Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant)

Unit:

Zugführer 1./Pionier-Bataillon 36

Awarded on:

February 23rd, 1944

During the attack of the Pionier-Bataillon 36 northwest of Hetschiza, Leutnant Willms realized an opportunity in the middle of the battle due to the confusion of the defenders. Taking two squads with him, he pushed into a village occupied by the Soviets and pushed through it an a bitter house to house fight, finally reaching the bridge south of the town. This bridge was not an objective of his Bataillon, but the armoured forces that were due to capture it had been held up due to hostile resistance and Willms saw the need to preserve this crossing for the continuation of the attack.

Having occupied the bridge, the Soviets realized only a few German soldiers were present in the area and began to launch counterattacks supported by artillery fire. However Willms and his handful of troops were able to beat off these attacks, while never losing focus of their primary goal, the bridge. When three Soviet soldiers tried to detonate the explosives on the bridge Willms shot them down with his machine-pistol. Afterwards he crawled to the bridge under protection of a friendly MG and disabled the explosive charges.

Following continued Soviet attacks, Willms' group of soldiers was whittled down to only 4 men, but despite the desperate situation Willms and his troops were able to hang on until reinforcements finally arrived in the shape of other elements of the Bataillon as well as the newly arrived friendly Panzers and Sturmgeschütze.

Through these actions Leutnant Willms had thus ensured the bridge fell intact into the hands of the Germans. This was decisive as the loss of at least a day that would've resulted due to the bridge's destruction was avoided. For this achievement Willms was decorated with the Knight's Cross.