German actor, Gert Fröbe, plays Unteroffizier Kaffeekanne (”coffee pot”) in the movie “The Longest Day”. He is one of the first German soldiers to see the massive allied invasion fleet with his own eyes… The movie One of the WW2 movie classics that you should check out. Don’t expect the most realistic or historically accurate […]
Germans
Meet the Heroes: German Officer – Hans von Luck
Hans–Ulrich Freiherr von Luck und Witten (15 July 1911 – 1 August 1997), usually shortened to Hans von Luck, was a German officer in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. Luck served with the 7th Panzer Division and 21st Panzer Division.He saw action in Poland, France, the Soviet Union, North Africa and […]
The Story of Otto Funk and Klaus Schuh
Otto Funk and Klaus Schuh were working together as a machine gun crew on the Western Front with the special SS unit, SS-Panzer-Division “Hitlerjugend” in the summer of 1944. Both were given the Iron Cross for knocking out a Canadian Churchill tank with just an MG-42 machine gun. With no other weapon at their disposal, […]
The Story of Hauptsturmführer Fritz Klingenberg
Fritz Klingenberg (17 December 1912 – 23 March 1945) was a German officer in the Waffen-SS who served with the SS Division Das Reich and was a commander of the SS Division Götzvon Berlichingen. He was best known for his role in the capture of the Yugoslavian capital, Belgrade for which he was awarded the […]
Meet the Heroes: Otto Skorzeny
Otto Skorzeny was an Austrian SS-Obersturmbannführer during World War 2. He was involved in a string of operations, including the rescue mission for dictator Benito Mussolini. He led Operation Greif, in which German soldiers infiltrated enemy lines using their opponents’ languages, uniforms, and customs. By April 1943, he had been made head of German special […]
Meet the Heroes: German Hauptmann Günther Viezenz – Infantry Ace
There are those stories of WW2 that everyone knows and which have become famous and well-known through books, movies or TV-Series. But then there are other individuals from WW2 where not much is known besides their impressive achievements. We can only speculate about their personal stories and what kind of people they were. Günther Viezenz is […]
Meet the Heroes: German Brigadeführer & Generalmajor – Heinz Harmel
Born in 1906, Harmel volunteered for the SS-Verfügungstruppe (later known as the Waffen-SS) in 1935 and served as a company commander in the SS-Regiment “Der Führer”, with which he took part in the Battle of France in 1940. In 1941, he took part in the Balkans Campaign and Operation Barbarossa. In December 1941, he took […]
Meet the Heroes: German Fallschirmjäger Lieutenant – Erich Lepkowski
Erich Lepkowski became famous for “Lepkowski’s Prisonbreak”, which took place on 16 August 1944. During this raid on a POW camp, Lepkowski and his men went deep into territory held by Partisans of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) and by Americans in order to rescue 130 of their fellow Fallschirmjäger troops. Lepkowski’s raid […]
Meet the Heroes: German Fallschirmjäger Oberstleutnant – Walter Koch
Walter Koch (10 September 1910 – 23 October 1943) was a highly decorated commander of the Fallschirmjäger during World War II who died in mysterious circumstances after openly criticising Adolf Hitler. Koch, who was the recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross for his actions during the Battle of Fort Eben-Emael in May […]
Meet the Heroes: German Fallschirmjäger Major – Rudolf Witzig
Rudolf Witzig entered the history books as the heroic captor of Belgium’s supposedly impregnable fortress Eben Emael in May 1940. Witzig was involved in Operation Mercury, the invasion of Crete, but was injured during the fighting. After his recovery, he was sent to Tunisia where he was credited with several successful defensive actions. He ended […]