Ritterkreuzträger of Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 667

Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 667 was formed on 24 June 1942 in Jüterbog by expanding the experienced Sturmgeschütz-Batterie 667 into a full Abteilung with three batteries as a Heerestruppe under Wehrkreis III. After completing its establishment the unit was transported by rail in late July 1942 via Dünaburg and Witebsk to the Wjasma area on the Eastern Front and assigned to Heeresgruppe Mitte. Its first combat deployment occurred with the 5. Panzer-Division at the Chleppen bridgehead, followed by heavy fighting at Gredjakino, Cholm and especially in the Rshew–Sulzow sector during the prolonged battles for the Rzhev salient. Serving as a mobile fire-brigade against repeated Soviet attacks the Abteilung claimed the destruction of 468 enemy tanks by 31 January 1943 and produced several highly successful Sturmgeschütz crews, most notably that of Wachtmeister Hugo Primozic. During Unternehmen Büffel in March 1943 it covered the orderly withdrawal of German forces from the salient through Wjasma to the Dnjepr and Dorogobusch, after which it was temporarily subordinated to the 98. Infanterie-Division for the defence of the road southwest of Wjasma. Subsequent operations took the unit through the sectors of Jelnja, Roslawl, Kritschew, Mogilew, Smolensk, Witebsk and Newel. On 14 February 1944 it was redesignated Sturmgeschütz-Brigade 667 and on 10 June 1944 reorganised as Heeres-Sturmartillerie-Brigade 667 with additional Begleitbatterien. Almost completely destroyed during the Soviet summer offensive of 1944 the remnants were withdrawn and rebuilt, later seeing action on the Western Front in the Aachen area and in the Ardennes. Commanders included Hauptmann Vagedes from formation until December 1942, followed by Hauptmann Rudolf Zettler, Hauptmann Joachim Lützow, Hauptmann Max Wölfle and later Major Ludwig Knüppling. The brigade remained active until the final collapse of the Wehrmacht in May 1945.

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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER


Leutnant Hugo Primozic (1914-1996) was born on 16 February 1914 in Backnang in Württemberg as the son of a Slovenian father and a German mother and entered the Reichswehr in 1934, serving as a gunner in various artillery units including Artillerie-Regiment 5 and later Artillerie-Regiment 152 during the French campaign. In April 1941 he volunteered for the Sturmartillerie and after training joined Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 667 in May 1942, arriving on the Eastern Front in the central sector around Rzhev as Zugführer of the II. Zug of the 2. Batterie. On 15 September 1942, during heavy defensive fighting against a major Soviet attack, he led his Sturmgeschütze forward and personally destroyed 24 enemy tanks in a single day at close range, helping to prevent a breakthrough and bringing his total to 45 tanks destroyed. For this outstanding achievement he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 19 September 1942 as Wachtmeister und Zugführer in the 2. Batterie of Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 667, becoming one of the first NCOs to receive the decoration for assault-gun actions. Continuing to fight with exceptional skill and coolness, he destroyed a further 15 tanks including seven in one day during a counter-attack on 11 December 1942, raising his confirmed total to 60. On 25 January 1943 he became the first non-commissioned officer of the Heer to receive the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz as Oberwachtmeister und Zugführer of the same unit, the 185th recipient overall. Promoted to Leutnant shortly afterwards he was withdrawn from the front and assigned as an instructor at the Sturmgeschützschule Burg and other training establishments, later serving as Batteriechef in the closing months of the war with Kampfgruppe Burg. Taken prisoner by American forces in May 1945 he was released on 1 August 1945 and lived quietly in postwar Germany until his death in Fulda on 18 March 1996 at the age of 82.

Source :
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=160397
https://www.hl-barbara.de/index.php/die-garnison/wehrmacht/sturmartillerie/die-ersten-batterien
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Sturmgeschutzeinheiten/Sturmgeschutzabteilung667.htm