SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Herbert Otto Gille (Kommandeur 5. SS-Panzer-Division "Wiking") awarded the Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse to Waffen-Untersturmführer der SS Hando "Tou" Ruus (16 May 1917 - 31 March 1945) of Bataillon "Narwa". Born Harald-Ferdinand Ruhs, he was a former member of the Estonian military who preferred to escape to the forest rather than join the Red Army shortly after his country was annexed by the Soviet Union. The German invasion of his country's invader was an opportunity for Ruus to join the SS-Freiwilligen Panzergrenadier Bataillon Narwa. He fought bravely in every action his unit undertook, including when he became commander of Battalion "Narwa" after all of the officers above him were killed or wounded! In September 1944 he was captured by the enemy after his battalion was surrounded. Later he was sent to Leningrad and was reportedly executed there on March 31, 1945. With the final rank of Waffen-Hauptsturmführer der SS (August 1944), Ruus was the only Estonian Wehrmacht volunteer to be awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold (December 30, 1944).
Source :
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2014/03/album-foto-herbert-otto-gille.html
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