Florian Berger - Face of Courage, The: The 98 Men Who Received the Knights Cross and the Close-Combat Clasp in Gold

The Stackpole Military History Series

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

Cavalry Raids of the Civil War Ghost, Thunderbolt, and Wizard

In the Lions Mouth

Picketts Charge

Witness to Gettysburg

WORLD WAR I

Doughboy War

WORLD WAR II

After D-Day

Airborne Combat

Armor Battles of the Waffen-SS, 194345

Armoured Guardsmen

Army of the West

Arnhem 1944

Australian Commandos

The B-24 in China

Backwater War

The Battle of France

The Battle of Sicily

Battle of the Bulge, Vol. 1

Battle of the Bulge, Vol. 2

Beyond the Beachhead

Beyond Stalingrad

The Black Bull

Blitzkrieg Unleashed

Blossoming Silk against the Rising Sun

Bodenplatte

The Brandenburger

Commandos

The Brigade Bringing the Thunder

The Canadian Army and the Normandy Campaign

Coast Watching in World War II

Colossal Cracks Condor

A Dangerous Assignment

D-Day Bombers

D-Day Deception

D-Day to Berlin

Destination Normandy

Dive Bomber!

A Drop Too Many

Eagles of the Third Reich

The Early Battles of Eighth Army

Eastern Front Combat

Europe in Flames

Exit Rommel

The Face of Courage

Fist from the Sky

Flying American Combat Aircraft of World War II

For Europe

Forging the Thunderbolt

For the Homeland

Fortress France

The German Defeat in the East, 194445

German Order of Battle, Vol. 1

German Order of Battle, Vol. 2

German Order of Battle, Vol. 3

The Germans in Normandy

Germanys Panzer Arm in World War II

GI Ingenuity

Goodwood

The Great Ships

Grenadiers

Guns against the Reich

Hitlers Nemesis

Hold the Westwall

Infantry Aces

In the Fire of the Eastern Front

Iron Arm

Iron Knights

Kampfgruppe Peiper at the Battle of the Bulge

The Key to the Bulge

Knights Cross Panzers

Kursk Luftwaffe Aces

Luftwaffe Fighter Ace

Luftwaffe Fighter-Bombers over Britain

Luftwaffe Fighters and Bombers

Massacre at Tobruk

Mechanized Juggernaut or Military Anachronism?

Messerschmitts over Sicily

Michael Wittmann, Vol. 1

Michael Wittmann, Vol. 2

Mountain Warriors

The Nazi Rocketeers

Night Flyer / Mosquito Pathfinder

No Holding Back

On the Canal

Operation Mercury

Packs On! Panzer Ace

Panzer Aces II

Panzer Aces III

Panzer Commanders of the Western Front

Panzergrenadier Aces

Panzer Gunner

The Panzer Legions

Panzers in Normandy

Panzers in Winter

The Path to Blitzkrieg

Penalty Strike

Poland Betrayed

Red Road from Stalingrad

Red Star under the Baltic

Retreat to the Reich

Rommels Desert Commanders

Rommels Desert War

Rommels Lieutenants

The Savage Sky

Ship-Busters

The Siege of Kstrin

The Siegfried Line

A Soldier in the Cockpit

Soviet Blitzkrieg

Stalins Keys to Victory

Surviving Bataan and Beyond

T-34 in Action

Tank Tactics

Tigers in the Mud

Triumphant Fox

The 12th SS, Vol. 1

The 12th SS, Vol. 2

Twilight of the Gods

Typhoon Attack

The War against Rommels Supply Lines

War in the Aegean

Wolfpack Warriors

Zhukov at the Oder

THE COLD WAR / VIETNAM

Cyclops in the Jungle

Expendable Warriors

Fighting in Vietnam

Flying American Combat Aircraft: The Cold War

Here There Are Tigers

Land with No Sun

MiGs over North Vietnam

Phantom Reflections

Street without Joy

Through the Valley

WARS OF AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Never-Ending Conflict

The Rhodesian War

GENERAL MILITARY HISTORY

Carriers in Combat

Cavalry from Hoof to Track

Desert Battles

Guerrilla Warfare

Ranger Dawn

Sieges

Copyright 2007 by J. J. Fedorowicz Publishing, Inc.

Published in paperback in 2011 by

STACKPOLE BOOKS

5067 Ritter Road Mechanicsburg, PA 17055

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Originally published by J. J. Fedorowicz Publishing in 2007. This edition published by arrangement with J. J. Fedorowicz Publishing. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to J. J. Fedorowicz Publishing, 104 Browning Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3K 0L7.

Cover design by Tracy Patterson

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Berger, Florian.

[Ritterkreuztrger mit Nahkampfspange in Gold. English]

The face of courage : the 98 men who received the Knights Cross and the

Close-Combat Clasp in Gold / Florian Berger.

p. cm.(Stackpole military history series)

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-8117-1055-8

1. World War, 19391945MedalsGermany. 2. Military decorationsGermanyHistory20th century. 3. Ritterkreuz. 4. SoldiersGermanyRegisters. I. Title.

D796.5.G3B47 2011

940.54'6dc22

2011016586

eBook ISBN: 9780811744904

Contents

Editors Notes

Modern American Army terminology is generally used wherever an equivalent term is applicable. In cases where there may be nuances where we think the reader might enjoy learning the German term, we have included it with an explanation.

In cases where the German term is commonly understood or there is no good, direct English equivalent, we have tended to retain the original German term, e.g., Schwerpunkt (point of main effort), Auftragstaktik (mission-type orders) etc.

In an attempt to highlight the specific German terminology, we have italicized German-language terms and expressions. Since most of the terms are repeated several times, we have not included a glossary. There is a at the back of the book listing German Army, Waffen-SS and US Army equivalents.

Unit designations follow standard German practise, i.e., an Arabic numeral before the slash (e.g., 1./SS-Aufklrungs-Abteilung 1) indicates a company or battery formation. A Roman numeral indicates the battalion within the regiment.

The same hold true when discussing Luftwaffe formations. An Arabic numeral before the slash (e.g., 1./Schlachtgeschwader 3) refers to the first squadron (Staffel) of the wing. A Roman numeral would indicate the group (Gruppe) within the wing (Geschwader).

I cant believe that he survived all this without being severely wounded. He often told me that he did not have a single guardian angel, instead, he had several

The widow of George Wenzelburger in a letter to the author

People often ask me, what it was like during hand-to-hand combat. To my recollection, the trench warfare in East Prussia in 1944 was especially harsh and unpredictable. It was difficult to identify in the trenches who was German or who was Russian. I was in trench fighting once, when I suddenly found myself facing a soldier. We only identified each other in the nick of time on the basis of the submachine guns, and no one fired. Yes, it was a question of survival back then

Werner Wolf, Hauptmann with 54 days of close combat, in a letter to the author

Brought to the rear by a comrade, he waved-off the approaching medic, shook his head, and asked for some strong coffee. Afterwards, and in all seriousness, he simply headed back in the direction of the main line of resistance!