This is the story of the most highly decorated German regimental commander of World War II, known as the Panzer Graf (Armored Count).
An aristocratic Silesian, whose ancestors had faced the Mongols at Leipzig, Strachwitz first won the Iron Cross in the Great War. After fighting with the Freikorps and in between the wars, he was serving with the 1st Panzer Division when the Polish campaign inaugurated World War II. Leading from the front, his exploits as commander of a panzer battalion earned him further decorations during the French campaign.
Transferred to the newly formed 16th Panzer Division, Strachwitz participated in the invasion of Yugoslavia and then Operation Barbarossa where he earned the Knight's Cross. The following year, during the advance on Stalingrad, he won the Oak Leaves for destroying 270 Soviet tanks at Kalach. Now commander of a regiment, he reached the Volga and fought ferociously on the northern rim of Sixth Army s perimeter. Severely wounded during the battles, he was flown out of the Stalingrad pocket and was thus spared the fate of the rest of Sixth Army.
Upon recuperation, Strachwitz was named commander of the Grossdeutschland Division s panzer regiment, and won the Swords to the Knight's Cross during Manstein's counteroffensive at Kharkov. After fighting through Kursk and the ensuing defensive battles, he was transferred the next year to Army Group North where he won the Diamonds to the Knight's Cross at Narva.
For the rest of the war, sandwiched around a stay in hospital, Strachwitz commanded ad hoc battlegroups, and pioneered the formation of tank hunter brigades, consisting of deep-penetration infantry armed with panzerfausts and other demolitions who would ambush Soviet tanks.
Wounded 12 times during the war, and barely surviving a lethal car crash, Strachwitz was finally able to surrender to the Americans in May 1945.
Chapter 2. World War I and Captivity
Chapter 3. Post-war Freikorps Actions
Chapter 4. Joining the Nazi Party and SS
Chapter 5. The Inter-war Years and the Invasion of Poland
Chapter 6. The Battle of France
Chapter 7. Romania and Yugoslavia
Chapter 8. Operation Barbarossa
Chapter 9. The Battles of Dubno and Uman
Chapter 10. The Battle of Nikolayev
Chapter 11. The Battle of Kiev
Chapter 12. The Battle of Kalach
Chapter 13. The Road to Stalingrad
Chapter 14. Inside the Cauldron
Chapter 15. The Grossdeutschland Division
Chapter 16. The Third Battle of Kharkov
Chapter 19. The Battle of Kursk
Chapter 20. Operations Strachwitz
Chapter 21. The Battle of Tukum
Chapter 22. The Battle for Germany
Chapter 23. Captivity and Post-war Years
Appendix 1. The Awards of Hyazinth Graf von Strachwitz
Appendix 3. Civil Ranks and Titles of Nobility
Appendix 4. Holders of the Panzer Assault Badge in Gold
Appendix 5. Aces of the Panzerwaffe
Appendix 6. German Army List of Civil Courage