ϟϟ-Obersturmführer d. R. Karl Nicolussi-Leck's Panther Leap to Kowel

South Tyroler Pz Commander SS-Ostuf. Karl Nicolussi-Leck

Original SS-Division Wiking Cuff Title

The Soviet Red Army threw ten rifle divisions, a tank corps, and two tank brigades into the Battle of Kovel. They were checked in bloody defensive fighting, in which the then SS-Obersturmbannführer Johannes Rudolf Mühlenkamp, Oberst Fromberger and Lieutenant General Heinrich Nickel particularly distinguished themselves. Soon after beginning the attack, the 27-year-old SS-Obersturmführer d.R Karl Nicolussi-Leck, Commander of the 8th Company of SS-Panzer-Regiment 5 Wiking, received a radio message from the besieged commander to halt his attack and withdraw. He ordered his radio operator to ignore the call, and continued the attack. Risking court-martial, Nicolussi-Leck proceeded to fight his way though the Red Army encirclement, destroying several tanks in the process. They rolled over the Russian trenches, crushing gun positions and machine-gun nests, and then German steel helmets appeared before them. They were inside the pocket. It was exactly 07:30 on March 30 1944 when the tanks under Nicolussi-Leck reached the Kowel railway loop and established contact with the German strongpoint. At 08:10 they stopped in front of Wiking Commander SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Herbert Otto Gille's command post. Out of the initial force of 17 Panthers and a Bergepanther only seven tanks reached the Kowel defenders. Nicolussi-Leck's Panther tank was the first panzer to break the encirclement, for his actions he was awarded the Knight's Cross. After World War II, Nicolussi-Leck like many of his Waffen-SS comrades left Europe for South America, but returned in the early 1950's. He became the founder of the South Tyrolean Center for Education, the University Claudiana and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Bozen. The holder of the Knight's Cross and the German Cross in Gold Karl Nicolussi-Leck died aged 91 on August 30 2008 in Bozen in South Tyrol. Top image: SS-Ostuf. d. R. Karl Nicolussi-Leck’s actions during the liberation of Kowel were judged to be worthy of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, which is visible in this photo. Private Collection. Bottom image: the 'Wiking' cuff title was introduced in September of 1942. This machine-woven cuff title is in the style known as Bevo-like. Fair use.