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| SS-Hauptsturmführer Oskar Wolkerstorfer |
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| SS-Sturmbannführer Georg Bochmann |
Left image: the Austrian volunteer SS-Hauptsturmführer Oskar Wolkerstorfer, a veteran since 1937, wearing no less than four Single-Handed Tank Destruction Badges on his right arm. He served in the Das Reich's SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 4 Der Führer and distinguished himself during the battles for Kharkov and was awarded the German Cross in Gold as SS-Obersturmführer by SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Kumm. On March 19 1945, Wolkerstorfer was nominated for the Knight's Cross, but he never received the award. His final World War II decoration was the Wound Badge in Gold, which he received on February 13 1945 after being wounded for the sixth time. Oskar Wolkerstorfer died aged 52 on January 11 1971 in Linz, Austria. The studio portrait was taken late 1943. Credit: Slyhoogus. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Right image: the Saxon officer SS-Sturmbannführer Georg Schorsch Bochmann commanded the 3rd Motorised Battalion of the Totenkopf's SS-Panzer-Regiment 3 during the battles for Kharkov and was awarded the Oakleaves to his Knight's Cross on May 17 1943. He then commanded the Totenkopf's Panzer-Regiment through the Battle of Kursk and the subsequent battles along the Mius. Before the war ended Schorsch Bochmann had been awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross, becoming the 140th recipient, and the prestigious Wound Badge in Gold. Also he was promoted to SS-Oberführer on April 20 1945. With only a few weeks of war left he was appointed Commander of the 17.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Götz von Berlichingen. Georg Schorsch Bochmann died in heart failure aged 59 in 1973 in Offenbach am Main, Germany. Commons: Bundesarchiv.
Of the estimated 13-15 million men who served in the German Armed Forces in World War II only 160 were awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak-leaves and Swords.
ReplyDeleteGeorg Bochmann's transfer to Gotz probably saved his life, he would have been murdered with the rest of Totenkopf by the soviets.
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