Jürgen Gauss – 12. Panzer-Division

Original Postwar Signature on a Postwar Photocopy of Jürgen Gauß. Hauptmann Jürgen Gauß (18.03.1918 † 04.09.1996) earned the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on January 27, 1945 as Oberleutnant of the I. Bataillon/ Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 25 and the Ritterkreuz on March 28, 1945 as Hauptmann und Führer of a Kampfgruppe of the 12. Panzer-Division. Good condition. Measuring: 8,9×12,4cm. Comes with an extra signed letter.

Knight’s Cross: “The Führer has awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross to Hauptmann Jürgen Gauss, born in Stettin, leader of an armoured Kampfgruppe in a Pomeranian Panzer-Division: During the last days of the Fifth Battle of Courland the Russians achieved a deep penetration near Frauenburg with strong tank/infantry forces, and threatened an important railway line. Two motorized enemy battalions pushed forward into a patch of forest with about 15 AFVs, and another 30-40 enemy tanks occupied a different forest. Thus Hauptmann Gauss commenced a counterattack with his numerically inferior Kampfgruppe. He smashed the foremost enemy armoured spearheads, destroyed the bulk of the escorting infantry, drove far beyond the ordered objective and cleared a second Soviet position in a swift attack, meaning that a village captured by the enemy as well as the edge of a forest was retaken. During this bold strike the Russians sustained bloody losses, which included 17 tanks, 4 anti-tank guns and numerous light infantry weapons destroyed. This was achieved with minimal friendly armour losses. These heavy losses forced the enemy to suspend their breakthrough attempts here.”