Franz Staudegger

Franz Staudegger
Born 12 February 1921
Kärnten, Austria
Died 16 May 1995 (aged 74)
Frankfurt, Germany
Allegiance  Nazi Germany
Service/branch Waffen-SS
Years of service 1939–45
Rank Oberscharführer (staff sergeant)
Unit 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Iron Cross 1st Class
Iron Cross 2nd Class
Eastern Front Medal
Relations died childless
Other work railway official
insurance clerk

Franz Staudegger (12 February 1921 – 16 May 1995) was an Oberscharführer (sergeant) in the Waffen-SS and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

As an Unterscharführer, (equivalent to corporal) Franz Staudegger was the first 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) Tiger tank commander to win the Knight's Cross.[1]

War experience

On 7 July 1943, a single Tiger I tank commanded by Oberscharführer Staudegger from the 2nd Platoon, 13th Panzer Company, 1st SS Panzer Regiment LSSAH engaged a Soviet group of some 50 T-34 tanks around Psyolknee in the southern sector of the Battle of Kursk. Staudegger used up his entire ammunition supply and destroyed 22 Soviet tanks, while the remaining T-34s retreated. For this achievement, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross.[2]

He was also summoned to the Führer Headquarters to give Adolf Hitler a detailed account of the tank battle.[3]

After doing that he was maybe the best Tiger Commander of the 2 World War

Staudegger ended the war in the 501st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion which fought in the Battle of Normandy in 1944 under the command of Michael Wittmann, and was later involved in the Battle of the Bulge.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "SS.501.panzer".
  2. ↑ "achtung.panzer".
  3. ↑ Michael Wittmann and the Waffen SS Tiger Commanders of the Leibstandarte in ... by Patrick Agte p. 123