| Colonel Count Strachwitz von Gross Zauche und Camminetz was the most
decorated regimental officer of the German panzer army in WWII. He was
awarded all the grades of the Iron Cross, including the Knight's Cross
on August 1941 and Oakleaves on 13 November 1942, the Swords on 28 March
1943, and Diamonds on 15 April 1944 when commanding a battle group in the
sector of Army Group North. |
| Originally a cavalryman, Strachwitz belonged to an old military family
with estates in Silesia. He served during WWI and with the Freikorps, and
fought during the campaigns in Poland and France. He gained however reputation
on the Eastern Front, exploiting with small battle groups to fight Russian
armor. When isolated from friendly units he also showed courage outside
his vehicle, fighting hand-to-hand against Russian infantry until his crew
had repaired the tank. He became famous for his rapid advances, breaking
through enemy lines and disrupting enemy headquarters and supply units.
On one occasion he was the first to cross a river bridge, attacking a column
of hundreds of Russian trucks and guns. |
| After fighting in the Stalingrad area, von Strachwitz commanded as
an Oberst the Panzer Regiment of the elite Panzer Grenadier Division
Grossdeutschland.
Having only a handful of tanks, the Grossdeutschland
division needed
capable men like von Strachwitz to lead their tanks against a numerically
superior Russian Army. On one occasion, he laid an ambush with four of
his panzers deep inside Soviet lines. The Russian tanks never expected
the enemy so deep in their own rear, and the German group destroyed 105
Russian tanks in less than an hour, without the loss of a single panzer. |
