolution of the old cavalry arm and the conversion of many mounted units into motorised or armoured reconnaissance formations.

Generalmajor Walter Gorn (1898-1968) was born on 24 September 1898 in Bieganin near Posen in the Kingdom of Prussia and enlisted as a Kriegsfreiwilliger in the West Prussian Grenadier-Regiment „König Wilhelm I.“ Nr. 7 during the First World War, seeing action on the Western Front before serving with machine-gun units and later joining Freikorps formations in the Baltic; after demobilization he entered the Schutzpolizei in 1920, rising through the ranks to Hauptmann by 1934 and transferring into the Wehrmacht in 1935 as commander of a company in the 3. Kradschützen-Bataillon of the 3. Panzer-Division. In the Second World War he served on the staff of the XIX. Armeekorps during the Polish campaign, then as Major took command of the I. Bataillon of Schützen-Regiment 10 (later redesignated Panzergrenadier-Regiment 10) of the 9. Panzer-Division; on 8–20 April 1941 during the invasion of Yugoslavia he led a mixed Abteilung in a bold advance from Gostivar toward Debar in Macedonia, overrunning strong Yugoslav resistance, capturing seven enemy batteries together with nine further batteries, twelve anti-tank guns and large quantities of matériel, liberating some 800 Italian prisoners whom he promptly rearmed and incorporated into his force, thereby establishing contact with Italian troops and earning the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 20 April 1941. Promoted Oberstleutnant and given command of Kradschützen-Bataillon 59, he fought in the fierce defensive battles around Voronezh in the summer of 1942, where his greatly depleted unit of only about fifty-five combat-effective men repeatedly repulsed heavy Soviet assaults, for which he received the Eichenlaub (113th award) on 17 August 1942. Taking over Panzergrenadier-Regiment 10, he distinguished himself in the winter battles of Rzhev, particularly near Sychyovka along the Vazuza and south of Loshki, where his regiment helped free the encircled 129. Infanterie-Division and destroy cut-off Soviet forces, resulting in the award of the Schwerter (30th award) on 8 June 1943 while he was Oberst. Later promoted Generalmajor, he commanded the 561. Grenadier-Division (subsequently Volksgrenadier-Division) in East Prussia and Lithuania against Operation Bagration and the subsequent Soviet offensives, then briefly the 710. Infanterie-Division in Austria before surrendering to American forces at Steyr on 8 May 1945; released from captivity in 1947, he died in Rosenheim on 10 July 1968.

Source :
https://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2012/03/album-foto-schwedter-adler.html

Ritterkreuzträger with Telephone

 FIELD TELEPHONE (FELDFERNSPRECHER)

The standard German field telephone of the Second World War was the Feldfernsprecher 33 (FF 33 or FFsp 33), a robust local-battery instrument introduced in 1933 by Siemens & Halske as a streamlined successor to the earlier Feldfernsprecher 26 and produced in more than 1.6 million examples by over twenty manufacturers between 1933 and 1945. Housed in a weather-resistant bakelite case measuring approximately 28 × 21 × 10 cm and weighing about 5.5–5.8 kg, it featured a removable generator crank that produced roughly 84 V AC ringing current, a single 1.5 V dry-cell battery for the speech circuit, a press-to-talk handset with standardized carbon transmitter and receiver capsules, dual line terminals (La and Lb/E) that permitted either two-wire metallic or single-wire earth-return operation, two patch sockets with a short jumper cord for linking instruments into simple multi-party nets, and external sockets for optional headphones or throat microphones when the set was used by switchboard operators. The FF 33 operated exclusively in local-battery mode, required the user to crank the magneto to ring the distant station and to press the handset switch while speaking, and could be connected point-to-point over field cable or integrated into larger networks via Klappenschrank switchboards and Amtsanschließer 33 adapters; it was also compatible as a remote handset with certain Tornisterfunkgeräte radio sets. Issued at every level from platoon to higher headquarters, the telephone was carried by Nachrichtentruppen on a leather shoulder strap, set up by snubbing the incoming wire to a fixed object before connecting the terminals, and proved extremely durable in all theatres, remaining in service with the early Bundeswehr, several European armies and civilian agencies well into the Cold War era.



Generalmajor Walter Gorn (1898-1968) was born on 24 September 1898 in Bieganin near Posen in the Kingdom of Prussia and enlisted as a Kriegsfreiwilliger in the West Prussian Grenadier-Regiment „König Wilhelm I.“ Nr. 7 during the First World War, seeing action on the Western Front before serving with machine-gun units and later joining Freikorps formations in the Baltic; after demobilization he entered the Schutzpolizei in 1920, rising through the ranks to Hauptmann by 1934 and transferring into the Wehrmacht in 1935 as commander of a company in the 3. Kradschützen-Bataillon of the 3. Panzer-Division. In the Second World War he served on the staff of the XIX. Armeekorps during the Polish campaign, then as Major took command of the I. Bataillon of Schützen-Regiment 10 (later redesignated Panzergrenadier-Regiment 10) of the 9. Panzer-Division; on 8–20 April 1941 during the invasion of Yugoslavia he led a mixed Abteilung in a bold advance from Gostivar toward Debar in Macedonia, overrunning strong Yugoslav resistance, capturing seven enemy batteries together with nine further batteries, twelve anti-tank guns and large quantities of matériel, liberating some 800 Italian prisoners whom he promptly rearmed and incorporated into his force, thereby establishing contact with Italian troops and earning the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 20 April 1941. Promoted Oberstleutnant and given command of Kradschützen-Bataillon 59, he fought in the fierce defensive battles around Voronezh in the summer of 1942, where his greatly depleted unit of only about fifty-five combat-effective men repeatedly repulsed heavy Soviet assaults, for which he received the Eichenlaub (113th award) on 17 August 1942. Taking over Panzergrenadier-Regiment 10, he distinguished himself in the winter battles of Rzhev, particularly near Sychyovka along the Vazuza and south of Loshki, where his regiment helped free the encircled 129. Infanterie-Division and destroy cut-off Soviet forces, resulting in the award of the Schwerter (30th award) on 8 June 1943 while he was Oberst. Later promoted Generalmajor, he commanded the 561. Grenadier-Division (subsequently Volksgrenadier-Division) in East Prussia and Lithuania against Operation Bagration and the subsequent Soviet offensives, then briefly the 710. Infanterie-Division in Austria before surrendering to American forces at Steyr on 8 May 1945; released from captivity in 1947, he died in Rosenheim on 10 July 1968.

Source :
https://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/dba/de/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_telephone
https://fieldphones.org/episode3/

Ritterkreuzträger of 9. Panzer-Division

The 9. Panzer-Division was a German Army armoured formation of the Wehrmacht that existed from 3 January 1940 until its final dissolution in April 1945, originating from the 4. Leichte Division formed in Vienna after the Anschluss from Austrian Bundesheer mobile units and headquartered in Wehrkreis XVII. Redesignated and expanded into a full panzer division with Panzer-Regiment 33, two panzergrenadier regiments (Panzergrenadier-Regiment 10 and 11), Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment 102 and supporting elements including Kradschützen-Bataillon 9 and Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 9, it first saw major action in the Battle of the Netherlands in May 1940 as the sole mechanized force of the 18. Armee, racing to link up with Fallschirmjäger at the Moerdijk bridges and advancing toward Rotterdam and Dordrecht before participating in the subsequent Battle of France under Panzergruppe Guderian, covering more ground than any other German division and reaching Lyon by the French armistice. After refitting it took part in the 1941 Balkans Campaign as the armoured spearhead of the 12. Armee, helping separate Greek and Yugoslav forces, then joined Operation Barbarossa with XIV. Panzerkorps of Heeresgruppe Süd, breaking through the Stalin Line, participating in the Uman and Kiev encirclements that netted hundreds of thousands of Soviet prisoners, capturing the Dnieper dam at Zaporizhia, and later advancing under Panzergruppe Guderian to help encircle Bryansk and seize Kursk in November 1941. It endured the Soviet winter offensives of 1941–42 near Shchigry, counterattacked around Voronezh during Case Blue in July 1942, fought in Operation Mars near Rzhev, and suffered severe losses at the Battle of Kursk in July 1943 as part of XLVII. Panzerkorps of the 9. Armee, losing dozens of tanks in a single air attack and advancing only about 15 km before withdrawing; thereafter it conducted a costly fighting retreat across Ukraine to the Mius front, Bryansk, and the Dnieper, dwindling by early 1944 to a handful of operational tanks. Withdrawn to Nîmes in France for rebuilding and reinforced with elements of the 155. Reserve-Panzer-Division, it was rushed north after D-Day, arriving in time to be nearly annihilated in the Falaise Pocket in August 1944, reduced to roughly 1,500 men and five tanks yet still covering the retreat of Heeresgruppe G. Partially reconstituted, it fought around Aachen, Geilenkirchen and the Peel Marshes, participated in the Battle of the Bulge with XLVII. Panzerkorps of the 5. Panzerarmee (with attached schwere Panzer-Abteilung 301), and later contested the Remagen bridgehead and the approaches to Cologne, by March 1945 reduced to a few hundred men and a dozen tanks; after futile resistance in Cologne its remnants were trapped in the Ruhr Pocket and largely surrendered to American forces in April 1945, with a small surviving Kampfgruppe absorbed into other units of the 11. Armee in the Harz Mountains before the formal disbandment of the division on 26 April 1945.

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SCHWERTERTRÄGER


Generalmajor Walter Gorn (1898-1968) was born on 24 September 1898 in Bieganin near Posen in the Kingdom of Prussia and enlisted as a Kriegsfreiwilliger in the West Prussian Grenadier-Regiment „König Wilhelm I.“ Nr. 7 during the First World War, seeing action on the Western Front before serving with machine-gun units and later joining Freikorps formations in the Baltic; after demobilization he entered the Schutzpolizei in 1920, rising through the ranks to Hauptmann by 1934 and transferring into the Wehrmacht in 1935 as commander of a company in the 3. Kradschützen-Bataillon of the 3. Panzer-Division. In the Second World War he served on the staff of the XIX. Armeekorps during the Polish campaign, then as Major took command of the I. Bataillon of Schützen-Regiment 10 (later redesignated Panzergrenadier-Regiment 10) of the 9. Panzer-Division; on 8–20 April 1941 during the invasion of Yugoslavia he led a mixed Abteilung in a bold advance from Gostivar toward Debar in Macedonia, overrunning strong Yugoslav resistance, capturing seven enemy batteries together with nine further batteries, twelve anti-tank guns and large quantities of matériel, liberating some 800 Italian prisoners whom he promptly rearmed and incorporated into his force, thereby establishing contact with Italian troops and earning the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 20 April 1941. Promoted Oberstleutnant and given command of Kradschützen-Bataillon 59, he fought in the fierce defensive battles around Voronezh in the summer of 1942, where his greatly depleted unit of only about fifty-five combat-effective men repeatedly repulsed heavy Soviet assaults, for which he received the Eichenlaub (113th award) on 17 August 1942. Taking over Panzergrenadier-Regiment 10, he distinguished himself in the winter battles of Rzhev, particularly near Sychyovka along the Vazuza and south of Loshki, where his regiment helped free the encircled 129. Infanterie-Division and destroy cut-off Soviet forces, resulting in the award of the Schwerter (30th award) on 8 June 1943 while he was Oberst. Later promoted Generalmajor, he commanded the 561. Grenadier-Division (subsequently Volksgrenadier-Division) in East Prussia and Lithuania against Operation Bagration and the subsequent Soviet offensives, then briefly the 710. Infanterie-Division in Austria before surrendering to American forces at Steyr on 8 May 1945; released from captivity in 1947, he died in Rosenheim on 10 July 1968.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9th_Panzer_Division_(Wehrmacht)

Ritterkreuzträger of 6. Panzer-Division

The 6. Panzer-Division of the German Wehrmacht was formed on 18 October 1939 in Wuppertal from the 1. leichte Division after the Polish campaign had exposed organizational weaknesses in the light divisions, and it was initially equipped largely with Czech-built Panzer 35(t) tanks in its Panzer-Regiment 11 along with supporting panzergrenadier, artillery and reconnaissance units. Under its first commander, General der Panzertruppe Werner Kempf, the division took part in the 1940 Western campaign, advancing through Belgium and the Ardennes, crossing the Meuse and Oise, and contributing to the rapid collapse of French and Allied forces in Flanders and northern France before being transferred to East Prussia in September 1940. In June 1941 it joined Operation Barbarossa as part of Panzergruppe 4 under Heeresgruppe Nord, fighting in the Baltic states and toward Leningrad, then transferred to Heeresgruppe Mitte for the drive on Moscow, where heavy losses in the winter battles around the capital and the Rzhev-Vyazma salient reduced it to a remnant that had to be withdrawn to France in spring 1942 for complete reconstitution and re-equipment with modern Panzer III and IV tanks. Returning to the Eastern Front in late 1942 under Generalleutnant Erhard Raus, the division fought with Heeresgruppe Don in the failed relief attempt of Unternehmen Wintergewitter toward Stalingrad, then participated in the recapture of Kharkov in early 1943 and the subsequent Battle of Kursk as part of the southern offensive; thereafter it conducted a long series of defensive and withdrawal actions across Ukraine, through the Korsun-Cherkassy and Kamenets-Podolsky pockets, into Hungary and the Lake Balaton area, and finally into Austria and Czechoslovakia. Successive commanders including Generalleutnant Walther von Hünersdorff (killed at Kursk) and Generalleutnant Rudolf Freiherr von Waldenfels led the division through these later campaigns until, reduced to a Kampfgruppe, it surrendered near Brno in May 1945, after which most of its surviving personnel were handed over to Soviet captivity.

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RITTERKREUZTRÄGER


General der Panzertruppe Werner Kempf (1886-1964) was born on 9 March 1886 in Königsberg, East Prussia, as the son of a Prussian Oberstleutnant, and after education in the Prussian cadet corps he entered the Imperial German Army on 14 March 1905 as Fähnrich in the 6. Westpreußische Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 149, being commissioned Leutnant in 1906 and later serving with the II. Seebataillon; during the First World War he fought with the Marinekorps Flandern on the Western Front, rising to Hauptmann by 1916 and performing general-staff duties, after which he continued in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic in various staff and command posts with motorized and infantry units before taking command of the newly formed 4. Panzer-Brigade in October 1937 and being promoted Generalmajor in January 1939. At the outbreak of the Second World War he commanded the improvised Panzer-Division Kempf (also known as Panzerverband Ostpreußen) during the invasion of Poland, then assumed command of the 6. Panzer-Division with which he took part in the 1940 Western campaign; for his leadership in that offensive, in which his division plunged deep into the enemy on the first day, crossed the Oise River and captured more than 10 000 prisoners in three days of bold advance and pursuit while he personally remained the driving force of the attack even under fire, he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 3 June 1940 as Generalleutnant and Kommandeur of the 6. Panzer-Division and was promoted Generalleutnant the following month. In early 1941 he formed and took command of the XXXXVIII. Armeekorps (mot.), being promoted General der Panzertruppe on 1 April 1941, and with this formation participated in Operation Barbarossa as part of Panzergruppe 1 of Heeresgruppe Süd, distinguishing himself in the breakthrough of the Stalin Line, the encirclement battles at Uman and Kiev, and the capture of Kursk in 1941; the following year, still as Kommandierender General of the XXXXVIII. Panzerkorps, he directed the capture of Voronezh and the subsequent thrust that reached the southern outskirts of Stalingrad, for which achievements on the Eastern Front he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz (111th award) on 10 August 1942. After temporary transfer to the Führerreserve he commanded the Armeeabteilung Kempf during the Battle of Kursk in 1943, later served briefly as Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Ostland, and ended the war in American captivity in April 1945, from which he was released in 1947; he spent his remaining years in Bad Harzburg until his death on 6 January 1964.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_Panzer_Division

Ritterkreuzträger of 13. Panzer-Division

The 13. Panzer-Division was formed in October 1940 in Vienna by converting the 13. Infanterie-Division (motorisiert) into an armored formation, incorporating Panzer-Regiment 4 along with Schützen-Regimenter 66 and 93, and after initial training duties in Romania it joined Operation Barbarossa in June 1941 as part of Heeresgruppe Süd and Panzergruppe 1, fighting through the Ukraine in battles at Uman, Kiev, and the Dnepropetrovsk bridgehead before capturing Rostov; under commanders including Generalmajor Traugott Herr it advanced deep into the Caucasus during the 1942 summer offensive as part of Heeresgruppe A, reaching areas near Mozdok, then conducted prolonged defensive operations in the Kuban bridgehead in 1943 before withdrawing through the Ukraine amid heavy fighting around Kryvyi Rih and the Dniester. Severely depleted during the 1944 Soviet offensives that destroyed much of Heeresgruppe Südukraine, the remnants were withdrawn to Hungary for refitting, where the division participated in the Battle of Debrecen before becoming encircled and largely destroyed during the siege of Budapest in late 1944–early 1945; surviving elements were later reorganized into Panzer-Division Feldherrnhalle 2 and continued limited operations until the end of the war in May 1945.

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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER


General der Panzertruppe Traugott Herr (1890-1976) was born on 16 September 1890 in Weferlingen and entered the Imperial German Army in 1911 as a Fahnenjunker in the Füsilier-Regiment „Prinz Heinrich von Preußen“ (Brandenburgisches) Nr. 35, serving through the First World War and remaining in the Reichswehr afterward before rising in the Wehrmacht; during the Second World War he commanded the 13. Schützen-Brigade of the 13. Panzer-Division and was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 2 October 1941 as Oberst for his leadership in expanding the bridgehead at Dnepropetrovsk and related actions on the Eastern Front. Promoted and appointed Kommandeur of the 13. Panzer-Division, he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 9 August 1942 as Generalmajor for the division’s successful advance into the Caucasus and capture of key positions including Rostov; after recovering from a severe head wound sustained in late 1942 he later took command of the LXXVI. Panzerkorps in Italy, where he was awarded the Schwerter to the Ritterkreuz on 18 December 1944 as General der Panzertruppe and Kommandierender General for the corps’ determined defensive performance against successive Allied offensives near Rimini that prevented breakthroughs despite heavy pressure, subsequently briefly leading the 14. Armee and then the 10. Armee until the German surrender in Italy in May 1945, after which he spent time as a prisoner of war before his release and death on 13 April 1976 in Achterwehr.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Panzer_Division

Ritterkreuzträger of Jagdgeschwader 11 (JG 11)

Jagdgeschwader 11 (JG 11) was a Luftwaffe fighter wing formed on 1 April 1943 by splitting elements of Jagdgeschwader 1, with its Stab and Gruppen initially based along the North German coast in places such as Jever, Husum, and Neumünster to defend northern Germany, the German Bight, southern Norway, and western Denmark against Allied day bomber raids as part of the Reichsluftverteidigung; equipped primarily with Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters, it quickly became one of the most active units in the Defense of the Reich, claiming a substantial share of victories during the intense summer 1943 campaigns against unescorted USAAF bomber formations, and later incorporating specialized high-altitude variants and tactics against heavy bombers and their escorts. Under successive Geschwaderkommodore including Major Anton Mader, Oberstleutnant Hermann Graf, Major Anton Hackl, Major Herbert Ihlefeld, and Major Günther Specht, the wing operated under commands such as the 2. Jagddivision and later shifted bases inland as the Allied bombing offensive intensified, participating in the defense against the Normandy invasion forces in mid-1944 before returning to home defense; in January 1945 it took part in Operation Bodenplatte, attacking Allied airfields such as Asch (Y-29) in Belgium with heavy losses including its commander, and continued fighting until the final weeks of the war with remaining aircraft including Fw 190D variants before surrendering to British forces in early May 1945 at Leck.

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SCHWERTERTRÄGER


Major Anton Hackl (1915-1984), known as "Toni", was born on 25 March 1915 in Regensburg and volunteered for service in the Reichsheer in 1933 before transferring to the Luftwaffe in 1935 for pilot training, eventually joining Jagdgeschwader 77 where he saw action in the Norwegian campaign, North Africa, and especially on the Eastern Front during Operation Barbarossa; appointed Staffelkapitän of the 5. Staffel of II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 77 in early 1942, he rapidly increased his score and was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 25 May 1942 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän after claiming his 48th (or 51st according to some accounts) aerial victory. In a spectacular period of success around Voronezh in July 1942 he claimed 37 victories including multiple ace-in-a-day performances, reaching his 100th victory in early August and receiving the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 9 August 1942 as Hauptmann and Staffelkapitän of the same Staffel after his 104th victory; later serving in defense of the Reich with Jagdgeschwader 11 as Gruppenkommandeur of III. Gruppe, he continued to score heavily against Allied bombers and was awarded the Schwerter to the Ritterkreuz on 9 July 1944 as Major and Gruppenkommandeur after approximately 150 to 162 victories. Going on to command roles including Kommodore of Jagdgeschwader 76, II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 26, and later Jagdgeschwader 300 and Jagdgeschwader 11, Hackl flew over 1,000 combat missions, was shot down eight times and wounded four times, and ended the war with 192 confirmed aerial victories (including around 87 on the Western Front of which at least 32 were four-engined bombers) plus further unconfirmed claims before dying on 10 July 1984 in Regensburg.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagdgeschwader_11

Ritterkreuzträger in White Summer Uniform (Weißer Dienstrock)

 HEER WHITE SUMMER UNIFORM

The German Army (Heer) white summer uniform of the Second World War was an optional warm-weather dress garment primarily available to officers and certain senior non-commissioned officers, consisting of a lightweight white cotton tunic authorized for wear from April through September. Two principal versions existed: the older “ältere Art” model inherited from Reichswehr practice, which featured a stand-up collar, a six-button front closure and plain sleeves and was intended mainly for barracks duty, supervision of training and attendance at sporting events; and the newer “neue Art” model introduced in 1937, which had a more modern rise-and-fall collar, an eight-button front and French cuffs and was authorized as a summer walking-out and undress uniform. Both tunics were deliberately designed with fully removable buttons, shoulder boards and a metal breast eagle (Wehrmachtsadler) so that the garment could be thoroughly laundered; collar Litzen were never worn. The white tunic was customarily paired with matching white or dark trousers (or riding breeches), a white or field-grey shirt, and either the peaked Schirmmütze (often fitted with a white summer cover) or a side cap, and it served as a cooler, more formal alternative to the standard field-grey service dress during the warmer months in the homeland and in temperate occupation zones, remaining a distinctive mark of rank and privilege rather than a combat uniform.

Oberleutnant Otto Carius (1922-2015) was born on 27 May 1922 in Zweibrücken and, after twice being rejected as underweight, enlisted in the Heer in 1940, initially serving in the infantry before volunteering for the Panzertruppe and later transferring in 1943 to the schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502, with which he fought on the Eastern Front as a successful Tiger I commander credited by some sources with over 150 enemy tanks destroyed (though he himself later estimated around 100 or fewer). As Leutnant der Reserve and Zugführer in the 2. Kompanie of schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502 he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 4 May 1944 for leading three Tigers in a series of engagements from 17 to 22 March 1944 near Lembitu west of Narva, during which his force destroyed 28 tanks, four assault guns and 17 artillery pieces. Promoted to lead the 2. Kompanie, he received the Eichenlaub on 27 July 1944 for his action on 22 July 1944 at the village of Malinava northeast of Dünaburg, when, accompanied only by his wingman Oberfeldwebel Albert Kerscher, the two Tigers charged into the village and engaged a force of 17 Soviet tanks (including several IS-2 heavy tanks); Carius personally destroyed ten, Kerscher four and nearby Sturmgeschütze three more, achieving the destruction with no friendly losses and thereby preventing a Soviet breakthrough toward Dünaburg so that a defensive front could be re-established. Severely wounded two days later on 24 July 1944, Carius recovered sufficiently to take command in early 1945 of a company of Jagdtigers in the schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 512 on the Western Front, where his unit fought in the defence of the Rhine before he ordered the remaining vehicles destroyed and surrendered to American forces in the Ruhr Pocket in April–May 1945; after the war he studied pharmacy, opened the Tiger Apotheke in Herschweiler-Pettersheim as a tribute to the Tiger tank, published his memoirs Tigers in the Mud in 1960, and died there on 24 January 2015 at the age of 92.

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LUFTWAFFE WHITE SUMMER UNIFORM

The Luftwaffe white summer uniform, known as the Sommeranzug or Sommerrock, was a lightweight dress option primarily for officers (as well as certain officials and engineers) consisting of a single-breasted white cotton or linen tunic cut similarly to the standard blue-grey Tuchrock, featuring an open collar with lapels, four patch pockets with buttoned flaps, and four front buttons (silver-coloured for most officers and gilt for generals), which was officially authorised for wear between 1 April and 30 September each year as a cooler alternative to the wool service dress; the tunic was typically unlined or lightly constructed in a waffle-weave or gabardine fabric for breathability, with all insignia—including collar tabs (Kragenspiegel), shoulder boards, and the breast eagle—designed to be fully removable via snaps, loops, or slip-on fittings so the garment could be easily laundered without damaging rank or branch markings, and it was commonly paired with matching white trousers (Weiße Hose), a white shirt with black or dark tie, white shoes, and a white-topped peaked service cap (Sommermütze) whose crown could also be detached for cleaning, though regulations also permitted its combination with standard blue-grey trousers; outside the designated summer period the white tunic could still be worn for office duties or within closed military installations provided it was accompanied by blue-grey trousers and without collar patches, and while formal production and widespread issue were scaled back or officially suspended after the outbreak of war in 1939, private purchase and continued use remained common, especially in warmer theatres, for walking-out dress, formal occasions, or parade wear, distinguishing it clearly from the khaki tropical uniforms issued for North Africa and the Mediterranean as well as from practical flying suits.

Major Heinrich Setz (1915-1943) was born on 12 March 1915 in Gundelsdorf near Kronach in the Kingdom of Bavaria as the son of an Oberförster and entered the Luftwaffe as a Fahnenjunker on 6 April 1936, receiving promotion to Leutnant on 1 January 1938 and later serving as an instructor at a Jagdfliegerschule before joining II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 77 in Norway in the summer of 1940, where he scored his first three aerial victories against RAF aircraft; appointed Staffelkapitän of 4./Jagdgeschwader 77 in July 1941, he led the Staffel during Operation Barbarossa on the Eastern Front, claiming numerous successes including his 45th victory by late November 1941, for which Oberleutnant Setz was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 31 December 1941, and continued to excel in the Crimea and during the fighting around Voronezh, becoming an ace-in-a-day on several occasions and reaching his 81st victory on 23 June 1942, the same day he received the Eichenlaub to his Ritterkreuz (the 102nd such award) which was presented by Adolf Hitler at the Führerhauptquartier in Rastenburg a few days later, subsequently achieving his 100th victory on 24 July 1942 and ending his Eastern Front career with 135 confirmed claims before promotion to Hauptmann on 1 November 1942 and appointment as Gruppenkommandeur of I./Jagdgeschwader 27 on the Western Front in November 1942, where on 13 March 1943, during his 274th combat mission while intercepting American bombers near Abbeville, he claimed three Spitfires but was killed in a mid-air collision with a fourth over Yzengremer, being posthumously promoted to Major with a final total of 138 aerial victories.

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KRIEGSMARINE WHITE SUMMER UNIFORM

The Kriegsmarine white summer uniform, officially part of the Tropen- und Sommeranzug regulations, consisted of lightweight white cotton or cotton-blend garments designed for warm weather and tropical climates and was worn primarily between roughly 20 April and 30 September or in hot operational areas, with blue uniforms prescribed for the cooler months from 1 October to 19 April. For officers it typically featured an open-collar service jacket (Weißer Dienstanzug or Sommerdienstjackett) closed by four or six gilt naval buttons bearing the crowned anchor motif, four pleated patch pockets with scalloped flaps, removable shoulder boards indicating rank on a white or dark underlay, a gilt metal breast eagle (Brustadler) pinned above the right pocket, and matching long white trousers, often accompanied by a white shirt, black tie, and peaked cap or side cap; an older pattern with a stand-up collar also existed. Enlisted personnel and petty officers wore a white pull-over jumper (Hemd) with a blue jean collar edged by three white stripes, a black silk neckerchief, rank badges in light blue on the left sleeve, and white trousers, while senior non-commissioned officers could wear a white jacket similar to the officers’ pattern with shoulder straps. During wartime the white uniform saw reduced use outside tropical theaters, where it was sometimes supplemented or replaced by khaki tropical dress from 1943, and it remained a formal walking-out or service dress rather than everyday working attire, reflecting both practical considerations of climate and the Kriegsmarine’s traditional naval appearance derived from earlier European navy styles.

Kapitänleutnant Engelbert Endrass (1911-1941) was born on 2 March 1911 in Bamberg and, after service in the merchant navy, joined the Kriegsmarine in April 1935, transferring to the U-Boot-Waffe in 1937 and serving from December 1938 as 1. Wachoffizier aboard U-47 under Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien, during which he took part in the successful penetration of Scapa Flow on 14 October 1939 that sank the battleship HMS Royal Oak and himself painted the famous snorting-bull emblem on the conning tower. In May 1940 he assumed command of U-46 in the 7. Unterseebootsflottille and immediately achieved major successes, sinking five ships totaling 35 347 BRT on his first patrol—including the British auxiliary cruiser HMS Carinthia of 20 277 BRT—and repeating the feat on his second patrol by sinking another five ships totaling 27 038 BRT despite a damaged periscope, among them the auxiliary cruiser HMS Dunvegan Castle of 15 007 BRT; for these early achievements as Oberleutnant zur See and Kommandant of U-46 he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 5 September 1940. After five further successful patrols that brought his overall tally to twenty-two ships sunk for 118 528 BRT he received the Eichenlaub on 10 June 1941 as Kapitänleutnant and Kommandant of U-46 (the fourteenth award of the Oak Leaves), was promoted to Kapitänleutnant, and in September 1941 left U-46 to take command of U-567 the following month; on 21 December 1941, while operating against Convoy HG 76 northeast of the Azores, U-567 was sunk with all hands by depth charges from the British sloop HMS Deptford and the corvette HMS Samphire, ending the career of one of the Kriegsmarine’s early U-boat aces at the age of thirty.

Source :
https://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2011/06/album-foto-tokoh-third-reich-dengan_29.html

Ritterkreuzträger with Ehrendolch (Honor Dagger)

 LUFTWAFFE EHRENDOLCH (HONOR DAGGER)

The Luftwaffe Ehrendolch, or Honour Dagger, was not a standardized mass-issued sidearm like the well-known SS-Ehrendolch but rather denoted rare presentation or gift versions of the Luftwaffe officer’s dress dagger, often specially commissioned as high-status awards or personal tokens of recognition within Hermann Göring’s air force; evolving from the earlier Deutscher Luftsportverband (DLV) dagger, the first-model Fliegerdolch appeared around 1935 as a relatively long, blue-leather-wrapped weapon primarily for flying personnel and later senior NCOs, featuring nickel or aluminium fittings with sunwheel swastikas, while the far more common second-model Offiziersdolch introduced in 1937 and worn until late 1944 became the classic form with a shorter stiletto blade, white or ivory-coloured grip bound in silver wire, aluminium or alloy pommel bearing a gilded swastika amid oak leaves, and a distinctive crossguard cast with a Luftwaffe eagle clutching a swastika, the whole suspended from dual blue-grey velvet-backed hangers with oak-leaf buckles and finished with a silver portepee; true Ehrendolche elevated this design through luxurious extras such as Damascus-steel blades, elaborate etched or gold-inlaid presentation inscriptions (frequently naming the recipient and sometimes bearing dedications from Göring himself, for example “Meinem getreuen Mitarbeiter”), ivory or amber grips, silvered or gold-finished scabbards, and custom cases, making them exceptional rarities awarded to distinguished officers, aces, or staff for outstanding service, personal loyalty, or commemorative occasions rather than as routine equipment, and today they rank among the most prized and expensive Third Reich edged weapons precisely because of their extreme scarcity, historical association with the Luftwaffe elite, and superior craftsmanship by Solingen makers such as Eickhorn, Weyersberg, or Dinger.

Leutnant der Reserve Leopold Steinbatz (1918-1942) was born on 25 October 1918 in Stammersdorf (now part of Vienna), Austria-Hungary, learned to fly gliders in his youth and trained as a butcher before volunteering for the Austrian Air Force’s Flieger-Ausbildungsregiment at Wiener Neustadt on 1 October 1937; after the Anschluss in March 1938 he transferred to the Luftwaffe, completed fighter-pilot training at the Jagdfliegerschule Wien-Aspern, and at the outbreak of war was posted to 2. Staffel of the Ergänzungsgruppe of Jagdgeschwader 52, later joining 9. Staffel of III./Jagdgeschwader 52 in August 1940. Deployed with his Gruppe to Romania in October 1940 as part of the Luftwaffenmission Rumänien to protect the Ploiești oil fields and train Romanian pilots, he flew ground-attack missions during the Battle of Crete in May–June 1941 before returning to Romania and converting to the Bf 109 F-4; with the launch of Operation Barbarossa he claimed his first aerial victory, a Polikarpov I-16, southeast of Kiev on 4 August 1941 while escorting Ju 87s, and thereafter scored steadily through the battles for Kiev, Poltava, the Crimea and Kharkov, reaching 42 victories by mid-February 1942. For these successes he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 14 February 1942 as Oberfeldwebel and Flugzeugführer in 9./Jagdgeschwader 52; continuing to fly as Hermann Graf’s wingman in the highly successful Karaya-Staffel, he became an ace-in-a-day several times over the Kerch Peninsula and during the Second Battle of Kharkov, raising his tally to 83 by early June and receiving the Eichenlaub on 2 June 1942—the third non-commissioned officer in the Luftwaffe so honoured. Determined to reach 100 victories before leave, he claimed four more aircraft east of Vovchansk on 15 June 1942, bringing his total to 99 in over 300 combat missions, all on the Eastern Front; shortly afterward his Bf 109 F-4/R1 was hit by Soviet anti-aircraft fire northwest of Shebekino and crashed into woodland, his body never being recovered. Posthumously awarded the Schwerter on 23 June 1942 (the only NCO in the entire Wehrmacht to receive this distinction) and promoted to Leutnant der Reserve effective 1 June 1942, Steinbatz remains the sole non-commissioned officer to have earned the Ritterkreuz with Oak Leaves and Swords.

Source :
https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/dagger-ceremonial-officer-luftwaffe/nasm_A19751370000

Ritterkreuzträger of 56. Infanterie-Division

The 56. Infanterie-Division) nicknamed "Gekreuzte Säbel" (Crossed Sabres) after its divisional symbol, was a second-wave Wehrmacht unit formed on 26 August 1939 in Dresden from Saxon reservists in Wehrkreis IV, incorporating Infantry Regiments 171, 192, and 234 along with Artillery Regiment 156. It first saw action during the invasion of Poland in 1939 with the 14th Army, primarily handling mopping-up operations and collecting stragglers before shifting westward. In the 1940 Battle of France, it advanced through the southern Netherlands and Belgium, engaging in fierce fighting around Turnhout, the Albert Canal, Mechelen, Ghent, and Furnes near Dunkirk, then served in occupation duties in Belgium and near Paris. Transferred back to Poland in late 1940 (where it contributed cadres to other divisions), it joined Operation Barbarossa in June 1941 with Army Group South and XVII Corps, advancing through Volhynia and Ukraine to participate in the massive encirclement Battle of Kiev; it later transferred to Army Group Center for rear-area security near Bryansk, defensive actions during the Soviet winter counteroffensive, and attritional fighting around Orel. The division endured heavy combat in the Battle of Moscow and especially at Kursk in 1943, suffering severe losses that led to its dissolution in late 1943, with remnants forming Corps Detachment D (which was largely destroyed west of Vitebsk during the Soviet Operation Bagration in June 1944). Reformed in East Prussia on 10 September 1944 under Generalleutnant Edmund Blaurock from Korps-Abteilung D, the division fought desperate defensive battles in the East Prussian Offensive starting January 1945, including actions around the Willuhner See, Insterburg, and Wehlau, before being encircled and largely annihilated in the Heiligenbeil Pocket in March 1945; only about 250 men escaped westward, with the staff helping form the Ulrich von Hutten Division for the final battles like Halbe. Its commanders included figures such as Karl Kriebel, Paul von Hase (later executed for involvement in the 20 July plot), Karl von Oven, and others, reflecting the division's trajectory from mobile campaigns in the West to the grinding attrition and ultimate destruction on the Eastern Front.

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RITTERKREUZTRÄGER


General der Infanterie Ludwig Wolff (1893-1968), born on 3 April 1893 in Chemnitz in the Kingdom of Saxony and died on 9 November 1968 in Mannheim, was a German army officer whose career extended from the Imperial German Army through the Reichswehr into the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany, where he ultimately rose to command the XXXIII. Armeekorps. Entering military service in 1912 as a one-year volunteer in the Infanterie-Regiment Kronprinz (5. Königlich Sächsisches) Nr. 104, he was commissioned Leutnant in 1913 and served with distinction in the First World War, earning both classes of the Eisernes Kreuz as well as the Ritterkreuz of the Militär-St.-Heinrichs-Orden. Retained in the postwar Reichswehr, he advanced through instructional and command roles, including as commander of Infanterie-Regiment 192 of the 56. Infanterie-Division at the start of the Second World War. During the 1940 invasion of the Low Countries, as Oberst he personally led his regiment in forcing the first crossings of the Schelde and Lys rivers near Nevele with inflatable rafts, an action that proved decisive to the German advance, secured thousands of prisoners, and earned him the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 26 May 1940, the same day he suffered severe facial wounds that cost him an eye and required extensive surgery before his return to duty. Promoted to Generalmajor, he took command of the 22. Infanterie-Division (Luftlande) in late 1941, guiding it through the breakthrough at the Perekop Isthmus onto the Crimea and, in June 1942, achieving the first German penetration to the Severnaya Bay at Sevastopol while storming Fort Stalin on 13 June, feats that brought him the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold in February 1942 and the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz (as the 100th recipient) on 22 June 1942. Later serving as Befehlshaber Mittelnorwegen and commander of the XXXIII. Armeekorps with promotion to General der Infanterie in 1944, followed by staff and inspector positions including oversight of Hungarian formations, Wolff was captured by American forces in May 1945 and released from captivity in June 1947, thereafter living in retirement until his death.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/56th_Infantry_Division_(Wehrmacht)

Ritterkreuzträger of Nachtjagdgeschwader 3 (NJG 3)

Nachtjagdgeschwader 3 (NJG 3) was a Luftwaffe night-fighter wing formed on 29 September 1941 at Stade from the Stab of Zerstörergeschwader 26 and placed initially under the 1. Nachtjagddivision (later the 2. Jagddivision), operating primarily in the defence of the Reich over northern Germany, Denmark and the North Sea approaches with the Geschwaderkennung first L1 and later D5. Its Stab remained based at Stade for most of the war under successive Kommodore Major Johann Schalk (until 1 August 1943), Oberst Helmut Lent (1 August 1943 until his death on 7 October 1944) and finally Oberst Günther Radusch (from 12 November 1944), while its four Gruppen were raised from various Zerstörer and night-fighter elements: I. Gruppe (formed earlier as V.(Z)/Lehrgeschwader 1 at Vechta in October 1940) flew mainly from Vechta, Schleswig and Grove; II. Gruppe was established at Schleswig in September 1941; III. Gruppe was created at Stade in November 1941 from II./Zerstörergeschwader 76; and IV. Gruppe was formed at Grove in November 1942, later exchanging designations with elements of Nachtjagdgeschwader 2. Initially equipped with Messerschmitt Bf 110s (and some Dornier Do 217s from mid-1942), the wing progressively converted to Junkers Ju 88C night fighters from mid-1943 and Ju 88G models from mid-1944, with limited use of the Heinkel He 219, conducting both defensive night interceptions against RAF Bomber Command raids and occasional day operations; detachments operated briefly in the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Smolensk area early in the war, while later bases included Plantlünne, Gütersloh, Westerland, Jever and various Danish airfields such as Grove (Karup), Kastrup and Skrydstrup. Pilots of NJG 3 claimed approximately 820 aerial victories by day and night before the unit was progressively reduced in strength in early 1945, with several Staffeln disbanded or redesignated by late March, remaining operational until the German surrender on 8 May 1945; two of its aircraft—a Bf 110 G-4 and a Ju 88 R-1—survive today at the RAF Museum in London.

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BRILLANTENTRÄGER


Oberst Helmut Lent (1918-1944) was born on 13 June 1918 in Pyrehne, Landsberg an der Warthe, into a devoutly Lutheran family as the fifth child of a minister; after primary schooling and private tutoring he passed his Abitur in December 1935, completed Reichsarbeitsdienst, and against his father’s wishes entered the Luftwaffe as a Fahnenjunker on 1 April 1936, training at Luftkriegsschule 2 Gatow where he earned his wings and was commissioned Leutnant on 1 March 1938 before converting to the Messerschmitt Bf 110 with I./Zerstörergeschwader 76. He claimed his first victories during the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and further successes over the North Sea, including two confirmed Wellingtons in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight on 18 December 1939, then flew ground-support missions during the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940, force-landing at Fornebu after engine damage while helping secure the airfield. Transferred to the newly formed Nachtjagdgeschwader 1, he scored his first nocturnal victory on 12 May 1941 and, as Staffelkapitän of 6./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 with 8 day and 14 night victories, received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 30 August 1941. Promoted Hauptmann and appointed Kommandeur of II./Nachtjagdgeschwader 2, he continued to accumulate night victories against RAF bombers and was awarded the Eichenlaub on 6 June 1942 after 35 nocturnal kills; later as Kommandeur of IV./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 he received the Schwerter on 2 August 1943 after 66 night victories. On the night of 15–16 June 1944, by then Oberstleutnant and Geschwaderkommodore of Nachtjagdgeschwader 3, he became the first night-fighter pilot to claim his 100th nocturnal victory, for which he was awarded the Brillanten on 31 July 1944; overall he was credited with 110 aerial victories (102 at night, including 61 four-engined bombers) in 507 sorties. On 5 October 1944, while flying a Junkers Ju 88 on a routine transit flight from Stade to Nordborchen near Paderborn, an engine failed on approach and the aircraft struck power lines; Lent succumbed to his injuries two days later on 7 October 1944 and was posthumously promoted to Oberst.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachtjagdgeschwader_3

Ritterkreuzträger of Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 (NJG 2)

Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 (NJG 2) was a Luftwaffe night-fighter and night-intruder wing active from 1 September 1940 until 5 May 1945, formed initially when I./NJG 2 was created at Gilze-Rijen from elements of II./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 and other Zerstörer units, with Stab/NJG 2 established only on 1 November 1941 under Oberstleutnant Karl Hülshoff; uniquely among early night-fighter formations, I./NJG 2 specialised in long-range Fernnachtjagd intruder missions over Britain, operating modified Junkers Ju 88C and Dornier Do 17Z/Do 215 aircraft that could carry bombs as well as forward-firing armament, flying from bases in the Netherlands to intercept RAF bombers taking off or returning to their airfields in eastern England, claiming around 143 victories (with roughly 90 confirmed RAF losses) between October 1940 and October 1941 before Hitler ordered the cessation of such operations on 12 October 1941 in favour of destroying bombers over German territory. Thereafter the Geschwader expanded with II. and III. Gruppen (subject to several redesignations, including temporary absorption into NJG 1 and later re-formations from NJG 6 and NJG 7 elements), shifting to conventional Himmelbett and later free-lance night-fighting under the Kammhuber Line while also deploying detachments to the Mediterranean—Sicily, North Africa and Crete—from late 1941 onward for defence of Axis shipping and airfields; equipped primarily with Ju 88C/G variants (later also Bf 110, Do 217 and briefly the Ju 388J), NJG 2 claimed approximately 800 aerial victories overall, producing notable aces such as Paul Semrau, Heinz Strüning and Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, and in July 1944 one of its Ju 88G-1s accidentally landed intact at RAF Woodbridge, giving the Allies their first detailed examination of the Lichtenstein SN-2 radar and Flensburg detector. In the final months the wing defended the Ruhr and other industrial regions from bases in western Germany, receiving limited numbers of the advanced Ju 388 before fuel shortages and overwhelming Allied air superiority ended operations in May 1945.

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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER


Oberst Helmut Lent (1918-1944) was born on 13 June 1918 in Pyrehne, Landsberg an der Warthe, into a devoutly Lutheran family as the fifth child of a minister; after primary schooling and private tutoring he passed his Abitur in December 1935, completed Reichsarbeitsdienst, and against his father’s wishes entered the Luftwaffe as a Fahnenjunker on 1 April 1936, training at Luftkriegsschule 2 Gatow where he earned his wings and was commissioned Leutnant on 1 March 1938 before converting to the Messerschmitt Bf 110 with I./Zerstörergeschwader 76. He claimed his first victories during the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and further successes over the North Sea, including two confirmed Wellingtons in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight on 18 December 1939, then flew ground-support missions during the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940, force-landing at Fornebu after engine damage while helping secure the airfield. Transferred to the newly formed Nachtjagdgeschwader 1, he scored his first nocturnal victory on 12 May 1941 and, as Staffelkapitän of 6./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 with 8 day and 14 night victories, received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 30 August 1941. Promoted Hauptmann and appointed Kommandeur of II./Nachtjagdgeschwader 2, he continued to accumulate night victories against RAF bombers and was awarded the Eichenlaub on 6 June 1942 after 35 nocturnal kills; later as Kommandeur of IV./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 he received the Schwerter on 2 August 1943 after 66 night victories. On the night of 15–16 June 1944, by then Oberstleutnant and Geschwaderkommodore of Nachtjagdgeschwader 3, he became the first night-fighter pilot to claim his 100th nocturnal victory, for which he was awarded the Brillanten on 31 July 1944; overall he was credited with 110 aerial victories (102 at night, including 61 four-engined bombers) in 507 sorties. On 5 October 1944, while flying a Junkers Ju 88 on a routine transit flight from Stade to Nordborchen near Paderborn, an engine failed on approach and the aircraft struck power lines; Lent succumbed to his injuries two days later on 7 October 1944 and was posthumously promoted to Oberst.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachtjagdgeschwader_2

Ritterkreuzträger of Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1)

Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1) was the first and most successful German Luftwaffe night-fighter wing of the Second World War, formed on 22 June 1940 at the direction of Hermann Göring under the command of Oberst Wolfgang Falck (who remained Geschwaderkommodore until 30 June 1943) as an air-defence unit for the Defence of the Reich against RAF Bomber Command night raids, initially organised from elements of I./Zerstörergeschwader 1, IV./Zerstörergeschwader 26, IV.(N)/Jagdgeschwader 2 and other Zerstörer units and based primarily at Deelen-Arnhem, Venlo, Düsseldorf, St. Trond, Twente and Leeuwarden; it eventually comprised four Gruppen equipped successively with the Messerschmitt Bf 109, Dornier Do 17, Messerschmitt Bf 110 (its mainstay), Junkers Ju 88, Dornier Do 217 and the advanced Heinkel He 219 Uhu, operating under the evolving Kammhuber Line system of Himmelbett controlled interceptions that combined Freya and Würzburg ground radars, searchlights and, from 1941–42, airborne Lichtenstein radar. Early experimental intercepts in July 1940 yielded the wing’s first claims (including an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley by Werner Streib), and by the end of 1941 pilots such as Streib, Paul Gildner and Helmut Lent had become leading night aces; the wing played a central role in the battles over the Ruhr, Hamburg and Berlin, introducing innovative attack tactics (notably Ludwig Becker’s underside approach) and producing the highest-scoring night-fighter pilot in history, Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer (121 victories), who later commanded IV./NJG 1. Command passed to Oberst Werner Streib in July 1943 and then to Oberstleutnant Hans-Joachim Jabs in March 1944; despite mounting losses from improved Allied electronic countermeasures, Mosquito night fighters and overwhelming numbers, NJG 1 claimed approximately 2,311 victories by day and night for the loss of some 676 aircrew killed, remaining operational until the final collapse in May 1945 when its remnants withdrew to Husum and other northern bases before the German surrender on 8 May.

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SCHWERTERTRÄGER


Oberst Helmut Lent (1918-1944) was born on 13 June 1918 in Pyrehne, Landsberg an der Warthe, into a devoutly Lutheran family as the fifth child of a minister; after primary schooling and private tutoring he passed his Abitur in December 1935, completed Reichsarbeitsdienst, and against his father’s wishes entered the Luftwaffe as a Fahnenjunker on 1 April 1936, training at Luftkriegsschule 2 Gatow where he earned his wings and was commissioned Leutnant on 1 March 1938 before converting to the Messerschmitt Bf 110 with I./Zerstörergeschwader 76. He claimed his first victories during the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and further successes over the North Sea, including two confirmed Wellingtons in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight on 18 December 1939, then flew ground-support missions during the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940, force-landing at Fornebu after engine damage while helping secure the airfield. Transferred to the newly formed Nachtjagdgeschwader 1, he scored his first nocturnal victory on 12 May 1941 and, as Staffelkapitän of 6./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 with 8 day and 14 night victories, received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 30 August 1941. Promoted Hauptmann and appointed Kommandeur of II./Nachtjagdgeschwader 2, he continued to accumulate night victories against RAF bombers and was awarded the Eichenlaub on 6 June 1942 after 35 nocturnal kills; later as Kommandeur of IV./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 he received the Schwerter on 2 August 1943 after 66 night victories. On the night of 15–16 June 1944, by then Oberstleutnant and Geschwaderkommodore of Nachtjagdgeschwader 3, he became the first night-fighter pilot to claim his 100th nocturnal victory, for which he was awarded the Brillanten on 31 July 1944; overall he was credited with 110 aerial victories (102 at night, including 61 four-engined bombers) in 507 sorties. On 5 October 1944, while flying a Junkers Ju 88 on a routine transit flight from Stade to Nordborchen near Paderborn, an engine failed on approach and the aircraft struck power lines; Lent succumbed to his injuries two days later on 7 October 1944 and was posthumously promoted to Oberst.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachtjagdgeschwader_1