Oberst Hans-Georg Brandt, Stalingrad Ritterkreuzträger

Oberst Hans-Georg Brandt (4 November 1903 - 4 January 1943) had commanded his battalion in Grenadier-Regiment 577 from the first day of its creation. In fact, it is probably correct to say he even commanded it before that because he led III./Infanterie-Regiment 520, the unit which was transferred en masse on 4 December 1940 to form II./Infanterie-Regiment 577. When regiment commander Oberst Max Voigt was transferred home at the end of September 1942 due to heart problems, Major Brandt took over as Regimentsführer and led the regiment in an exemplary manner. The fighting in Stalingrad-North had been a severe test but his superiors were impressed by his performance and he received a promotion to Oberstleutnant in November 1942. Brandt cared deeply for his men. One example will suffice. On 2 July, Gefreiter Franz Winter, a messenger on the staff of 6. Kompanie in Brandt’s II. Battalion, witnessed a shocking event during a Soviet tank attack that would ultimately demonstrate how Brandt felt about his men: "We had a good view over the battlefield from our elevated position. What we saw happening there caused the blood to freeze in our veins: to the left of us, in the hollow of a valley, the third platoon of our fifth company was attacked. We saw how they surrendered and ran towards the tanks with their hands above their heads. These monsters circled around our comrades, opened fire and pulped them under their tracks". Winter’s unit was ordered to fall back and the situation gradually eased. It was then that Winter and his comrades saw Major Brandt: "Sitting in a roadside ditch, surrounded by officers, was our battalion commander, a beaten man. I had never seen a German officer in such a state. A person who was otherwise seen by us ordinary soldiers to be head and shoulders above us, in appearance and conduct, now sat there and we could see that he was also only a human, like us, how he was depressed and tormented by anxiety. He had observed the tragedy down below through binoculars. He probably also felt responsible for it."

Source :

"Island Of Fire: The Battle For the Barrikady Gun Factory In Stalingrad November 1942 - February 1943" by Jason D. Mark