Nickname: No information
Date of Birth: 28.02.1898 - Schwarzenfels, Kreis Schlüchtern, Hesse-Nassau (German Empire)
Date of Death: 12.12.1978 - Hagen / Westfalen (West Germany)
Battles and operations: Polish Campaign, French Campaign, Eastern Front, Battle of Kursk, Cherkassy Pocket, Defense of Hungary
NSDAP-Number: No information
SS-Number: No information
Religion: No information
Parents: No information
Siblings: No information
Spouse: No information
Children: No information
Academic degree: Dr. med. dent. (dentistry, graduated in 1922)
Promotions:
00.00.1915 Kriegsfreiwilliger
pre-1916 Gefreiter
00.00.1918 Unteroffizier
00.00.1918 Vizefeldwebel O.A.
01.12.1937 Leutnant der Reserve
01.01.1940 Oberleutnant der Reserve
01.05.1941 Hauptmann der Reserve
01.08.1942 Major der Reserve
01.11.1943 Oberstleutnant der Reserve
01.05.1944 Oberst der Reserve
28.02.1945 Oberst
20.04.1945 Generalmajor
Career:
00.05.1915-1919 5. Westfälisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 53 then 2. Schlesisches Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 11 and 1. Schlesisches Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 10 then Westfälisches Fußartillerie-Regiment Nr. 7
1919-1921 Freikorps Epp
1921-1923 studies medicine and dentistry attaining Dr. med. dent. degree
1923-1937 own dental practice in Hagen
01.03.1933 joined SA final rank SA-Standartenführer
00.00.1937 voluntary exercise with Aufklärungs-Abteilung 6 Münster
01.12.1937 Leutnant der Reserve
01.01.1938 Mob.-Offizier Panzer-Abteilung 65
1938 Sudetenland occupation as Zugführer and deputy company commander 3. Kompanie Panzer-Abteilung 65
1939 Polish Campaign as leader of light column then platoon leader 2. Kompanie Panzer-Abteilung 65
01.11.1939 company commander 1. Kompanie Panzer-Abteilung 65
1940 French Campaign wounded three times
01.02.1941 Ordonnanz-Offizier staff Panzer-Regiment 11
01.05.1941 Hauptmann Panzer-Regiment 11
1941-1942 Eastern Campaign
01.04.1942 commander II. Abteilung Panzer-Regiment 11
01.08.1942 Major
mid-07.1943 commander Panzer-Regiment 11
01.11.1943 Oberstleutnant and confirmed commander Panzer-Regiment 11
01-02.1944 commander schweres Panzer-Regiment Bäke for operations at Tscherkassy
07.1944 commander Panzer-Brigade 106 Feldherrnhalle
09.03.1945 commander Panzer-Division Feldherrnhalle 2
20.04.1945 Generalmajor
1945-1947 prisoner of war
post-war re-established dental practice in Hagen
Awards and Decorations:
Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse 1914 (15.07.1916)
Verwundetenabzeichen 1914 in Gold
Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
Clasp to the Iron Cross 2nd Class (26.09.1939)
Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse (01.06.1940)
Verwundetenabzeichen 1939 in Gold
Panzerkampfabzeichen in Silber (multiple grades up to Stufe 100 on 26.04.1944)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (11.01.1943) as Major der Reserve and commander II./Panzer-Regiment 11 / 6. Panzer-Division. On 1 January 1943 Bäke and his men conducted a round of bitter urban combat in Nowo Marjewka against two Soviet battalions and about 30 tanks. Twenty-seven of these were destroyed in the resultant fighting and after this Bäke launched a counterattack on his own initiative. The result of this latter move was the destruction of a Soviet armoured wedge that had advanced between Nowo Marjewka and the II. Panzergrenadier-Regiment 114 at Werchne Obliwiski. Another 32 tanks including 20 T-34s were destroyed and with this the latest attempt by the Soviet 25th Tank Corps to break through to the railway line west of Morosowskaja was prevented.
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #262 (01.08.1943) as Major der Reserve and commander II./Panzer-Regiment 11. On 11 July 1943 the reinforced Panzer-Regiment 11 reached the village of Kasatschja which was located northeast of Belgorod at a point 12 km beyond the Donez river. Bäke persuaded his regimental commander to go against the divisional order by capturing the village of Rschawez by night and creating a bridgehead over the Sswernyi Donez. During the following night Bäke’s Vorausabteilung consisting of II. Abteilung Panzer-Regiment 11 and the II. Schützenpanzerwagen Bataillon Panzergrenadier-Regiment 114 thrust past enemy anti-tank gun positions before finding itself side by side with a column of 20 T-34s. Then six T-34s began to surround Bäke’s command Panzer which was only armed with a wooden gun as camouflage. Bäke and his Ordonnanzoffizier Leutnant Zobel left the command Panzer and eliminated four T-34s with magnetic anti-tank grenades. The charges placed by the Major on the fifth and sixth tanks did not explode. Bäke clambered onto an approaching Panzer sent to support them and directed it to destroy both of these enemy tanks. The partially destroyed bridge near Rschawez was taken.
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern #49 (21.02.1944) as Oberstleutnant der Reserve and commander Panzer-Regiment 11. Awarded for the special operation that his specially prepared schwere Panzer-Regiment Bäke consisting of the Stab Panzer-Regiment 11 34 Tigers of the schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503 and 47 Panthers of the II. Abteilung Panzer-Regiment 23 conducted in the time period 23 January to 1 February 1944. During this armoured raid Bäke launched a thrust via Shaskow in order to reduce pressure on the III. Panzer-Korps. In the process 268 Soviet tanks and assault guns as well as 156 guns were destroyed. During the same fighting in the Balabonovka pocket Bäke personally destroyed three Soviet tanks at close range with infantry weapons earning three additional Tank Destruction Badges in Silver.
Panzervernichtungsabzeichen in Silber (three times)
Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938
Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42 Medal
DRL Sportabzeichen in Gold
Mentioned in Wehrmachtbericht (31.01.1944 and 06.12.1944)
Nominated for Brillanten but rejected
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Dr. med. dent. Franz Bäke was born on 28 February 1898 in the small village of Schwarzenfels near Schlüchtern in the Province of Hesse-Nassau within the German Empire. He volunteered for military service in May 1915 at the age of seventeen and was assigned first to the 5th Westphalian Infantry Regiment Number 53 in Cologne before transferring to the 2nd Silesian Grenadier Regiment King Frederick III Number 11 and later the 1st Silesian Grenadier Regiment King Frederick William II Number 10 on the Western Front. As an officer candidate he earned the Iron Cross Second Class on 15 July 1916 for bravery in action and was promoted to Gefreiter before being severely wounded in November 1916 and reassigned to the Westphalian Foot Artillery Regiment Number 7. He rose to Unteroffizier and then Vizefeldwebel in 1918 while being wounded twice more and returned to the front in September of that year. Discharged from the regular army in January 1919 he immediately joined the right-wing paramilitary Freikorps Epp where he served until 1921 while simultaneously beginning studies in medicine and dentistry. He passed his state examination in 1922 and received his doctorate in dental medicine in 1923 earning the professional title Dr. med. dent. That same year he opened his own successful dental practice in Hagen in Westphalia where he would spend most of his civilian life.
No reliable historical records provide information on his parents siblings spouse children or religious affiliation and he is not known to have used any nickname. In March 1933 he joined the Sturmabteilung rising eventually to the rank of SA-Standartenführer by 1944 though this affiliation remained secondary to his reserve military duties. In 1937 he performed voluntary training with the reconnaissance detachment of the 6th Panzer Division in Münster and on 1 December of that year he was commissioned as a Leutnant der Reserve. Mobilized in 1938 he participated in the occupation of the Sudetenland as platoon leader and deputy company commander in the 3rd Company of Panzer-Abteilung 65. During the Polish Campaign of 1939 he first led the light supply column of the battalion then served as a platoon leader in the 2nd Company before being promoted to Oberleutnant on 1 November 1939 and taking command of the 1st Company. In the Battle of France in 1940 his unit fought as part of the 1st Light Division which was redesignated the 6th Panzer Division in October 1939 and he was wounded three times earning the Iron Cross First Class on 1 June 1940 along with the 1939 Wound Badge in Gold.
Transferred to the Eastern Front in 1941 Bäke served initially as ordnance officer on the staff of Panzer-Regiment 11 and was promoted to Hauptmann on 1 May 1941. He took part in Operation Barbarossa and the subsequent battles including the failed relief attempt for the encircled Sixth Army at Stalingrad during Operation Winter Storm in December 1942. On 1 April 1942 he assumed command of the second battalion of Panzer-Regiment 11 and was promoted to Major on 1 August 1942. His most celebrated actions began in the winter of 1942-1943 west of the Don River. On New Years Day 1943 Bäke led his battalion in intense urban fighting inside the village of Nowo Marjewka against two Soviet battalions supported by approximately thirty tanks. Twenty-seven enemy tanks were destroyed in the close-quarters combat and Bäke then launched an immediate counterattack on his own initiative smashing a Soviet armored wedge that had driven between his position and elements of the 114th Panzergrenadier Regiment at Verkhne Obliwiski. Another thirty-two tanks including twenty T-34s were knocked out in this engagement effectively halting the Soviet 25th Tank Corps attempt to reach the vital railway line west of Morozovskaya. For these actions he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 11 January 1943 as Major der Reserve and commander of II. Abteilung Panzer-Regiment 11 within the 6th Panzer Division.
During the Battle of Kursk in July 1943 Bäke again demonstrated extraordinary initiative and personal courage. On 11 July the reinforced Panzer-Regiment 11 advanced twelve kilometers beyond the Donets River northeast of Belgorod and reached the village of Kasatschja. Defying divisional orders Bäke convinced his regimental commander to launch a nighttime assault on the village of Rschawez to seize a bridgehead across the Northern Donets. His forward detachment consisting of his own battalion and the half-track battalion of Panzergrenadier-Regiment 114 bypassed enemy antitank positions only to find itself alongside a column of twenty T-34s. Six of the Soviet tanks began encircling Bäke's command vehicle which was camouflaged with a wooden dummy gun. Bäke and his ordnance officer Leutnant Zobel dismounted under fire and destroyed four T-34s using hand-held magnetic antitank grenades. When the charges on the fifth and sixth tanks failed to detonate Bäke climbed aboard a supporting Panzer that had arrived and directed its fire to eliminate both remaining enemy vehicles. The partially demolished bridge at Rschawez was captured and the bridgehead secured. These exploits earned him the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross on 1 August 1943 still as Major der Reserve commanding the same battalion within the 6th Panzer Division under Armee-Abteilung Kempf.
By mid-July 1943 Bäke had assumed temporary command of the entire Panzer-Regiment 11 and on 1 November 1943 he was promoted to Oberstleutnant der Reserve and confirmed as regimental commander. In January 1944 he was given leadership of a specially assembled heavy armored formation known as schwere Panzer-Regiment Bäke comprising the staff of Panzer-Regiment 11 thirty-four Tiger I tanks from schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503 and forty-seven Panther tanks from the second battalion of Panzer-Regiment 23 together with supporting artillery and engineers. From 23 January to 1 February this ad-hoc regiment conducted a daring thrust via Shaskow to relieve pressure on the III Panzer Corps during the fighting around the Cherkassy Pocket. In the Balabonovka pocket alone the formation accounted for 268 Soviet tanks and assault guns plus 156 guns while Bäke personally destroyed three additional enemy tanks at point-blank range using infantry weapons earning three Tank Destruction Badges in Silver. The operation helped open a corridor that allowed thousands of encircled German troops to escape. For this outstanding leadership and success he was awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves on 21 February 1944 becoming the 49th recipient of the Swords as Oberstleutnant der Reserve and commander of Panzer-Regiment 11.
Following the Cherkassy fighting the regiment continued operations in the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket in March 1944. Promoted to Oberst on 1 May 1944 Bäke was appointed commander of Panzer-Brigade 106 Feldherrnhalle in July 1944. The brigade saw heavy action in the West particularly on 7 and 8 September 1944 when it launched a counterattack against the American 90th Infantry Division near Aumetz in Lorraine suffering severe losses including thirty tanks and nearly a hundred other vehicles reducing its strength to barely twenty-five percent. Transferred to Hungary the brigade fought in defensive actions before Bäke on 9 March 1945 assumed command of Panzer-Division Feldherrnhalle 2 formerly the 13th Panzer Division within the Feldherrnhalle Corps. On 1 January 1945 he had been transferred from the reserve to the active officer list and on 20 April 1945 he was promoted to Generalmajor while officially confirmed as divisional commander. His division conducted a fighting withdrawal through Hungary and into Czechoslovakia until the final surrender on 8 May 1945 when Bäke and his remaining troops capitulated to American forces.
Held as a prisoner of war for approximately two years he was released in 1947 and returned to Hagen where he reopened his dental practice and lived quietly until his death on 12 December 1978 at the age of eighty. He is buried in Hagen. Throughout his career Bäke was mentioned by name in the Wehrmachtbericht on 31 January 1944 and 6 December 1944 and he received numerous additional decorations including the Panzer Combat Badge in Silver with the special 100-engagement clasp the Honour Cross for Front Fighters the Eastern Front Medal the Sudetenland Medal the German Sports Badge in Gold and the Wound Badge in Gold from both world wars. He was nominated for the Diamonds to the Knight's Cross by the 1st and 19th Armies for his leadership of Panzer-Brigade 106 but the recommendation was rejected at the highest level. As a non-professional soldier and practicing dentist who volunteered for every major campaign Bäke exemplified the effectiveness of reserve officers in the panzer forces. His combination of bold tactical decisions personal bravery in close combat and skillful handling of armored formations under overwhelming odds made him one of the most respected tank leaders of the German Army. Post-war accounts sometimes exaggerated his exploits particularly in popular literature but the documented record of his leadership in Nowo Marjewka Rschawez and the Cherkassy relief remains among the most impressive of any reserve officer in the Wehrmacht.
Source:
- https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/
- https://www.tracesofwar.com/
- https://rk.balsi.de/index.php?action=list&cat=300
- https://www.unithistories.com/units_index/index.php?file=/officers/personsx.html
- https://web.archive.org/web/20091027052912fw_/http://geocities.com/orion47.geo/index2.html
- https://forum.axishistory.com/
- https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/
- https://www.bundesarchiv.de/en/
- https://www.geni.com/
- Scherzer, Veit. Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939-1945. Jena 2007.
- Stockert, Franz. Die Ritterkreuzträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht. Osnabrück 2012.
- Wegmann, Günter. Die Ritterkreuzträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht. Osnabrück 2004.
