Fiedler, Walter

Date of birth:: April 26th, 1926 (Braunau/Bohemia, Germany)
Date of death:: April 30th, 1945 (near Berlin/Brandenburg, Germany)
Nationality:: German (1933-1945, Third Reich)

Biography

Was missing near Berlin in April 1945 and was declared dead in 1969.

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Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Gefreiter (Lance Corporal)
Unit:: Fernsprecher Stabsbatterie, II. Abteilung, Artillerie-Regiment 219, 183. Volksgrenadier-Division, Heer
Awarded on:: December 28th, 1944

During the fighting around Aachen in mid-November 1944 Gefreiter Fiedler received orders to repair a broken communications line. As he was searching for the severed line he spotted an Allied armoured attack in the process of developing. He swiftly jumped into a foxhole, and using the field telephone he had brought along he was able to tap into the communications line and make contact with his Artillerie-Abteilung. As he had the best view of the Allied tanks, he took over the role of forward observer despite his lack of experience in the direction of artillery fire. Nonetheless he was soon bringing down salvo after salvo upon the Allied tank formation. After many of their tanks had received damage from the incoming artillery, the hostile armour turned around and ceased their attack.

Gefreiter Fiedler would receive the Knight’s Cross for decisively halting what could have otherwise been a dangerous Allied armoured attack.