Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Awarded on:

August 8th, 1941

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Oberwachtmeister

Unit:

Zugführer, 1. Kompanie, Aufklärungs-Abteilung 298, 298. Infanterie-Division, Heer

Awarded on:

September 17th, 1941

The following newspaper excerpt describes why Thiem was awarded the Knight’s Cross…

“Oberwachtmeister Thiem received a mission from the commander of his Aufklärungs-Abteilung at 06:00 on the 24.06.1941. He was to thrust ahead with his Zug to the northern entrance of W. in order to determine if the village was occupied by the enemy. At the time the Aufklärungs-Abteilung had the mission of securing the Division’s left flank, and so it was particularly important to confirm whether the northern arterial road (upon which W. was located) was free of the enemy. Oberwachtmeister Thiem’s mission was purely that of reconnaissance.

When Thiem reached the southern entrance of W. with his Zug, he learned from local residents that several Russian tanks were in the village, including one super-heavy model. Fresh tank tracks and noises confirmed these statements. Obtaining this information meant that Thiem had fulfilled his mission. But Thiem knew that this powerful enemy force in front of him had the potential to both hinder the further progress of his own Abteilung as well as threaten the left flank of the Division. He thus decided to attack them, with the destruction of the heavy tank being a particularly important objective. Thiem immediately made contact with the Leutnant of a Panzerjäger-Abteilung who was securing the eastern edge of the hill with two guns. He left behind a squad of men as infantry security for them and had another one provide road security just before W. itself. He then personally led his last squad into the village itself in leaps and bounds. It was not long before Thiem and his squad were immediately in front of the heavy tank.

Now a heavy firefight erupted on both sides. Thiem and his men employed Pak, anti-rank rifles, machine-guns and hand grenades against the tank, which likewise fired with all weapons. Friendly fire was initially unsuccessful, but eventually the Pak managed to at least jam the turret of the tank. In addition, it sounded like the enemy tank had an engine defect, because it suddenly stopped moving despite giving off strong engine noise. Thiem signalled for the Pak to cease fire, and he subsequently utilized a favourable moment to jump onto the enemy tank.

He tried to take out the take with whatever objects were at hand. He first fired his machine-pistol into the vision ports, but in vain. The shots glanced off and wounded him in the left forearm, however he did not lose his composure despite bleeding heavily. He then ordered one of his men to take advantage of the tank’s blind spot and hand him the pick mattock. This was successful despite the tank’s despite efforts to keep resisting. Thiem smashed the sighting device and telescope, and then tried to get to the muzzle of the gun from behind in order to blow it up with hand grenades. But by doing so he exited the tank’s blind spot, and this did not succeed. Thiem then repeatedly smashed the machine-gun barrels out of alignment in order to enable his squad to get very close to the tank. A crowbar was brought up to him, and he used it to permanently bend the machine-gun barrels. The three-man crew of the tank still did not surrender despite repeated entreaties. Oberwachtmeister Thiem and his men thus poured petrol into every crack of the tank and set it on fire, but even this did not appear to have an effect. Thiem therefore decided to bring up a concentrated charge.

Thiem sat down in a sidecar motorcycle, drove to the Schwadron while covered in blood, reported to the commander, loaded his sidecar with hand grenades and started to drive back. He did not let himself be dissuaded from carrying out his plan by the doctor’s objections. While driving back to the tank, one of his men reported that the anticipated detonation occurred shortly after his departure. The use of a concentrated charge was thereby made superfluous.

Oberwachtmeister Thiem thus brought about a great success by acting beyond the scope of his mission. He not only carried out his orders, but also eliminated a flank threat to the Division by knocking out this heavy tank. Such a result was made possible through his heroic bravado.”

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)