Göller, Sigwart

Date of birth:: August 10th, 1911 (Heidelberg/Baden, Germany)
Date of death:: April 10th, 2000 (Prutting/Bavaria, Germany)
Nationality:: German

Biography

Possibly did Sigwart Göller also receive the Nahkampfspange in Gold. Verfication about this has not yet been found.

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Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Hauptmann der Reserve (Captain of Reserves)
Unit:: Kommandeur, II. Bataillon, Gebirgjäger-Regiment 98, 1. Gebirgs-Division, Heer
Awarded on:: May 9th, 1945

Göller’s Knight’s Cross recommendation reads as follows…

“As part of the diversionary attack along the front between the Drava river and Lake Balaton, Geb.Jg.Rgt. 98 had the mission of breaking out of its assembly area east of Kethely and capturing Somogyszentpal as its first attack objective.

The II./Geb.Jg.Rgt. 98 was deployed as the left wing of the Regiment. At 09:00 on the 14.03.1945 it launched its thrust out of its assembly area in the Sari-Erdö forest. The first serious obstacle was a broad canal lying 500 metres ahead of the edge of the forest, which ran through fully exposed swampland in a depression east of Sari-Erdö.

The Soviet artillery engaged the advancing Bataillon with all guns blazing. The first interruptions to the advance took place. The Bataillon commander, Hauptmann Göller, placed himself at the head of his troops without hesitation and stormed the enemy-defended canal with them.

The continuation of the attack from the Canal to the patch of forest lying to the east of it proved to be tremendously difficult. The Soviets flanked the crossing site from the commanding Hills 110.5 (from the south) and 105.2 (from the north), both of which were studded with numerous heavy infantry weapons and machine guns. The swampy terrain that extended 500 metres to both sides of the canal could only be traversed via crawling. But there was no obstacle as far as Hauptmann Göller was concerned. The heavily mined terrain did not deter him from pursuing the objective with perseverance. Well-emplaced mines detonated constantly, with appalling losses to our side. Göller pressed onwards even so until the spearhead of his Bataillon had been brought forward to within striking distance of the forest edge. Taking advantage of a friendly artillery barrage, this spearhead stormed forth while shouting ‘Hurra’ and throwing hand grenades. The Soviets defended with uncommon toughness, dying one by one in their foxholes. Facing both a bitter defense and heavy friendly losses, the Bataillon bogged down in the sophisticated enemy trench system. Göller launched assaults 5 times. Only after the 5th attack did he succeed in overrunning the enemy position and penetrating into the forest. The southern corner of the forest was cleared out in a bitter man to man struggle. All attempts to break out of the forest to the east and capture the commanding Hill 113.1 failed. Now evening set in. The battle continue to rage back and forth during the whole night. The Russian artillery poured heavy fire into the narrow patch of forest to the south that the Bataillon occupied.

On the 15.03.1945, with the aid of freshly brought up forces, it was possible to capture Points 107.2 and 113.1 in a wide-reaching strike to the north. Along with Geb.Jg.Rgt. 99, which was attacking on the left, the Regiment was reorganized for the decisive attack against Somogyszentpal during the afternoon hours. The Russian artillery, which had the advantage of motorized transport, placed violent bombardments on identified assembly areas. As a result of its previous heavy losses, Göller’s Bataillon had been reduced to a strength of just over 150 men. Göller had the mission of thrusting from the area around Point 113.1 in the direction ENE. Advancing past Point 113.9, he was to secure the northern edge of Somogyszentpal. The Bataillon moved out at dusk under the protection of a friendly artillery barrage. Recognizing that the attack of the left neighbouring Bataillon from Point 107.2 to 113.9 was making good progress, Göller made the independent decision to deviate from his ENE axis of advance and instead reorient ESE. By this, in cooperation with the left neighbouring Bataillon, it would be possible to catch the Russians in a surprise pincer movement. Despite the furious defensive fire of numerous mortars and MGs it was possible to storm diagonally across the 1 km wide swamp lying to the west of the village. Göller reached the village edge in 20 minutes, and in another 12 he had thrusted to the southern edge of the extended village. All resistance that stood in his way was swept aside. Once again during this assault he led at head of his Bataillon as a shining example of bravery.

At 06:00 on the 16.03.1945 the Regiment continued its attack to the south so as to exploit the success it had achieved. The II./Geb.Jg.Rgt. 98 thrusted via Siliman against Felsögaics-Psz.-Susany-psz. Up until then enemy resistance was minimal. The first serious enemy resistance at Point 135.3 was smashed in a bold attack. Due to the difficult situation encountered by the left neighbouring regiment at Kisperjes, Göller’s Bataillon was dispatched via Point 130.3 to the north-south road south of Nyiri hegy so as to deny the Soviets the possibility of sending up reinforcements from the south while also blocking the path of Soviet forces coming from the north. The extremely flexible enemy artillery noticed this shifting of effort and engaged it with all their artillery located at Taska and Nikla. New enemy tank forces thrusted from the east and south towards the north, ejected the neighbouring Regiment from Nyiri hegy, and tried to encircle Göller’s Bataillon (located on Point 130.3) from the aforementioned village and Point 133.4. A counterthrust of the sister Regiment tied down the enemy in Nyiri hegy. The Bataillon positioned just to the right of Göller, the III./Geb.Jg.Rgt. 98, was positioned near Point 133.4. It cleared out the northern part of the Csömendie forest and brought the enemy tank thrust to a halt. Nonetheless the situation remained critical. 9 T-34 tanks stood at the forest edge east of Hill 133.4, and even larger enemy tank assembles were likewise reported between the southern part of Nyiri hegy and Koszod-mir. The continuous fire of the enemy AFVs and MGs continued to cause casualties in the ranks of the brave Bataillone. At just the right moment the Sturmgeschütz-Brigade of Hauptmann Berg, which was attached to the Regiment, arrived. A Batterie was sent to Point 133.4, the second at 130.3. Now the stalled friendly attack roared back into life, with the added support of the effective friendly fighter-bombers. In a short time 6 T-34s were destroyed in the sector of Göller’s Bataillon alone. Göller penetrated into the southern part of Nyiri hegy from the west, drove the enemy located there to the south and destroyed several self-propelled anti-tank guns. Nothing could stop Göller now. He stormed forwards with his Bataillon in an unstoppable advance. Koszod-mir fell in just half an hour. The Regiment now prepared for the last decisive assault against Csömend. The II./Geb.Jg.Rgt. 98 was sent against its northern edge from Point 123.3, the III.Geb.Jg.Rgt. 98 alongside the now arrived A.A. 54 was deployed against the western edge from the area southwest of Points 123.3 and 126.2. This decisive assault was to commence at 17:40. The friendly artillery promised a 15 minute artillery strike in support of this attack.

Göller pushed forward into the ditches on the northern edge of Csömend. He made the independent decision to utilize this favourable avenue of approach to a greater extent than ordered, and was directly in front of the heavily fortified Russian positions at the start of the friendly artillery barrage. The Bataillon began storming the enemy trenches with Göller at its head as the last rounds of the friendly artillery were coming down. The totally surprised enemy was overrun and suffered heavy losses. Extremely strong Russian blocking fire was launched against the northern edge of Csömend about 5 minutes after the attack, however it failed to hit Göller’s Bataillon. By now it had advanced into the middle of the village and further along the village edge.

The fight to clear out the widely dispersed village played out throughout the whole night in conditions of low visibility. However the decisive success had already been secured with the successful penetration into its northern edge.

With this the groundwork was set for a continued thrust towards the south, which had the aim of blocking the important road that led from Kaposvar towards the northwest and furthermore rolling up the Russian defensive system in the area south of Csömend from the east. Everyone in the Bataillon was aware that this decisive success would not have been possible without the extraordinary personal bravery of Hauptmann Göller. Wherever the attack came to a halt Göller would arrive and bring it back into motion with himself at the head of his men. The great bravery he demonstrated during this difficult and costly attack is all the more praiseworthy when one considers that only a few days before he had been wounded by a shell splinter to the back of his head (his 6th wound of the war) during a bout of urban combat, and was still significantly impaired by this throughout the aforementioned actions.

Enemy losses and captured materiel amounted to:

145 counted enemy dead
2 guns (12.2 cm)
7 guns (7.62 cm)
Several anti-tank guns/rifles
18 heavy machine-guns
Over 50 light machine-guns.”

His nomination by the troop was received by the Heerespersonalamt (HPA—Army Staff Office) on 13-4-1945. Missing are the statements by the commander-in-chief of the Heeresgruppe Süd and Major Joachim Domaschk. It is questionable whether the prepared Heerespersonalamt-Verleihungsvorschlag (HPA-VV—Army Staff Office Nomination Recommendation) Nr. 5088 was forwarded for presentation to the Führer because Domaschk's statement is missing. It is likely that Domaschk had requested the statement by the Heeresgruppe Süd which he had not yet received. According to the Association of Knight's Cross Recipients (OdR) the award was presented in accordance with the Dönitz-decree. According to the Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) this lacks legal justification. The presentation date was assigned by Walther-Peer Fellgiebel.He is listed by Von Seemen under the name of Siegmund Göller with a presentation date 21-4-1945. However Von Seemen indicates that: "No evidence in the German Federal Archives".[