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Siegel, Hans (Waffen SS)

Date of birth:
July 25th, 1918 (Bockau/Saxony, Germany)
Date of death:
April 18th, 2002 (Andernach)
Service number:
SS-Nr.: 293.267 // NSDAP-Nr.: 4.330.439
Nationality:
German

Biography

Promotions:
01.08.1940: SS-Untersturmführer
09.11.1942: SS-Obersturmführer
21.06.1944: SS-Hauptsturmführer
20.04.1945: SS-Sturmbannführer

Career:
00.00.1933: Hitlerjugend
00.00.1935: Adjutant des Stammführers, Hitlerjugend
06.01.1936: joined the SS, 6. Hundertschaft, then 15. Hundertschaft, III. Sturmbann, SS-Totenkopf-Standarte 'Sachsen', Konzentrationslager Sachsenburg
00.08.1937: 3. SS-Totenkopf-Standarte „Thüringen", Konzentrationslager Sachsenhausen
00.04.1938-00.10.1938: RAD
00.10.1938: SS-Standarte (mot) 'Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler', SS-VT
00.09.1939: Chef, schw. Granatwerfer-Zug, 12. (MG) Sturm, III. Sturmbann, SS-Standarte (mot) 'Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler' - campaign in Poland
01.11.1939-24.02.1940: SS-Junker, 2. Kriegs-Junker-Lehrgang, SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz
01.08.1940: SS-Ustuf, Zugführer, 4. (MG) Kompanie, SS-Ausbildungs -und Ersatz-Bataillon LSSAH
00.11.1941: SS-Ustuf, Zugführer, I. Zug, 3. Batterie, SS-Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 1, LSSAH - campaign in Russia, Taganrog, Azov Sea
00.03.1943: SS-Kampfgruppe 'Peiper', III. Bataillon, SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 2, LSSAH, II. SS-Panzer-Korps - Battle of Kharkov
00.03.1943: SS-Ostuf, severely WIA by a Russian sniper in the head and back and evacuated first by a Fieseler Storch to Poltava and then by a Ju-52 to Kiev, and then by rail to Stettin, and finally to a Lazarett in Berlin
00.09.1943: declare dunfit for service due to his wounds
00.10.1943-00.01.1944: SS-Ostuf, Führer, SS-Pionier-Ausbildungs- und Ersatz-Bataillon 3, Truppenübungsplatz Krakow, Generalgouvernement
00.01.1944: SS-Ostuf, Führer, 8. Kompanie, II. Abteilung, SS-Panzer-Regiment 12, 12. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 'Hitlerjugend'
08.06.1944: campaign in Normandy, France
27.06.1944: WIA for the 5th time with severe burns on his face and hands when his Kompanie destroyed 37 Allied tanks, destroying himself 11 of them in the Caen sector at Le Mesnil-Patry and Cheux and proposed for the RK
14.08.1944: SS-Hstuf, Führer, II. Abteilung, SS-Panzer-Regiment 12, 12. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 'Hitlerjugend'
00.12.1944: campaign in the Ardennes / Battle of the Bulge
07.03.1945-08.03.1945: SS-Hstuf, fightings in Puszta Antal, Esztergom Bridgehead, Hungary - Operation Frühlingserwachen / "Spring Awakening"
24.03.1945: SS-Hstuf, WIA for the 9th time to the knee and evacuated by rail to St Pölten, received treatment and returned to his Abteilung
08.05.1945: WIA for the last time to the left elbow and amputated in a Russian hospital
08.05.1945: Soviet POW

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Bronzes SA-Sportabzeichen
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Awarded on:
1940
Ehrendegen des Reichsführers-SS
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Obersturmführer (Lieutenant)
Awarded on:
February 6th, 1943
Medaille
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Obersturmführer (Lieutenant)
Awarded on:
February 18th, 1943
Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Obersturmführer (Lieutenant)
Awarded on:
March 30th, 1943
WIA 00.03.1943
Verwundetenabzeichen 1939 in Silber
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Obersturmführer (Lieutenant)
Awarded on:
March 30th, 1943

Silver version
Panzerkampfabzeichen (ohne Zahl)
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Obersturmführer (Lieutenant)
Awarded on:
June 14th, 1944
Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Awarded on:
June 1944
WIA 00.03.1943 + 27.06.1944
Verwundetenabzeichen 1939 in Gold
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
SS-Hauptsturmführer (Captain)
Unit:
Chef, 8. Kompanie, SS-Panzer-Regiment 12, 12. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division “Hitlerjugend”, I. SS-Panzer-Korps, Heeresgruppe B
Awarded on:
August 23rd, 1944
"Hauptsturmführer Siegel is the soul of the fighting spirit of his battalion. In the eventful offensive and defensive fighting around Caen, as company commander, he knocked out 11 of the 37 enemy tanks destroyed by his company.
On 27 June 1944 (…) in a night attack, Siegel gained ground to the north and thwarted the advance of enemy armour to the south. Siegel held his positions without any infantry support and despite extremely heavy gunfire.
While positioning and briefing his men, he was surprised in the dark of night by an enemy patrol. In the hand-to-hand fighting that resulted, he was stabbed in the right side. Nevertheless, he was able to repulse the enemy and hold his position.
The next morning the enemy renewed their attack. Siegel fought with his tank to the last, making it possible to bring up new forces and thereby prevent a decisive British breakthrough. In so doing, Siegel’s tank was knocked out from under him for the fifth time and he suffered extremely severe burns."
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes

Sources

  • Photo 1: Willi Schumacher Collection
  • Photo 2:
  • Photo 3:
  • - 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
    - Schneider J.W., Their Honor was Loyalty!, R. James Bender Publishing, 1977
    - 12. SS-Panzerdivision "Hitlerjugend"
    - N. Számvéber, ‘Waffen-SS Armour in Normandy’, 2002, p. 202-204

Photos