ϟϟ-Standartenführer der Waffen-SS Mühlenkamp

Wiking commanders Johannes Mühlenkamp and Herbert Gille

SS-Staf. Mühlenkamp with tankers of SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 Wiking

SS-Obersturmführers Willi Hein and Kurt Schumacher

The 5.SS-Panzer-Division Wiking's Panzer Commander Johannes Rudolf Mühlenkamp was promoted SS-Standartenführer on April 20 1944. On August the same year, he was given the command of the division. He always led from the front and commanded Wiking until Oct. 1944. Then, Mühlenkamp was promoted Inspector of Waffen-SS Panzer troops in the SS-Führungshauptamt. Mühlenkamp held the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves that reflected not only his achievements but also those of his men. To the European volunteers under his command he was a figurehead who was often to be found standing over his panzer, his face covered in dust, leading them into battle. The Wiking Division had already earned a reputation for combat elan, even winning the grudging respect of the Soviets. The break out of Cherkassy and the battle of Kowel had only furthered that reputation. Johannes Mühlenkamp died aged 76 on Sept. 23 1986 in Bredelem in Niedersachsen. Top image: SS-Standartenführer Johannes Mühlenkamp and SS-Gruppenführer Herbert Otto Gille, both highly-decorated officers, had served in combat since the Polish Campaign of Sept. 1939. Photo taken on April 27 1944 south-west of Kowel by former Waffen-SS war correspondent SS-Unterscharführer Ernst Baumann, staff member of Germania. Middle image from left to right: SS-Sturmbannführer Paul Kümmel, Johannes Mühlenkamp, SS-Obersturmführer Kurt Schumacher, SS-Untersturmführer d. R. Paul Senghas credited with 49 tank kills, and an unidentified SS-Oberscharführer. Photo taken on May 19 1944 at Cholm from an awards ceremony for SS-Panzer-Regiment 5. Bottom image: SS-Obersturmführers Willi Hein and Kurt Schumacher in the summer of 1944 during training in Debica in eastern Poland, at the time the SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 was still undergoing reconstitution following its near-destruction in the Cherkassy Pocket. Both tankers were awarded the Knight's Cross for their actions during the fierce fighting at Cherkassy back in Feb. 1944. Willi Hein was severely wounded in the fighting for Budapest in early Jan. 1945 and spent the rest of the war in hospital at Bad Aussee in Austria. Hein, promoted to SS-Hstuf on Jan. 30 1945, died aged 83 on Oct. 25 2000 in Lauenburg an der Elbe in Schleswig-Holstein. Schumacher who was credited with more than 32 tank kills was KIA aged 22 during a night attack on March 20 1945 in a forest near Stuhlweisenburg in Hungary. c. Bundesarchiv.