Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Unteroffizier (Junior Officer)

Unit:

Gruppenführer 3./Pionier-Bataillon 196

Awarded on:

November 16th, 1944

On the 15.09.1944 Unteroffizier Lüke, with a tank destroyer team of 3 men, conducted a fierce lone defense of the position north of Kozobzne. On this day the rest of the Kompanie was pulling back in an only partially orderly withdrawal. Unteroffizier Lüke recognized that any successful Soviet attack would lead to a breakthrough, as no prepared line would in place to stop such a development. Thus, even though the German forces to his left and right had already pulled back and he himself had received the order to retreat as well, he defied such orders in order to hold off the attackers.

Through clever deception efforts he was able to convince the Soviets the German lines were being held in greater strength than was actually the case. By the evening of that day the attackers had concentrated their heavy weapons here and attacked again and again with infantry. Unteroffizer Lüke repelled these attacks every time. After his MG ran out of ammunition he resorted to defending his position with his machine-pistol, hand grenades and a rifle butt. The Soviets were unable to get past this position. At 18:00, having run out of ammunition, he and his troops pulled back under cover of darkness back to the rest of the Kompanie. By this time a new blocking line had been built and the Soviets only probed it weakly during the night.

Through his courageous efforts Unteroffizer Lüke thus prevented the Soviet penetration from expanding into a breakthrough. Without his resistance here the Soviet troops would have likely been able to push forward and preempt the German occupation of the second defensive line and the dominating heights behind it. This in turn would have endangered the important road junction at Kulaszne. But the delay of the Soviet advance for several hours brought the German defenders time to reorganize, bring up reinforcements and secure the second line.

For his decisive actions on this day Lüke would be decorated with the Knight’s Cross.