Allegiance Germany Signature Years of service 1936–45 Name Ernst Barkmann | Awards Full list Other work Fire Chief, Mayor Rank Oberscharfuhrer | |
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Battles/wars Operation BarbarossaOperation CitadelArdennes Offensive Died June 27, 2009, Kisdorf, Germany Battles and wars Operation Barbarossa, Battle of Kursk, Battle of the Bulge | ||
Bolt Action CP: Tank War- Barkmann vs. Poole
Ernst Barkmann (later Ernst Schmuck-Barkmann) (25 August 1919 – 27 June 2009) was a German tank commander in the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II. He is known for the actions undertaken at “Barkmann’s corner,” in which it was claimed he halted a major U.S. Army armoured advance in Normandy on 27 July 1944, for which action he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
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SS career
Barkmann joined a unit of the SS-Verfügungstruppe in 1939, and served during the occupation of Poland. He was posted for a time as an instructor of SS volunteers in the Netherlands. In winter 1942/43 he was posted to the SS Division Das Reich on the Eastern Front, with which he took part in the Third Battle of Kharkov.
In February 1944, Das Reich was ordered to France to form a part of the 5th Panzer Army, the armoured reserve for the expected Allied invasion. Following Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of June 1944, the division reached the front in early July and fought against the American forces near Saint-Lô. Barkmann was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Barkmann participated in the Ardennes Offensive in December 1944 and the fighting on the Eastern Front in the spring of 1945.
Disputed actions
Barkmann's reputed actions in Normandy were challenged by the military historian Steven Zaloga in his 2015 work Armored Champion: The Top Tanks of World War II. He analysed the Allied war records, and was unable to locate the losses claimed by Barkmann. He attributed the narrative of Barkmann's corner to the "propaganda efforts of the Waffen-SS".
Awards
