Ritterkreuzträger of 4. Gebirgs-Division

The 4. Gebirgs-Division, also known as the 4th Mountain Division and nicknamed "Enzian" after the gentian flower, was an elite mountain infantry unit of the German Wehrmacht during World War II. Formed in October 1940 at the Heuberg training area from experienced Gebirgsjäger troops, it specialized in high-altitude and rugged-terrain warfare. The division first saw combat in the 1941 Balkans Campaign, advancing swiftly through Yugoslavia as part of XIV Panzer Corps. It then transferred to the Eastern Front with Army Group South during Operation Barbarossa, where it fought intensely in the Caucasus Mountains, the Kuban bridgehead, and the Crimea. As the tide of war turned, the unit conducted a long and brutal fighting retreat across Ukraine, Hungary, and Slovakia under extremely difficult conditions. After marching more than 10,000 kilometers and suffering heavy casualties over five years of continuous combat, the remnants of the 4th Mountain Division finally surrendered to Soviet forces near Olomouc in Czechoslovakia in May 1945.

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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER


Hauptmann Rudolf Schlee (1913-1979) was born on 10 November 1913 in Ludwigshafen and entered service on 5 April 1934 in the 5. Kompanie of Infanterie-Regiment 13 in Ludwigsburg, being promoted to Unteroffizier on 1 June 1936. With his regiment he took part in the Western Campaign and received the Eisernes Kreuz II. and I. Klasse within three months; after the transfer of battalions to form the 4. Gebirgs-Division the unit became Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 13, in which he served as Zugführer of the 6. Kompanie from November 1940. During the advance on Pultowzy on the road to Winniza in 1941, as Oberfeldwebel und Zugführer he led his men with such prudent determination that the capture of the town was accelerated and the heavy weapons positioned on its southern edge were neutralized, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 23 October 1941. He continued to serve with the regiment through southern Russia to the Caucasus and the Kuban bridgehead, distinguishing himself further in the fighting beyond the main Caucasus ridge during the advance on Ssuchum on 26 and 28 August 1942, when his platoon forced the enemy to abandon a vital logistics village, eliminated a flank threat that secured an important supply route, and inflicted heavy losses while capturing weapons. On 29 October 1942 he temporarily assumed command of the 6. Kompanie before Tuapse after its leader was wounded, only to be severely wounded himself the following day by a shell fragment to the neck. For these repeated acts of bravery as Oberfeldwebel und Zugführer in the 6./Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 13 he received the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 6 April 1943 as its 222nd recipient. After recovery and promotion to Leutnant he transferred in August 1943 to the Wach-Bataillon “Großdeutschland,” later rising to Hauptmann, and was captured by Soviet forces near Frankfurt an der Oder on 30 April 1945, remaining a prisoner until 1947; he died in Ludwigshafen on 19 June 1979.

Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Mountain_Division_(Wehrmacht)