Hans Siegel

Siegfried "Hans" Siegel (25 July 1918 — 18 April 2002) was a Sturmbannführer (Major) in the Waffen-SS during World War II. He received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, which was awarded to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership by Nazi Germany during World War II.

Early life
The only son of Ernst and Liddy Siegel, Siegel was born on 25 July 1918 in Böckau in the Erzgebirge. In his youth he was the leader of the Hitler Youth in his village and later took on the role of social secretary. He also completed voluntary military training at school and at the local sports ground with the 15th SS Totenkopf Standarte.

In 1938, after completing his six-month compulsory labour service, he volunteered to join the SS-VT (SS service number 293261) and was assigned to the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Regiment (mot).

World War II
Siegel took part in the Polish Campaign in 1939, in command of the Heavy Granatwerfer (the standard German medium mortar) platoon, 12th (MG) (Machine Gun) Company. He was then selected to become an officer and sent to the SS-Junkerschule at Bad Tölz. Upon graduation in 1940 he was posted to the 4th (MG) Company, SS Training and Reserve Battalion, LSSAH.

In 1941 he was promoted to Untersturmführer (Second Lieutenant) and in December posted to command the 1st platoon, 3rd Battery, 1st SS Sturmgeschütz (Assault Gun, StuG) Battalion, LSSAH, fighting in Russia in the Taganrog sector beside the Azov Sea.

He took part in the Battle of Kharkov in March 1943, as part of Kampfgruppe (Battle Group) Peiper, which was based on the III. 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment, supported by the 3rd SS Sturmgeschütz Battery, under the command of Karl Rettlinger. Siegel was wounded by a sniper during the attack. He was wounded in the head and back which had damaged the 3 and 4 Vertebra in his spine resulting in paralysis from his chest to his legs. He was evacuated first by a Fieseler Storch to Poltava and then by a Ju-52 to Kiev, and then by rail to Stettin, and finally to Berlin. He was hospitalised for six months and after recovery was classified as unfit for front line service.

In the Autumn of 1943 he was given command of the SS Training and Reserve Battalion Truppenübungsplatz in Krakow until January 1944, when he was posted to the Panzer Division Hitlerjugend and given command of the 8th Company, II Battalion, at the request of Lieutenant Colonel Max Wünsche.

During the Normandy Invasion Siegel and his company were always in the thick of the fighting. He was wounded for the fifth time on 27 June 1944, when his Panzer was hit and he received severe burns on his face and hands. He refused to be evacuated to the rear and remained with the Division.

He was awarded the Knight's Cross for his bravery and leadership in Normandy, in the Caen sector at Le Mesnil-Patry and Cheux, when on 27 June his company destroyed 37 Allied tanks, 11 of which Siegel destroyed himself.

After a short stay in a field hospital he returned to the division and was given command of the II.Battalion, 12th SS Panzer Regiment after its previous commander Karl Heinz Prinz was killed in action in August 1944.

During the fighting in spring 1945, in the Esztergom Bridgehead, in preparation for Operation Spring Awakening, the Battalion committed itself to a night attack during the night of 7 and 8 March, and overcame a Russian anti-tank force within the first two kilometers advancing towards Puszta Antal which is six kilometers away. Siegel led the remaining Panzer IVs of the regiment in a number of small actions, until the division was forced to withdraw. He commanded the rear guard, and on 24 March in a duel with a T-34 he received his ninth wound and was evacuated by rail to St Pölten. After treatment for damage to his knee he returned to his battalion on crutches with a cast around his knee.

Siegel remained with the Division and was wounded again on 8 May 1945, after sustaining a shattered left elbow. His arm was amputated in a Russian hospital.

Post war
After his release from Russian captivity Siegel returned to Austria, but moved to West Germany after it became known to the occupying power he was an ex-SS officer and they tried to arrest him. He went on to study at the university of Emden and studied architecture at the university of Stuttgart. After graduating he worked successfully as an architect and formed his own company. He also took part in battlefield tours and had a high reputation with the Staff College of the Canadian Armed Forces, participating in 19 battlefield tours going over the battlefields that the 12th SS Panzer Division had fought over, his last tour being in 2001.

Hans Siegel died on 18 April 2002 in Andernach.