Allegiance Nazi Germany Years of service 1933–44 | Service/branch Waffen-SS Name Rudolf Saumenicht | |
Died 26 August 1944(1944-08-26) (aged 28)
Czarnov, Poland Rank Sturmbannfuhrer (Major) Unit 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf
5th SS Panzer Division Wiking | ||
Rudolf Saumenicht (13 February 1916 — 26 August 1944) was a Sturmbannfuhrer (Major), in the Waffen-SS during World War II who was awarded 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.
Rudolf Saumenicht was born on the 13 February 1916 at Harburg. He volunteered to join the SS and was selected to become an officer and posted to the SS-Junkerschule at Braunschweig. Upon graduation he was posted to the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf and participated in the Anschluss of Austria and the occupation of the Sudetenland.
He was awarded the Knight's Cross in October 1943, when with a kampfgruppe (battle group) consisting of one Panzer VI, five Panzer IVs and six Panzer IIIs, without orders, he launched a counterattack to halt a Russian breakthrough. Through this action 42 Soviet tanks were knocked out, for the loss of two tanks of their own.
Rudolf Saumenicht was transferred to the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking as the commander of the II. Battalion, 5th SS Panzer Regiment and was killed in action on 26 August 1944 near Czarnov, on the Bug River, Eastern Front.