Bio of Leutnant Franz Doff (1920-1945)

Franz Doff

Date of Birth: 12.07.1920 - Piding-Bad Reichenhall, Bavaria (German Empire)
Date of Death: 01.04.1945 - Schleinz, Wiener-Neustadt (Ostmark/Austria)
Burial Site: Soldatenfriedhof Blumau, Austria, Plot: 2. Row: 9. Grave: 598.

Promotions:
00.00.1942 Oberjäger
00.00.1944 Leutnant

Career:
00.00.194_ Gruppenführer in 10.Kompanie / Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 98 / 1.Gebirgs-Division

Awards and Decorations:
03.11.1941 Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen
15.03.1942 Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse
05.05.1942 Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse
22.06.1942 Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz
00.00.1942 Medaille "Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42" (Ostmedaille)
20.07.1942 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, as Gefreiter and Gruppenführer in 10.Kompanie / II.Bataillon / Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 98 / 1.Gebirgs-Division

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The Gebirgsjäger (mountaineer) Franz Doff received the Ritterkreuz on July 20, 1942 as a private and group leader in the 10th company in the 2nd Battalion (under Captain and later Eichenlaubträger Harald von Hirschfeld) of the Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 98 for his extraordinary achievements during of the fall blues. He was badly wounded and lost his right ear.

The Ritterkreuz award ceremony took place while he was still a private, in the Reichenhall mountain infantry barracks, since Doff, who had since been released from the hospital, was at home to recover further. After the award, he was promoted to Oberjäger and freed from forced labor. This was followed by studies and speaking assignments (subordination to the Reich Youth Leadership). Doff applied twice to be posted again at the front, but was always rejected. In the autumn of 1944, when the final battle for Germany became apparent, he had been promoted to lieutenant, at least as an instructor at the Fahnenjunkerschule in Wiener Neustadt. At the end of March 1945, the entire school of 1,200 young officer candidates (plus a further 500 scattered SS soldiers and members of the Hitler Youth and the Volkssturm) were sent to the war front under the command of Captain Rudolf Kirchschläger (1915–2000; Austrian Federal President from 1974 to 1986). thrown, the battle for Vienna was imminent, the Russians were getting closer and closer. In the first hours of the battle, around 200 young men fell, hundreds were seriously wounded, just under 180 soldiers came back able to walk, but almost all of them were wounded.

Lieutenant Doff, commander of a tank destroyer, died on April 1, 1945 near Schleinz or Walpersbach in the Neustadt district while attempting to rescue a wounded comrade. First he was buried in a quick war grave, later he was recovered and transferred to the Blumau war cemetery in Lower Austria; Final grave location: block 2, row 9, grave 598.

Source :
Bundesarchiv photo collection
https://www.ca-collecting.com/shop/de/autographen-1933-1945-heer/doff-54243.html
https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Doff,_Franz
https://www.facebook.com/Militaergeschichte18131945/posts/pfbid0QGqUiTcq8uHTo5xxGWK8272WDNABkDDJmeviVqPxnqHRd6oRaBjpCNnRSiM27EB8l
https://imagesdefense.gouv.fr/fr/catalogsearch/result/?q=doff&avec_visuel=1
https://www.marhistorical.com/en/info.php3?session_id=eogn1aqu2b1svrbso7u791678h&orderNo=9068-3200108623
https://reibert.info/threads/1-ja-gorno-strelkovaja-divizija-vermaxta-ehdelvejs-egeri.445525/page-2
http://www.ritterkreuztraeger.info/rk/d.html
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/38359/Doff-Franz.htm
https://waralbum.ru/415475/
https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/cloth-headgear/unreferenced-tr-soft-headgear-610141/