Hubert Brinkforth
Date of Birth: 15.04.1916 - Marl, Westfalen (German Empire)
Date of Death: 05.06.1942 - Pogotsje, near Leningrad (Soviet Union)
Buried: Deutsche Kriegsgräberstätte Sologubovka, Plot: 4. Row: 12. Grave: 1184
Battles and Operations: Invasion of Poland (1939), Westfeldzug (1940), Operation Barbarossa (1941), Battle of Białystok–Minsk (1941), Battle of Smolensk (1941), and Siege of Leningrad (1941-1942)
Promotions:
27.05.1940 Gefreiter
01.03.1941 Obergefreiter
01.07.1941 Unteroffizier
Career:
14.11.1938 Richtschütze in 14.Kompanie / Infanterie-Regiment 25 / 2.Infanterie-Division (mot.)
00.01.1941 5.Kompanie (schwere) / Schützen-Regiment 25 / 12.Panzer-Division
01.08.1941 wounded in the left arm by a mortar grenade near Smolensk
00.00.1941 Infanterie-Panzerjäger-Ersatz-Kompanie 2 (mot.) nach Stettin-Krekow
24.11.1941 transferred back to Schützen-Regiment 25 / 12.Panzer-Division
Awards and Decorations:
00.00.193_ SA-Sportabzeichen
00.00.1939 Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938
00.00.19__ Allgemeines-Sturmabzeichen
27.05.1940 Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse
27.05.1940 Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse
28.05.1940 Mentioned in Wehrmachtbericht: "An der Südfront wurden einzelne mit Panzern geführte feindliche Angriffe an der unteren Somme abgewiesen. Dabei wurden dreißig feindliche Panzer vernichtet, allein neun hiervon durch den Schützen Brinkforth" (On the southern front, single enemy attacks with tanks were repulsed on the lower Somme. Here thirty enemy tanks were destroyed, nine of which by the private Brinkforth.)
07.03.1941 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, as Gefreiter and Richtschütze in 14.Kompanie (Panzerjäger) / III.Bataillon / Infanterie-Regiment 25 (motorisiert) / 2.Infanterie-Division (motorisiert). The following wartime excerpt describes why Brinkforth was awarded the Ritterkreuz: “On the 27.05.1940 Gefreiter Brinkforth, the gunner of a Pak gun, shot up a deeply echeloned English tank formation during the defensive fighting near Abbeville. He did this from a forward position 6 km in front of the main battle line along the southern edge of the village of Huppy, one of the most important points of the bridgehead. By allowing the enemy armour to approach within a range of 100 metres he destroyed 11 tanks within 20 minutes despite the heavy cannon and machine gun fire that plastered his own position. This exemplary behaviour also inspired the Pak crews near Gefreiter Brinkforth to give their utmost in this battle, and the result was that the strong English attack was defeated.” It should be noted that, after the war, the former gun commander Unteroffizier Nickstat wrote that 2 of these 11 tanks were destroyed by another gun from the Kompanie.
00.08.1941 Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz
00.00.1942 Medaille "Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42" (Ostmedaille)
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Hubert Brinkforth was born on April 15, 1916 in Marl in Westphalia and joined the 14th (anti-tank) company of the 25th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division (motorized) on November 14th, 1938. With his company he took part in the Polish and Western campaigns.
During the regiment's heavy defensive battles in the Abbeville area, the gun, on which Brinkforth was used as a gunner, was tasked with taking up an important position six kilometers in front of the main battle line in an advanced position to secure the bridgehead and to actively intervene in the defensive battles. The gun and especially the gunner Brinkforth managed to repel a British tank attack on the southern edge of the village of Huppy on May 27, 1940. In just 20 minutes he managed to shoot down 11 tanks. He even allowed some of them to come within 100 meters and defied the cannon and machine gun fire. Through his behavior he also encouraged the other anti-tank operators in the area to hold out, which meant that the attack could be repelled.
For this act he was promoted to private and received the EK II, at the same time he was submitted for the Knight's Cross by the then Generalleutnant Erich von Manstein.
On March 7, 1941, he was the first soldier from the enlisted rank to be awarded the Knight's Cross. He received this award as a private anti-tank rifleman in the 14th (anti-tank) company of the 25th Infantry Regiment, which at the time of the award was already part of the 12th Panzer Division as the 25th Rifle Regiment.
The then gun commander Horst Nickstat stated after the war that two of the 11 tanks were shot down by another gun in the company. However, corresponding evidence is lacking.
Brinkforth is mentioned for his success in the Wehrmacht report on May 28, 1940:
"On the southern front, individual tank-led enemy attacks on the lower Somme were repelled. Thirty enemy tanks were destroyed, nine of them by Schützen Brinkforth [...]"
After the end of the Western campaign, the Infantry Regiment 25 (motorized) was renamed Schützen-Regiment 25 on January 10, 1941, with Brinkforth, who was not yet a Knight's Cross recipient at that time, being transferred to the 5th (heavy) company of the regiment. According to the report, he took over the position of gun commander in the company's anti-tank platoon.
On April 1, 1941, he was presented with the Knight's Cross by the division commander, Lieutenant General Harpe, at the Tucheler Heide military training area. He then had to personally report to the Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht, Hitler, at the Reich Chancellery on April 4, 1941.
At the start of the Eastern campaign, Brinkforth was back in action and was wounded in the left arm by a mortar grenade near Smolensk on August 1, 1941. He is then first transferred to the reserve hospital III in Königsberg-Marlaufenhof and then to the reserve hospital Gelsenkirchen-Buer in the Marienhospital there. Having recovered, he was sent to the Infantry Tank Hunter Replacement Company 2 (motorized) in Stettin-Krekow and was transferred back to the 12th Panzer Division on November 24, 1941. With the report of December 16, 1941, he was again a member of the 5th (heavy) company and took part in the heavy defensive battles of the winter of 1941/42.
During the fighting in the summer of 1942, Hubert Brinkforth, a non-commissioned officer, fell to a direct artillery hit south of Pogostje am Wolchow.
The burial took place on June 8, 1942 at the Ivanowskoye military cemetery, south of Shapki. Hubert Brinkforth rests today at the war cemetery in Sologubowka-St.Petersburg - final grave location: Block 4 Row 12 Grave 1184.
Ritterkreuz award ceremony for Obergefreiter Hubert Brinkforth
(anti-tank commander in 5.Kompanie / Schützen-Regiment 25 /
12.Panzer-Division) which were held on 1 April 1941 at the Tucheler
Heide Truppenübungsplatz, northern Poland. From left to right: Oberst
Werner Hühner (Kommandeur Schützen-Regiment 25), Obergefreiter
Brinkforth, and Generalmajor Josef Harpe (Kommandeur 12.
Panzer-Division). Other pictures from this ceremony can be seen HERE.
The
picture was taken on 2 April 1941 during propaganda tour in the
homeland. Original caption: "Das Ritterkreuz für einen Gefreiten. Der
Führer und Oberste Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht verlich auf vorschlag des
Oberbefehlshabers des Heeres, Generalfeldmarschall von Brauchitsch, des
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes and den Gefreiten Hubert Brinkforth,
Richtschütze in einem Infanterieregiment. Gefreiter Brinkforth der am
15. April sein 25. lebensjahr vollender vernichtete mit seinem geschütz
bei Abbeville innerhalb 20 minuten 11 Englische Panzer, die er trotz
heftigen feuers bis auf 100 meter entfernung herankommen liess und dann
abschoss." (The Knight's Cross for a private. The leader and Supreme
Commander of the Wehrmacht, at the suggestion of the Commander-in-Chief
of the Army, Field Marshal von Brauchitsch, awarded the Knight's Cross
of the Iron Crosses to Private Hubert Brinkforth, gunner in an infantry
regiment. Private Brinkforth, who turned 25 on April 15th, destroyed 11
English tanks with his gun near Abbeville within 20 minutes. Despite
heavy fire, he allowed them to come up to a distance of 100 meters and
then shot them down.)
Obergefreiter Hubert Brinkforth in a picture taken on 2 April 1941 during propaganda tour in the
homeland.
Obergefreiter Hubert Brinkforth in a picture taken on 2 April 1941 during propaganda tour in the
homeland.
Obergefreiter
Hubert Brinkforth (center), the first soldier from the enlisted rank to
be awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, during a visit in the
Druckhaus Tempelhof of the Deutscher Verlag, 3 April 1941. The picture
was taken by photographer Erich Engel and first published by 'Berliner
Volkszeitung' on 4 April 1941. Other pictures from this tour can be seen HERE.
Ritterkreuzträger
Hubert Brinkforth received by Italian Ambassador Edoardo “Dino” Alfieri
in the Italian embassy in Berlin-Tiergarten, which located at Standartenstraße 9, 4
April 1941. From left to right: Generale di brigata Efisio Marras
(Italian military attaché in Berlin), Obergefreiter Hubert Brinkforth
(anti-tank gun commander in 5.Kompanie / Schützen-Regiment 25 /
12.Panzer-Division), Ambassador Alfieri, Oberst Hasso von Wedel (Leiter
der Abteilung für Wehrmachtspropaganda im OKW), and unknown Wehrmacht
officer. The picture is a part of Heinrich Hoffmann Archive. Other images from this occasion can be seen HERE.
Obergefreiter Hubert Brinkforth in Hoffmann postcard series Nr. R7. This propaganda postcard was published by 'Photo-Hoffmann' in München and measures approximately 15 x 10,5 cms. Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler's personal photographer, made various series when publishing his photo's as postcards. Perhaps the most popular is the R serie with Knight's Cross holders where the 'R' stands for 'Ritterkreuzträger'. All the series with a letter as prefix are more or less known. But Hoffmann published also a serie (apart from 1501 to 1599) with no prefix running from number 1 to 1200. I will call it the 'main serie' and it is at the same time the most difficult serie to complete. Although all the postcards are from Hoffmann they have different publisher names and places (Münich or Berlin): Photo-Hoffmann, Verlag Heinrich Hoffmann, Presse Illustrationen Hoffmann. The serie consist not only postcards but also poster and folders with series of postcards.
Studio portrait of Hubert Brinkforth.
"First German soldier to receive the Ritterkreuz, 1941". Obergefreiter Hubert Brinkforth posed for the camera after receiving the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes. The picture was taken by Hanns Hubmann and first published in SIGNAL, June 1941 edition. Signal was a magazine published by the German Third Reich from 1940 through 1945.
Obergefreiter Hubert Brinkforth in "Soldiers of the Reich" series by Wolfgang Willrich. It contains forty-eight black-and-white and color drawings of the German soldiers, distinguished themselves in the campaigns of 1940 in Western Europe, by Nazi artist Wolfgang Willrich (31 March 1897 – 18 October 1948). In 1933, Willrich was employed by the Nazi government, for which he drew art depicting idealized racial standards and portraits of soldiers and party officials.
Obergefreiter Hubert Brinkforth in Verlag August Gunkel postcard series. This series of postcards from Verlag August Gunkel features soldiers that were awarded the prestigious Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, the highest award in the German Armed Forces. The award was available to all members of the armed forces and related militias and could be won by anyone from a private to a fieldmarchall. The medal was initiated on 1st Sep 1939 with the invasion of Poland. Apart from the basic medal there were other variations that were bestowed which consisted of oak leaves, crosses, swords and diamonds. A total of 7,000 awards were made. A series of short books published by ‘Aufwarts Verlag’ Berlin NW7, was also produced that gave a little more detail of the medal winner. The books sold for 30Pf each and there was also a special wallchart that depicted some of the winners.
Ritterkreuzträger Unteroffizier Hubert Brinkforth (anti-tank gun commander in 5.Kompanie / Schützen-Regiment 25 / 12.Panzer-Division) during forward march to Minsk, as a part of German offensive in the Soviet Union - better known as Unternehmen Barbarossa - summer 1941. The picture was taken by Kriegsberichter Evers and first published on 23 July 1941.
The funeral of Hubert Brinkforth, the first enlisted soldier to receive the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes. During the fighting in the summer of 1942, Hubert Brinkforth, a non-commissioned officer in Schützen-Regiment 25 / 12.Panzer-Division, fell to a direct artillery hit south of Pogostje am Wolchow on 5 June 1942. The burial took place on 8 June 1942 at the Ivanovskoye military cemetery, south of Shapki. Brinkforth rests today at the war cemetery in Sologubovka-St.Petersburg - final grave location: Block 4 Row 12 Grave 1184.
The grave of Hubert Brinkforth in wartime.
Source :
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek photo archive
https://www.alamy.com/private-hubert-brinkforth-right-after-the-awarding-of-the-knights-cross-to-the-iron-cross-his-battalion-commander-freiherr-von-hardenberg-is-on-the-left-brinkforth-was-the-first-member-of-the-team-who-was-awarded-the-knights-cross-image247144558.html?imageid=8B6C6F70-D121-43F6-B46D-3906E8A95C4F&p=291611&pn=1&searchId=c59bb6d5de35dcb7a5286c8849d49aa0&searchtype=0
https://www.allworldwars.com/Soldiers-of-the-Reich-by-Wolf-Willrich.html
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http://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Brinkforth,_Hubert
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https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=230843
https://www.forosegundaguerra.com/viewtopic.php?t=21505
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http://pantorijn.blogspot.com/2014/06/hoffmann-postcards-knight-cross-holders.html?m=0
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https://web.archive.org/web/20110105215722fw_/http://ritterkreuztraeger-1939-45.de/Infanterie/B/Br/Brinkforth-Hubert.htm
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