- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Rank:
- Oberst (Colonel)
- Unit:
- Kommandeur, Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 100, 5. Gebirgs-Division, Heer
- Awarded on:
- June 21st, 1941
The following wartime excerpt describes why Utz received the Knight’s Cross…
"In the fighting around Lutra Oberst Utz (commander of Gebirgs-Jäger-Regiment 100) succeeded in forcing the surrender of the rest of the English (256 officers, 9,103 NCOs and men along with assorted equipment) through the use of an extremely skillful maneuver by his offensive group. He thus played a major role in ending the struggle for Crete. This was accomplished despite a numerical inferiority of 10 - 1. Even earlier than this, during the battle of the Metaxas Line, Utz distinguished himself in breaking through the fortifications around Keikaja, Sattelbunker and Arpaluki. With this completed he was then able to turn north and bring relief to the hard pressed Infanterie-Regiment 125 during the evening of the 08.04.1941."