Heinrich Gottke
| Heinrich Gottke | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birth date | 7 July 1921 |
| Place of birth | Flensburg, Province of Schleswig-Holstein, German Reich |
| Death date | 12 August 1998 (aged 77) |
| Place of death | Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany |
| Allegiance |  National Socialist Germany West Germany
|
| Service/branch |  Waffen-SS Bundeswehr
|
| Years of service | 1940–45 1958–69 |
| Rank | SS-Oberscharführer Hauptmann (Captain) |
| Unit | 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Awards | Iron Cross Eastern Front Medal Wound Badge Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross |
Heinrich Gottke (7 July 1921 – 12 August 1998) was a German NCO of the Waffen-SS and officer of the Bundeswehr, finally Captain as well as recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in WWII.
Contents
Life
Heinrich Gottke was born in 1921 in Flensburg as the son of a wheelwright. He was drafted into the SS Pioneer Battalion on 28 February 1940. On 9 April 1940, he was transferred from the Pioniere to the 3rd Company of the Training and Replacement Battalion of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. After completing training on 30 August 1940, SS-Kanonier Gottke was posted to the 6th (Flak) Battery/II Battalion/Artillery Regiment LAH. He remained with the Leibstandarte during the Balkans Campaign (Operation Marita) and the attack against the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa). From 30 March 1942 to 31 August 1942, he was stationed with the SS Flak Reserve Regiment in Arolsen. On 1 September 1942, he was posted to the Staff Battery of the 3rd SS Flak Battalion/3rd SS Panzer Division ''Totenkopf'' under the command of Otto Kron.
From 11 June to 19 December 1943, he served in the Flak Training and Replacement Regiment in Munich and was then transferred to the 3rd Battery of the Flak Battalion 17 "Götz von Berlichingen" on 20 December 1943, where he became a aiming circle NCO and forward observer from 1 July 1944. He was wounded on 18 September 1944 but soon returned to the 3rd Battery. On 27 December 1944, he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and was subsequently promoted to SS-Oberscharführer. His last position was as a platoon commander in this battery.
Knight's Cross
Gottke’s Knight’s Cross recommendation for his actions during a major American attack at the Western Front reads as follows:
- “Despite tough and determined resistance, the enemy’s far numerically superior forces nonetheless succeeded in crossing the Blies river to the northwest and southeast of Habkirchen during the fighting on 13 and 14 December 1944. Their goal was to advance along the ridges to the right and left of the gap from Habkirchen to Bebelsheim, taking one patch of forest after another in order to thrust through to the western defences (Westwall) across more open terrain. The control of Hill 335 (northeast of Habkirchen) was thereby of decisive importance. The enemy thus launched a battalion-strength attack against the hill on the morning of the 15 December 1944. The attack was supported by 8 Panzer deployed along the western edge of Blies-Ebersing. Our own infantry was almost at the end of their rope, and the danger of a breakthrough was therefore very distinct. One man who was fully conscious of this danger was SS-Unterscharführer Gottke, a forward observer who was directing the fire of the SS-Flak-Abteilung 17 (now employed in the ground role) from an observation post in the vicinity of Point 335. The fate of this enemy attack would depend on whether he could effectively direct his fire against the enemy. He succeeded. The effect of his fire was so good that the enemy was forced to fall back to their jump-off position after they had sustained heavy losses. They repeated their attack at around midday, but were once again repulsed thanks to Gottke’s good fire control. Gottke realized that the enemy would launch a third attack in the afternoon with renewed vigor after they had regrouped their forces and received reinforcements. As he did not have the best field of vision from his current observation post, he made the decision to occupy a different one that offered him a better overview of the battlefield. He worked his way to the village edge of Habkirchen and set up a new observation post there, right in the rear of the enemy, all while undeterred by the risk that the enemy would spot him. The enemy now attacked with strong forces, and as they did so Gottke brought down the fire of both the Flak Battalion and the entire Artillery Regiment 17 onto his own general area despite the risk this posed for his own safety. He conducted himself with bravery and steadfastness as the enemy attack was smashed. When he was finally spotted and engaged by the enemy, he did not flee, but rather defended his own observation post. The result was that this third attack by the enemy battalion was also smashed due to his decisiveness, steadfastness, outstanding bravery and ruthless devotion to duty. With this the enemy’s certain breakthrough was prevented.”[1]
Bundeswehr
After the war and his time as a POW, he joined the new Bundeswehr on 1 July 1958, initially serving in the Territorial Defense Command until 1959, before transferring to Military District Command II. He then served in the 11th Medical Battalion. This was followed by a position in the Guard Battalion at the Federal Ministry of Defense, where, from 1964, he served as a training officer (San) at the Bundeswehr Medical Center in Bonn, working for the Federal Ministry of Defense's Self-Protection Commissioner. He conducted 254 courses with 6,398 participants from all military branches in Bonn, as well as from other federal ministries. Captain Gottke retired on 25 December 1969 and moved to the private sector.
Awards and decorations
- Iron Cross (1939), 2nd and 1st Class
- 2nd Class on 20 July 1941
- 1st Class on 14 December 1944
- Winter Battle in the East 1941–42 Medal
- Wound Badge (1939) in Black
- Crimea Shield (Krimschild)
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 27 December 1944 as SS-Unterscharführer and Vorgeschobener Beobachter (forward observer) in the 3rd Company/SS-Flak-Abteilung 17/17th SS Panzergrenadier Division "Götz von Berlichingen"/XIII. SS-Armeekorps/1st Army/Army Group G
Gallery
- Https://en.metapedia.org/wiki/File:Heinrich Gottke, 1991.jpg
Further reading
- Hans Stöber: Die Flugabwehrverbände der Waffen-SS – Aufstellung, Gliederung, Luftverteidigung und Einsätze an den Fronten , Preußisch Oldendorf 1984
