Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)

Unit:

Chef, 9. Kompanie, III. Bataillon, Infanterie-Regiment 31, 24. Infanterie-Division, Heer

Awarded on:

September 22nd, 1941

The following wartime excerpt describes why Essbach would be awarded the Knight’s Cross…

“The bold deed of delivering the only undamaged bridge at Cherkassy into the hands of the Korps produced an importance success for the further prosecution of combat. This action was conducted on his own initiative and carried out with great energy and skillful employment of the available forces. The costly fighting in the following days on the great island would have been substantially more difficult to conduct successfully without possession of this bridge.”

The deed described in this excerpt took place on the 22.08.1941. On this day Essbach’s 9. Kompanie crossed over to the first Dnieper island and advanced to a still intact bridge that led to the much larger second island in the middle of the river. Essbach decided to storm this bridge with elements of his Kompanie and succeeded in seizing both the structure itself as well as a small bridgehead on the Dnieper island. This was captured in its entirety on the following day.

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Hauptmann (Captain)

Unit:

Kommandeur, I. Bataillon, Grenadier-Regiment 31, 24. Infanterie-Division, Heer

Awarded on:

January 23rd, 1943

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)