Balthasar "Bobby" Woll
Date of Birth: 01.09.1922 - Wemmetsweiler, Saarland (Germany)
Date of Death: 18.03.1996 - Sennestadt, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany)
Promotions:
00.00.194_ SS-Oberschutze
09.11.1943 SS-Rottenführer
30.01.1944 SS-Unterscharführer
01.10.1944 SS-Oberscharführer
Career:
15.08.1941 Volunteered to the Waffen-SS
00.00.1941 MG-Schütze in 3.Kompanie / SS-Totenkopf-Infanterie-Regiment 1 / SS-Totenkopf-Division
00.00.1943 13.Kompanie (schwere) / SS Panzer-Regiment 1 / 1.SS-Panzer-Division LSSAH
Awards and Decorations:
23.07.1942 Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse
26.07.1942 Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz
26.07.1942 Demjankschild
14.10.1943 Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse
01.01.1944 Panzerkampfabzeichen
16.01.1944 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, as SS-Rottenführer and Richtschütze in 13.Kompanie (schwere) / SS-Panzer-Regiment 1 / 1.SS-Panzer-Division "Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler"
00.00.1944 Verwundetenabzeichen in Silber
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Balthasar Woll was born in September 1922 as the son of the worker Johann Woll in Wemmetsweiler in Saarland. After an apprenticeship as an electrician, he volunteered for the Waffen-SS on August 15, 1941.
After the basic training he went to the eastern front. There he fought as a machine gunner in the 3rd company of the SS Totenkopf Infantry Regiment 1 of the Totenkopf Division. In the Demyansk pocket he was severely wounded for the first time and sent to the hospital at home.
After his recovery he became a tank gunner and joined the Tiger Company of the LSSAH at the end of 1942. As a gunner, SS-Sturmmann Woll was present in all missions, at least since the fighting in the Kursk offensive in Operation "Zitadelle" he was considered one of the best gunners in the Tiger I.
During the winter fighting from November 1943, SS Rottenfuhrer Woll was extremely successful alongside Michael Wittmann. While the driver, loader and radio operator change frequently, the commander stays with the gunner whenever possible, with whom he must be well acquainted - and those two men were them. When Wittmann married his great love Hildegard Burmeister on March 1, 1944, his comrade, crew member and friend Balthasar Woll acted as best man.
On January 16, 1944, SS Rottenfuhrer Balthasar Woll was the first gunner in the Waffen SS to be awarded the Knight's Cross for "proven fearless operational readiness and his 88 tank kills". A press release said the following:
"Ritterkreuz for a successful tank gunner. 80 tanks shot down. SS Rottenfuhrer Balthasar Woll, gunner in an SS Panzer Division, from Wemmetzweiler, district of Ottweiler, shot down 61 tanks in the tank battles around Kharkov, Bjelgorod and in the current winter battles west of Kiev. On January 12th and 13th, 1944 he was again able to launch 16 T 34 and 3 assault guns with his "Tiger". He thus increased his number of kills to 80 tanks. Woll is known as one of the best gunners in his tank regiment.”
After January 30, 1944, Woll received home leave and left the company immediately thereafter to train as a tank commander. With effect from January 30, 1944, he was subsequently promoted to Unterfuhrer and thus to SS-Unterscharführer.
It is not possible to determine an exact time when Balthasar Woll was deployed as a tank commander. However, it can be assumed that April 1944 would be the earliest possible date for the reorganization of the heavy SS Panzer Battalion 101. For this purpose, Wittmann had drawn together all the former 13th Company that he could get for the formation of the new 2nd Company of the department.
The first official mention of Woll as a tank commander comes from a structure of the s.SS.Pz.Abt. 101 as of June 6, 1944, with Woll as the commander of Tiger No. 212, in the 1st Platoon of the 2nd Company under Michael Wittmann. However, Woll does not seem to have driven often as commander:
“Wittmann's gunner that day is Bobby Woll. Bobby Woll, who is a popular comrade and buddy to the men of the 2nd Company, can hardly appear as a tank commander.”
Balthasar Woll had to struggle with his psyche, his health after the injuries was always poor. This was clearly shown on the invasion front west of Caen in mid-June 1944:
“During those days, when Wittmann was still in command of the company, two tank crews were caught in an artillery attack outside their vehicle. In poor cover, the men witness the continuous impact and bursting of shells. Suddenly Woll jumps up and wants to leave his cover. Wittmann just manages to catch him and has to immobilize him with a punch. Due to his old head injury and the severe nervous strain, Woll had freaked out. On the same day he is taken to the hospital and from there he is taken home.”
After his recovery, Woll did not return to the Western Front and was with the headquarters of the heavy SS Panzer Battalion 501 at Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock in north-eastern North Rhine-Westphalia until January/February 1945, where he trained new gunners, drivers and tank commanders. It is not known whether he took part in the Ardennes offensive or returned to the Eastern Front with the Abteilung (start of transfer on January 24, 1945), but it cannot be assumed either.
On the hit list of the most successful tank commanders, Balthasar Woll took 13th place as a gunner and tank commander. More than 100 armored vehicles destroyed are attributed to him, 81 of them as a gunner. By the time he was awarded the Ritterkreuz, his successes also included 107 destroyed anti-tank guns, several destroyed artillery pieces, and the destruction of an enemy position by heavy mortars.
After the war and being a prisoner of war in the US, Woll lived a secluded life, most recently in Bielefeld-Sennestadt. It is known that he was a member of HIAG and took part with his wife in the big meeting in Hamelin in September 1959, when around 16,000 former members of the Waffen SS came together. When Wittmann and the fallen tank crew were transferred to the La Cambe German war cemetery in the spring of 1983 and thus received their final resting place, Woll was one of those who quietly and dignified said goodbye one last time.
Balthasar "Bobby" Woll died on March 18, 1996. Hildegard, Michael Wittman's widow (who had remarried), was among the mourners.
Source :
Jim Haley photo collection
Bundesarchiv photo collection
"Michael Wittmann, erfolgreichster Panzerkommandant im Zweiten Weltkrieg, und die Tiger der Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" by Patrick Agte
http://www.achtungpanzer.com/michael-wittmann.htm
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2010/07/ss-oberscharfuhrer-balthasar-bobby-woll.html
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=balthasar+woll&title=Special:MediaSearch&go=Go&type=image
https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Woll,_Balthasar
https://eoutlet.2023shoponline.com/category?name=bobby%20woll
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=44369
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/34849/Woll-Balthasar-Bobby.htm
https://www.warrelics.eu/google.php?cx=partner-pub-8434277705306939%3Amw1zup-hyt0&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=bobby+woll&sa.x=0&sa.y=0&siteurl=www.warrelics.eu%2Fforum%2Fgerman-photographs-postcards%2Fshow-your-signed-photos-284539-107%2F&ref=www.google.com%2F&ss=1544j277034j10
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