Bio of Leutnant Heinz Rafoth (1923- ? )

Heinz Rafoth

Date of Birth: 06.01.1923 - Putzar, Pommern (Germany)
Date of Death: still alive as of 06.01.2024 (101 years old!)

Battles and Operations: Operation Barbarossa (1941), Battle of the Demyansk Pocket (1942-1943), Battle of Staraya Russa (1943), Battle of Nevel (1943), Defensive Battle of Vitebsk (1943-1944), Western Front (1945)

Promotions:
01.06.1944 Fahnenjunker-Feldwebel
01.08.1944 Leutnant
04.05.1956 Hauptmann (Bundeswehr)
00.00.1961 Major (Bundeswehr)
00.00.1966 Oberstleutnant (Bundeswehr)
00.00.1973 Oberst im Generalstab (Bundeswehr)

Career:
00.10.1940 drafted into the army for military service
00.06.1941 served in 3.Kompanie / Infanterie-Regiment 48 / 12.Infanterie-Division
00.10.1941 wounded for the first time
01.09.1942 Gruppenführer in 3.Kompanie / Infanterie-Regiment 48 / 12.Infanterie-Division
00.03.1944 wounded for the third time
00.03.1944 transferred to the Thorn Fahnjunker School for officer training
00.00.1944 leading a field gendarmerie squad
00.01.1945 Führer 2.Kompanie / Grenadier-Regiment 48 / 12.Volksgrenadier-Division
04.05.1956 - 31.03.1982 served in the Bundeswehr

Awards and Decorations:
26.07.1942 Medaille "Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42" (Ostmedaille)
28.02.1943 Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse
07.05.1943 Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen
22.01.1944 Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse
00.01.1944 Nahkampfspange in Bronze (for 15 days of close-combat battle)
29.02.1944 Verwundetenabzeichen in Silber
20.04.1945 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, as Leutnant and Führer 2.Kompanie / I.Bataillon / Grenadier-Regiment 48 / 12.Volksgrenadier-Division. Rafoth’s Ritterkreuz recommendation reads as follows: “On the 03.03.1945 Leutnant Rafoth fought to cover the ordered breakout of the remnants of the I./Grenadier-Regiment 48 in an action that primarily featured bitter urban combat. He did this from a position at the southeastern entrance of Blessem with a 20-man strong Kampfgruppe (consisting of stragglers and supply troops) which he had just been placed in command of. During this defensive battle he observed how 2 reinforced enemy bicycle companies (supported by 2 tanks) sought to reach the Erft river along the road Lechenich—Liblar. Leutnant Rafoth thus decided to disengage from his battle at Blessem, and he fought through enemy occupied territory up to the village of Liblar. From here, fighting at the head of his men, he threw back those American attacking spearheads that had already reached the undamaged railway bridges via the Kölner und Brühler roads (located northeast of Liblar). Here he held both bridges for two hours against a much larger attacking force until the remnants of the I./Grenadier-Regiment 48 arrived as reinforcements. This bold and decisive action by Leutnant Rafoth and his small Kampfgruppe prevented the enemy from capturing these two undamaged bridges. This in turn prevented the further advance of the Americans beyond the Division’s incomplete frontline and in the direction of Cologne.” To this was added an insightful comment by the commander of the LVIII. Panzerkorps: “Leutnant Rafoth’s independent action to hold 2 bridges enabled the successful withdrawal movement by elements of the I./Grenadier-Regiment 48. His brave conduct had a major impact on the combat situation of his Division. I am emphatically in favour of the award of the Ritterkreuz.”

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Heinz Rafoth (born January 6, 1923 in Putzar) is a German retired Oberst (Colonel) of the Bundeswehr. He was an employee of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) with the code name "Dr. Raster" and, along with Hugo Broch, is one of the last two living recipients of the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross).

Rafoth was born on January 6, 1923 in Putzar, south of Anklam, in what is now Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the son of a forester. In October 1940 he was drafted into the army for military service. At the beginning of the war against the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Rafoth was a private in the 3rd Company / Infantry Regiment 48 / 12th Infantry Division. His division experienced the advance battles in the northern sector of the new Eastern Front. Rafoth was wounded for the first time in October 1941. Returning to his unit, he experienced the difficult winter fighting of 1941/42. The 12th ID was one of the units that were trapped in the Demyansk pocket. The encirclement area was held by air supply and opened by a relief attack at the end of April 1942. The fighting on the former pocket fronts continued for another year. Rafoth was appointed ensign non-commissioned officer and group leader in his company on September 1, 1942. In February 1943 he was awarded the EK II.

After the evacuation of the former Demyansk pocket in the spring of 1943, the 12th ID fought at Staraya Russa, from autumn 1943 in the Nevel area and from the end of December 1943 in the defensive battles near Vitebsk. Here Rafoth earned the EK I in January 1944. He was also awarded the bronze close combat clasp after a total of at least 15 days of close combat. After a third wound in March 1944, Rafoth was transferred to the Thorn Fahnjunker School for officer training and later commanded to Posen. This was followed by promotions to Fahnenjunker-Feldwebel (cadet sergeant) with effect from June 1, 1944 and to Leutnant (lieutenant) on August 1, 1944.

After leading a field gendarmerie squad, Lieutenant Rafoth returned to his old division in January 1945, although it no longer existed. The old 12th Infantry Division was destroyed in the east near Mogilev after the start of the Soviet summer offensive against Army Group Mitte at the end of June 1944. From the beginning of August 1944, the division was reorganized as the 12th Volksgrenadier Division and since October 1944 it has been in action on the Western Front. When Lieutenant Rafoth came to the 12th VGD, it only had a combat strength of 300 men in mid-January 1945 due to the previous fighting. The division was therefore pulled out and refreshed. Afterwards - brought back to a combat strength of 3,600 men - the 12th VGD took over a section of the front on both sides of Düren. After heavy fighting, this city was lost at the end of February 1945. The division's infantry strength fell back to 600 men. The front was withdrawn to the Erft position, although there could hardly be any talk of a coherent front. At the beginning of March 1945, the 1st Battalion of the 48th Grenadier Regiment in Blessem was surrounded by the enemy. This included Lieutenant Rafoth, who officially led the 2nd company of the GR 48 / 12th VGD. On March 3, 1945, to cover the ordered breakout of the remnants of his battalion, he stood at the southeastern exit of Blessem with a 20-man combat group consisting of stragglers and supply troops, whose leadership he had just taken over. During the fighting that day, Rafoth observed how two strong enemy companies, supported by 2 tanks, tried to reach the Erft along the Lechenich - Liblar road. He therefore decided to withdraw from his assigned position on the edge of Blessem and fought his way through enemy-held territory to the village of Liblar. From here, fighting at the head of his men, he threw back the American attack spearheads, who had already reached the undamaged railway bridges via Kölner and Brühler Strasse (northeast of Liblar). Rafoth held these two bridges against a much stronger enemy for two hours, until the remnants of his battalion also fought their way over.

Through his own decision, Lieutenant Rafoth and his small battle group had made it possible for his battalion to retreat. And by holding the two undamaged bridges, the Americans were prevented from advancing even faster towards Cologne through the incomplete front line. This local success did not change the overall situation, but Lieutenant Rafoth's personal bravery was rewarded with the Knight's Cross being awarded to him on April 20, 1945. At this point he and the rest of his division had already gotten into the Ruhr basin, where he was taken prisoner. Since he was seriously wounded again, he had to stay in the hospital until 1946.

After his release, Rafoth completed a degree in agriculture (on the agricultural topic of the integration of refugees into West Germany, supplemented by special studies in two rural communities in Hesse), which then he received the title of Dr. agr. from the University of Giessen in 1952. However, he then became an employee of the new Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Accepted into the Bundeswehr as a captain in 1956, Heinz Rafoth had a second military career with the MAD, the Military Counterintelligence Service. In 1959 he was head of the MAD group in Düsseldorf. In 1961 he was promoted to major. As a retired lieutenant colonel (since 1966) and deputy commander of the MAD group in Bonn, he was mentioned in the media in connection with the Guillaume espionage case in 1974 and in the 1978 wiretapping affair at the Federal Ministry of Defense. For example, the “Spiegel” articles can still be found online today. Rafoth retired as a colonel (since 1973) on March 31, 1982.

When, at the beginning of December 1969, the personal documents of the spy Günter Guillaume, who was later exposed, were received as standard by the security officer of the Chancellery, Ministerial Director Franz Schlichter, he also requested an identity check by the BND. On December 17, 1969, Rafoth, as deputy head of the Bonn office, handed over the BND's findings to Schlichter. The next day, Schlichter called Rafoth to inquire about the quality of the information source. Rafoth forwarded the request to Pullach. After checking, government director Heinz Hagemann documented the reliability of the source. Another day later, Schlichter contacted Rafoth's superior, Brigadier General Klaus Eschenburg, who again sent the request to Pullach. This was processed again by Hagemann and ultimately submitted to Schlichter without a response. Guillaume was able to continue his activities.

Der Spiegel reported on a conversation in the fall of 1977 with the head of the “Investigations in Special Cases” (ES), Ministerial Councilor Fritz-Josef Rath, in his office in Bad Godesberg. The possibility was discussed as to whether German Leopard tanks could have reached Africa via Italy. After the conversation, Rafoth asked whether Rath was aware of the listening system in his room. In 1966, the former head of the ES, Ministerial Councilor Karl-Helmut Schnell, installed a listening system through employees of the MAD. This apparently didn't work as expected, so the BND installed a microphone under the wallpaper. When the recording of conversations without consent was banned a year later, only the MAD system was dismantled, which Rath also knew. The microphone under the wallpaper should still be there, Rafoth told Rath. Both tried to find the microphone, but despite searching intensively, they couldn't find it. It was not until 1976 in the wake of the Starfighter affair and after a routine check in 1970 had failed to find any findings that the microphone was found under the wallpaper. In 1978, after the wiretapping became known, the Neue Berliner Illustrierte called for an investigation against the “espionage expert against the GDR” Rafoth.

From 1978 to March 1982 he was a BND liaison officer in Bonn.

Due to his function he was, among other things, In 1968, he was explicitly named alongside his boss Eschenburg in a secret Department of Defense report, later appeared in US intelligence documents that have since been declassified, and in 1975 he testified as a witness before the committee of inquiry into the Guillaume case, which produced similar information to that in 1969.

Heinz Rafoth is the last living Knight's Cross recipient in the army and the last living Knight's Cross recipient who still served in the Bundeswehr. He can look back on a long and eventful life.

Rafoth lives in Margetshöchheim.

Heinz Rafoth as an officer in the Bundeswehr.

The picture was taken in 2023 on the occasion of his 100th birthday and the portrait shows him with the Ritterkreuz in a Bundeswehr uniform.

Source :
Jiří Štěpánek photo collection
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Rafoth
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1859121501201027&set=a.147720202341174
http://www.kvhwest.com/vetrafoth
https://www.mainpost.de/regional/wuerzburg/margetshoechheimer-heinz-rafoth-feierte-100-geburtstag-art-11011117
https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_living_Knight%27s_Cross_of_the_Iron_Cross_recipients
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/28656/Rafoth-Heinz.htm
https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/german-photographs-postcards/show-your-signed-photos-284539-119/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6jQyMt2iXI