Schumacher, Kurt (SS-Pz.Rgt.5)
- Date of birth:
- March 8th, 1923 (Hannover, Germany)
- Date of death:
- March 20th, 1945 (Near Székesfehérvár, Hungary)
- Buried on:
- German War Graves Szekesfehervar
Grave: UNK.
- Service number:
- SS-Nr.: 359.982 // NSDAP-Nr.:
- Nationality:
- German
Biography
00.04.1942: SS-Standartenoberjunker, 7. Kriegs-Junker-Lehrgang, SS-Junkerschule Braunschweig
21.06.1942: promoted to SS-Untersturmführer
00.12.1943: SS-Ustuf, Führer, 3. Kompanie, SS-Panzer-Regiment 5, 5. SS-Panzer-Division « Wiking » - fightings in Tcherkassy
23.08.1944: SS-Ustuf, Führer, Stabskompanie, I. Abteilung, SS-Panzer-Regiment 5, 5. SS-Panzer-Division « Wiking » - fightings in Slezany Bridgehead, Bug
00.01.1945: promoted to SS-Obersturmführer
00.03.1945: fightings in Plattensee - Balaton Lake, Hungary
20.03.1945: SS-Ostuf, severely WIA and DOW when his driver moved the Panzer during a night attack in a forest near Székesfehérvár / Stuhlweissenburg, Hungary
Tank ace credited with more than 32 tank kills
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- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Rank:
- SS-Untersturmführer (2nd Lieutenant)
- Unit:
- Führer, 3. Kompanie, SS-Panzer-Regiment 5, 5. SS-Panzer-Division "Wiking"
- Awarded on:
- May 4th, 1944
SS-Untersturmführer Schumacher was a panzer commander in the 5th SS Panzer division during its encirclement in the Korsun pocket. On the 13th of February, the Soviets attacked the village of Nowo-Buda with tanks in order to increase the gap between the trapped German forces and the relief force. Schumacher and one other tank were deployed to assist in the defense. Over the course of that day, and the next, they were able to prevent the Soviets from capturing the village and shot up many tanks. Schumacher, despite at one stage of the battle being forced to fight alone with only HE shells, was of great importance in the bringing about of this outcome. Of 32 Soviet tanks destroyed around the village on those two days, Schumacher took the lion’s share (at least 9, probably high, but the precise number is unknown). For his actions at this critical time, Schumacher was given the Knight’s Cross a few months after the battle.
Sources
- Photo 1: Igor Poul
- Photo 2:
- - MOONEY, PETER, Waffen-SS Knights and their Battles, Schiffer Military History, 2016.
- PATZWALL, K. & SCHERZER, V., Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945, Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt, 2001.
- Ritterkreuz Archiv II/2010, Veit Scherzer, Ranis, Juni 2010, ISSN 1866-4709