Bio of Oberfeldwebel Heinz Bevernis (1914-1942)

Heinz Bevernis

Date of Birth: 11.12.1914 - Stralsund, Pommern (German Empire)
Date of Death: 19.07.1942 - Staraya Russa, Novgorod Oblast (Soviet Union)
Buried: Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof Solzy (Soviet Union)

Promotions:
00.00.194_ Oberfeldwebel

Career:
00.00.194_ Bordschütze in 7.Staffel / III.Gruppe / Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 (StG 1)

Awards and Decorations:
00.00.19__ Flugzeugführerabzeichen
00.00.19__ Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse
00.00.19__ Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse
24.11.1941 Luftwaffe Ehrenpokale für besondere Leistungen im Luftkrieg
00.00.194_ Frontflugspange für Kampfflieger in Gold
11.05.1942 Deutsches Kreuz in Gold
19.09.1942 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (posthumously), as Oberfeldwebel and Bordschütze in 7.Staffel / III.Gruppe / Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 (StG 1). Awarded in recognition of his contribution to the successes of pilot and Ritterkreuzträger Hauptmann Hartmut Schairer over the course of 562 sorties. He was the first wireless-operator/gunner of the entire Stuka arm to be so honoured.

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Heinz Bevernis (December 11, 1914 in Stralsund; died July 19, 1942 near Staraya Russa in Russia) took part in hundreds of enemy flights over France (1940 Western Campaign), England (Operation Eagle Attack), Crete (Operation Mercury), Malta, North Africa (Operation Africa) and the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa). From July 1940 he was Hartmut Schairer's on-board radio operator/gunner.

On July 19, 1942, while the Battle of Demyansk was raging, Schairer's squadron had to engage in dive combat against advancing Soviet tanks, which they succeeded in doing. The Russians retreated. As squadron commander, it was his job to inspect the battlefield and the aftermath of the attack afterwards, which he did at low altitude. His Ju 87 D-1 (factory no. 2360) was hit by enemy anti-aircraft guns south-southeast of Lake Ilmen. The burning machine fell Staraya Russa (Novgorod region) inexorably towards the earth.

Captain Schairer and his faithful radio operator/gunner Oberfeldwebel Heinz Bevernis fell as they flew – together for Germany. Heinz' younger brother Bruno Bevernis (October 29, 1919 in Sralsund) died just two days later on July 21, 1942 as a private on the eastern front near Samoschje.

On September 19, 1942, Bevernis was the first shipboard radio operator/gunner to be awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes posthumously in World War II.

Hauptmann Hartmut Schairer and his trusted gunner Oberfeldwebel Heinz Bevernis in the cockpit of a Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka", May-July 1942. The picture was taken by Kriegsberichter Helmut Grosse of KBK Lw 5 (Kriegsberichter-Kompanie Luftwaffe 5).

Source :
"Memoirs of a Stuka Pilot" by Helmut Mahlke
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?p=1314999#p1314999
https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Bevernis,_Heinz
https://www.feldgrau.com/ww2-german-stuka-assault-pilot-knights-cross-holders/
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/21968/Bevernis-Heinz.htm