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Wulff, Hermann (Grenadier-Regiment 333)

Date of birth:
November 27th, 1919 (Hamburg, Germany)
Date of death:
June 8th, 2008 (Hamburg/Lower Saxony, Germany)
Nationality:
German

Biography

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Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Awarded on:
January 1943
Panzervernichtungsabzeichen in Silber
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Fahnenjunker-Feldwebel
Unit:
1. Kompanie, Grenadier-Regiment 333, 225. Infanterie-Division, Heer
Awarded on:
May 8th, 1944
Deutsches Kreuz in Gold
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Awarded on:
1944
Verwundetenabzeichen 1939 in Gold
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Leutnant der Reserve (2nd Lieutenant of Reserves)
Unit:
Zugführer, 2. Kompanie, Grenadier-Regiment 333, 225. Infanterie-Division, Heer
Awarded on:
October 19th, 1944
The following newspaper article (dated 07.12.1944) describes why Wulff received the Knight’s Cross…

“A Bold Hamburger:

In the area around Riga the Bolsheviks succeeded in achieving a penetration that got to as far as the firing positions of the German artillery. But, while it was still nighttime, this penetration was sealed off by a hastily assembled Alarm Bataillon. However on the next morning the enemy employed massive artillery and air power and managed to reach the approaches to the northern Düna bridges. It looked as if the entire front would be rolled up.

Leutnant Hermann Wulff (the leader of the regimental reserve) recognized the imminent threat to his Division, and he immediately initiated a counterthrust. He plunged into the enemy at the head of just 6 men, having chosen not to wait for reinforcements. He was able to push back the enemy to their jump-off positions following bitter close combat with machine-pistols and hand grenades. Along the way he gathered up bravely fighting German soldiers that were still holding out in scattered resistance nests, and with them he created a security line along the edge of a forest that managed to withstand every subsequent Soviet onslaught.

The great danger of a breakthrough to the northern Düna bridges was thus averted thanks to the heroic bravery of Leutnant Wulff. For this the Führer has awarded him the Knight’s Cross.”
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes

Sources

  • Photo 1: Known to STIWOT
  • - Die Ordensträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht (CD), VMD-Verlag GmbH, Osnabrück, 2002
    - Fellgiebel W.P., Elite of the Third Reich, The recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939-1945: A Reference, Helion & Company Limited, Solihull, 2003, ISBN 1-874622-46-9
    - Patzwall K., Scherzer V., Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945, Geschichte und Inhaber Band II, Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt, 2001, ISBN 3-931533-45-X
    - Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945
    - ritterkreuztraeger-1939-45.de
    - Hamburger Anzeiger (Edition 84)

Photo