Nickname(s) Bobby Years of service 1941–45 Name Balthasar Woll | Battles and wars World War II | |
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Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross Iron Cross 1st ClassIron Cross 2nd Class Eastern Front MedalTank Destruction BadgeWound Badge in Black | ||
Balthasar "Bobby" Woll (1 September 1922 – 18 March 1996) was an Oberscharfuhrer in the Waffen-SS who was also awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
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Biography
Woll was born in Wemmetsweiler on 1 March 1922, (died 18 March 1996).
After an apprenticeship as an electrician, Woll reported on 15 August 1941 as a volunteer for the Waffen-SS. He was posted as a machine gunner to the 3rd Company, 1st SS Totenkopf Infantry Regiment. He was wounded during the fighting at the Demyansk Pocket and sent to recuperate to Germany. He was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class and the Wound Badge in black in July 1942.
Woll then retrained as a tank gunner and at the end of 1942 was posted to the 13th Heavy Tank Company, SS Panzer Regiment 1, 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler where he met his tank commander Michael Wittmann. Following Operation Citadel, in September 1943, Woll was awarded the Iron Cross 1st class.
Woll was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in January 1944. In October 1944 he was promoted to Oberscharfuhrer.
When Wittmann was killed in Normandy in 1944, Woll was severely wounded and in a field hospital, but survived the war.