Hans Baumann (Waffen-SS)

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class="fn" colspan="2" style="background-color: #B0C4DE; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle;" | Hans Baumann
colspan="2" style="background-color: #B0C4DE; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle;" |
colspan="2" style="text-align: center; font-size: 90%; border-bottom: 1px solid #aaa; line-height: 1.5em;" | File:SS-Rottenführer Hans Baumann.png
Birth date 29 April 1923
Death date 24 November 2022(2022-11-24) (aged 99)
Place of death Stolberg (Rheinland) near Aachen, Germany
Allegiance File:Flag of the NSDAP (1920–1945).svg National Socialist Germany
Service/branch File:Flag Schutzstaffel.png Waffen-SS
Years of service 1940–1944
Rank SS-Unterscharführer
Unit 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Iron Cross

Hans Baumann (1923–2022) was a German NCO of the Waffen-SS, finally SS-Unterscharführer and Panzer-Kommandant in WWII. He died peacefully only five months before his 100th birthday as one of the very last living members of the Leibstandarte.

Life

WWII

Baumann joined, with written parental consent, the SS-Verfügungsdivision in 1940 and gained his first experiences in the endphase of the Battle of France. During the Operation Barbarossa he served in the Leibstandarte SS „Adolf Hitler“ (Aufklärungsabteilung), then in the 5th Company/II. Abteilung/SS-Panzer-Regiment LSSAH (since 22 October 1943 known as SS-Panzer-Regiment 1 LSSAH) and in the SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung 1 „LSSAH“.[1] He fought under divisional commander Sepp Dietrich during the Battle of Charkow, during Fall Achse after Italy's betrayal (his friend Kurt Sametreiter received the Knight's Cross at this time) and then again on the Eastern Front.

In the spring of 1944, his tank destroyer detachment was transferred to France and incorporated into the new 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. With the SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung 12 of the 12. SS-Panzer-Division “Hitlerjugend”[2] he took part in the Battle of Normandy, and in the Battle of the Bulge commanding Jagdpanzer IV. Then, again transferred to the Eastern Front, he was wounded at the Gran beachhead (Gran-Brückenkopf) in Hungary.

Final struggle

After costly retreat and defensive battles (Battle of Vienna (1945) in German), his path led him to Allied captivity, from which he was released in March 1947.

Post-war

In the post-war time, he recorded his memories for posterity in the book "Mein Einsatz als Panzerjäger".

Awards and decorations (excerpt)

Gallery

References

  1. The SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung 1 LSSAH was resurrected after Normandy in November 1944 in Sennelager from the SS-Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 1.
  2. Namenliste 12. SS-Panzer-Division “HJ”