Alfred Becker Alfred Becker ( born 20 August 1899 in Krefeld ) , was a German engineer and artillery officer who served during the First and Second World Wars . A mechanical engineer , he was best known for being the primary person responsible for converting captured vehicles and weapons into usable instruments for the German army . Using his engineering and organizational skills , he created a facility in France to convert large numbers of captured French equipment into German mobile guns , rocket launchers and mortars . Becker was Germany ' s expert at acquisition and conversion of captured military equipment . In addition to creating the conversion program in France , Becker was at the same time the commanding officer of the Sturmgeschütz - Abt . 200 , a motorized assault gun battalion of the 21st Panzer Division . He commanded this unit during its re - equipment in 1944 , through the battles fought in Normandy and the retreat across France and Belgium , until his capture in Alsace on the French / German border in December 1944 . First World War . During the First World War Becker was an artillery officer , and was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd and 1st class in 1914 . Interwar period . Becker obtained a doctorate in mechanical engineering and was co - owner of the company Volkmann & Co . in Krefeld . He formed a small manufacturing firm , Alfred Becker AG of Bielefeld . In 1938 Becker ' s firm was given the task of making a small production run of the Hummel mobile artillery piece by secondary conversion of the existing Panzer Mk IV chassis . The Hummel was a self - propelled 150 mm howitzer based upon the Panzer IV . It followed the development of the lighter Wespe , which was based on the Panzer Mk II chassis and mounted the 105 mm leFH howitzer . Both vehicles were intended to provide the panzer forces with mobile howitzer batteries . Comparing the two , the larger Hummel provided more room to work the howitzer , carried a significantly heavier gun and showed better cross - country mobility . Becker ' s firm was contracted to convert redundant Panzer IV chassis to provide an interim vehicle prior to the primary production of the Hummel . His company delivered 12 vehicles of this type in 1938 , and a further 108 in 1939 before Becker was called away to assume command of an artillery battalion . Second World War . At the start of the war Becker was called up to serve in the 227th Infantry Division " Rhine - Westphalian " , formed during the 3rd wave mobilization in August 1939 in Krefeld . He was assigned as an officer to the 15th Artillery Regiment , later the 227th Artillery Regiment of the division . During the fighting in Poland the division served with the 5th Army performing border protection in the Eifel region . In December 1939 it was assigned to the 6th Army and became a part of Army Group B in preparation for " Fall Gelb " . The following spring the division formed part of the 18th Army engaged in the offensive into the Netherlands and Belgium . The division advanced through Enschede and Deventer , before being held up for three days at the Grebbe line . The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler , an SS regiment under Kurt Meyer attached to the 227th for the campaign , created the breakthrough at the Grebbe line . The 227th then crossed the Leie and continued its advance , taking Amersfoort just before the Dutch capitulation . All guns in Becker ' s artillery regiment were pulled by horsedrawn limbers and caissons , which was standard practice for the infantry divisions of the Heer . After reaching a Dutch artillery depot Becker discovered a large number of vehicles which he believed he could use . Becker equipped both his artillery battery and his division ' s reconnaissance battalion with motorized transport for their guns . After this he began to consider the benefits that could be derived from mounting the guns directly onto the motorized carriages , as he had done with the pre - production Hummel conversions . In July 1940 following the victory in France , the 227th Division performed occupation , security and coastal defense duties along the Normandy coast near Le Havre . Over the next six months using an arc welder , a team from his battalion and his own engineering and manufacturing skills , Becker fashioned his own unit of self - propelled artillery , making use of the under - carriages of the Vickers Mk . 6 to motorize the battalion ' s 105 mm leFH 16 howitzers . In December 1941 the 227th Division was transferred to Army Group North on the Eastern Front . The division became engaged in continual fighting there in and around Leningrad . The German Army High Command , the Oberkommando des Heeres or OKH , became aware of Becker ' s creations and in early 1942 transferred Becker to Alkett in Berlin - Spandau to help them create self - propelled artillery pieces , using captured French Lorraine Schlepper ammunition carriers . Becker converted these vehicles to carry the 150 mm sFH 18 . On 2 September 1942 Becker was allowed to demonstrate them in the garden of the Reich Chancellery , with Adolf Hitler in attendance . This vehicle met with great approval from the OKH . The vehicles were shipped to North Africa to supplement Erwin Rommel ’ s Afrika Korps in the desert . Following this demonstration Hitler commissioned Becker to collect all reusable equipment in France and ordered him to convert them into enough usable equipment to form " at least " two panzer divisions . Paris Baukommando Becker . The task before Becker was enormous . There was a huge quantity of allied military vehicles throughout France in various states and conditions . A number of the French armoured vehicles that were undamaged had already been in use , either as training vehicles or sent abroad to equip various units , usually to an Axis allied nation or a police unit , but these vehicles were often limited by a small , one man turret that mounted an underpowered gun . They were unsuitable for combat against such weapons as the Russian T - 34 . As to the wrecks and other vehicles left behind , though a large number of these French tanks in various states of condition still remained , these vehicles were of limited usefulness for combat in 1942 . Up to this point , their primary use to the German army was as a symbol of their victory in France . Though these were lightly armoured and undergunned by combat standards of the day , they were fully tracked vehicles that Becker believed could be usefully exploited . In addition to the abandoned and wrecked French and British tanks , Becker had access to a large number of soft - skinned French half - tracked vehicles such as the SOMUA MCG and the smaller Unic P 107 . Setting up headquarters at Maisons - Laffitte , the vehicles were collected at the Hotchkiss works near Paris , where Becker established his Baukommando Becker ( Construction Unit Becker ) . Becker ' s basic idea for the conversion was straightforward in principle : Becker produced a prototype of the new superstructure out of wood , which was sent to Alkett . Alkett then produced the steel superstructures for the run . These were then sent back to France , where Becker had completed the engineering plans for the conversion . The Hotchkiss assembly line was then brought up again , the conversion process was streamlined and a run of assembly was completed . The vehicles where repaired by importance , all of one type in one step . All remaining spare parts were stored away . Any remaining material was shipped back to the steelworks . The innovative aspect of the work was the battle value assessment of the vehicles , determining the most effective future use of each vehicle type as part of the German war effort in relation to the existing demands . This was then coupled with an accurate classification of each model . The vehicles were divided into three groups : those requiring minor repairs and refits , those requiring major repair and refits , and those that were beyond use and were to be used as a source for spare parts . Becker was assigned an engineering staff , who set about their work of modifying what was available , and soon they were producing a variety of innovative designs . Among those vehicles being used was a considerable number of Lorraine tractors , about 360 of which had fallen into German hands . Due to its reliability , the Lorraine was well suited to the maneuvre warfare battles the Germans favoured . They were first used as tractors to pull German artillery pieces , and were renamed the " Lorraine Schlepper ( f ) " . As the Germans themselves had not produced a similar vehicle , the Lorraine tractors filled a requirement for fully tracked artillery and supply vehicles , badly needed due to the extremely poor road conditions in Russia . From 1942 through 1943 Becker salvaged all usable tank wreckage he found in France , creating some 1 , 800 armoured fighting vehicles . From July to August , 1942 , Becker converted 170 armoured vehicles into the Marder I , a 75 mm self - propelled anti - tank gun , plus a further 106 chassis were converted into self - propelled artillery pieces , with 94 conversions to carry the 150 mm howitzer , and 12 more to carry the 105 mm . In addition , he produced 30 artillery observation vehicles , using this same chassis . During this time , Becker ' s old unit , the 227th Infantry Division , was engaged in heavy fighting near Leningrad during the Red Army ' s main offensive at Sinyavino Heights and the south shore of Lake Ladoga . From August through September 1942 the division suffered heavy casualties in what was called the Battle of Lake Ladoga . Becker was concerned for his men in the 15th Artillery Regiment . For the conversion work Becker was attempting , these men understood the theory and practice of the conversions , and had combat experience of the weapons in action as well . Becker considered them ideal to his purposes . He requested the transfer of his surviving men from the 15th Artillery back to his command in Paris , and this took place at Christmas 1942 . As part of the agreement , Baustab Becker provided the 227th Infantry Division with some 20 armored artillery vehicles . In 1943 Becker began converting the Hotchkiss H35 and H39 light tanks , which had carried a 37 mm gun , and refit them to mount a 7 . 5 cm PaK40 anti - tank gun or 10 . 5 cm leFH16 howitzer assault gun . These were the units that were used extensively in the equipping of the reformed 21st Panzer Division , and can be seen in images of Rommel reviewing the unit in May 1944 . Another major project Becker undertook was the work he did on the soft - skinned French half - tracked vehicles , the SOMUA MCG and the smaller Unic P 107 . Both of these vehicles he armoured to make them more survivable in the battle environment . The SOMUA MCG he used as a platform for a number of weapons , including the Nebelwerfer , the Vielfachwerfer , and the Reihenwerfer , his own creation of a battery of up to twenty 81 mm mortars . The smaller Unix P107 light halftrack was also armoured and used primarily as an SPW as a substitute for the Sd . Kfz . 251 . On March 15 , 1943 Major Becker ' s unit , the gepanzerte Artillerie Brigade of Schnelle Brigade West , participated in a memorial to the men of 15 Batterie Artillerie Regiment 227 , killed in action during the Leningrad siege of 1941 - 42 . Becker and his officers laid wreaths in their memory . In the spring of 1943 Albert Speer and his entourage paid a visit to General Feuchtinger , Major Becker , and the Matford factory which was one of the facilities involved in the conversion work . Film taken at this time show the visitors examining a French FCM tank and a French Somua halftrack , both converted to carry the 7 . 5 cm PaK 40 anti - tank gun . They also examined a Somua halftrack fitted with the Reichenwerfer , a rack of 32 French 81 mm motars and a Renault UE Beobachtungspanzer . Over the course of 1943 a number of other high ranking German officers visited Baukommando Becker , including Gerd von Rundstedt , and in August 1943 , Heinz Guderian . Schnelle Division West . Edgar Feuchtinger was appointed commander of a forming unit called Schnelle Division West ( Fast Division West ) . The " schnelle " divisions were conceived to be highly mobile units that would be stationed in France to serve as a rapid response force . Being highly motorized , they were to be able to cover a great deal of ground to reach any point of invasion . " Schnelle " divisions were to be more completely motorized than were panzer divisions . In 1943 German industry was already hard pressed to produce the arms and vehicles needed to replace losses on the East front . As vehicles were in short supply , Feuchtinger turned to Becker , whom he had known from before the war , to generate the equipment needed to motorize his unit . The brigade was equipped with captured French built tanks , which were undergunned by 1943 standards . Becker produced a great many vehicles for Schnelle Brigade West , soon to be expanded into a division . In the summer of 1943 Feuchtinger gave Becker command of the Sturmgeschützabteilung 200 , a part of his rebuilding 21st Panzer Division . Becker equipped the unit with his conversion assault guns . In addition , he provided the division with rocket carrying armoured half - tracks , and produced the armoured carriers that motorized one of the two infantry regiments of the 21st Division . This unit was motorized with armoured Unic P 107s that had been produced at Baustocommando Becker . By the time of the Allied invasion in June 1944 , Becker had built his assault gun battalion , the StuG abteilung 200 , up to five batteries of 10 vehicles each : four 7 . 5 cm PaK40 tank destroyers and six 10 . 5 cm leFH16 self - propelled howitzers . In early 1944 , Becker ' s combat unit , Sturmgeschütz Abteilung 200 , moved to its new deployment area near Mauron in Brittany . The unit ' s headquarters were in the town of Voves , south - east of Chartres . Later that spring Erwin Rommel , the new commander of Heeres Group B which was the portion of the fractured German command structure that had authority over regular army units in this area , moved the 21st Panzer up towards the Normandy coast near Caen , where they prepared for the allied invasion . Battle of Normandy . In the Battle for Normandy the 21st Panzer Division was the only mechanized unit near the area of the invasion , and was the only one with an opportunity to realize Rommel ' s intentions and meet the invaders at the beach . A number of problems in command and control resulting from Hitler ' s excessive desire to manage the army resulted in the division failing to go into action on the night of June 5 / June 6 when their area was inundated with British paratroopers from the 6th Airborne Division . Becker ' s assault guns proved effective in Normandy . Both the 105 mm howitzers and the 75 mm Pak 40s were effective anti - tank weapons . Allied troops commonly mistook the 7 . 5 cm PaK40 / 1 auf Geschuetzwagen Lorraine Schleppers to be armed with 88 s . In Operation Goodwood , Becker ' s command came under intense aerial bombardment . The vehicles of the 1st Battalion were annihilated utterly in the bombardment , but the remaining battalions survived . Blocking the advance of the tanks of the Guards Armoured Division were Becker ' s 3rd and 5th battalions . Becker ' s unit fought alongside Hans von Luck ' s 125 Panzergrenadier Regiment , reformed into Kampfgruppe Luck . Directing his unit from von Luck ' s command post , Becker ' s assault guns took up positions on the right of Luck ' s line . Along with a group of four 8 . 8 cm guns , Luck and Becker were able to check Operation Goodwood . The last major engagement of Becker ' s unit was in Operation Bluecoat , where they again checked the allied advance . Ultimately the bulk of the division was caught and destroyed in the Falaise Gap . Becker escaped the encirclement with some of his unit and moved across northern France and into Belgium . For his inventive use of captured vehicles he was awarded the War Merit Cross 1st Class with Swords . In 1945 he was awarded the Knight ’ s Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords ( Ritterkreuz zum Kriegs - Verdienstkreuz mit Schwerter ) . Retreat across France . As the remnants of the 21st Panzer Division retreated back to the frontier , Becker at one point set up his battalion headquarters in Fosses - la - Ville , Belgium . Locals there reportedly found him to be a gentleman who intervened on their behalf when German troops began to take possession of their cars and homes . Of Becker , they said he was first an engineer , then a soldier . After reaching the Rhineland , Becker was captured towards the end of December 1944 in Alsace .