Meet the Heroes: German Unteroffizier Kaffeekanne (“coffee pot”)

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 […]

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 […]