Erwin Bachmann Erwin Bachmann ( 5 May 1921 – 18 February 2010 ) was an Obersturmführer ( Senior Storm Leader / First Lieutenant ) in the Waffen SS during World War II . He was a recipient of 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 . Early life . Bachmann was born on the 5 May 1921 in Reinhausen Göttingen . He was educated at home until 1927 when he attended the local school in Reinhausen . After leaving school in April 1935 , he started an apprenticeship with a local firm , passing his trade tests in 1938 he was given a position as an administrative assistant . World War II . In August 1939 he volunteered for the SS - VT and was assigned to the 2nd Company , SS Training and Reserve Battalion " Germania " stationed in Hamburg . At the end of the Polish Campaign he was posted as a machine gun ner to the 11th Company SS Regiment " Germania " and took part in the Battle of France . He was promoted to Rottenführer ( Corporal ) in August 1941 and in September 1941 he was involved in Operation Barbarossa , the invasion of the Soviet Union until November 1941 when he returned to the SS Training and Reserve Battalion " Germania " . He was then selected to become an officer and from February to June 1942 he was posted to the SS - Junkerschule ( Officer Candidate School ) in Bad Tölz and after graduation his first duties were in the SS Training and Reserve Battalion " Germania " which at the time was stationed in Arnhem in the Netherlands and he was promoted to Oberscharführer ( Senior Squad Leader ) in May 1942 . In September 1942 he volunteered for a posting with the SS Division " Wiking " until January 1943 and the formation of the new SS Division " Frundsberg " he was posted in as the Adjutant of the II . Battalion , 10th SS Panzer Regiment with the rank of Untersturmführer ( Second Lieutenant ) . In October 1943 he was given his first command which was a platoon in the 3rd Company , 10th SS Panzer Regiment , Frundsberg . After a short retraining course on Sturmgeschütz ( assault guns / StuG ) he was given command of the 5th Company , Sturmgeschütz Battalion and also promoted to Obersturmführer ( Senior Storm Leader / First Lieutenant ) in November 1944 . After the defeat in the Ardennes offensive the Frundsberg Division in January 1945 , was part of Army Group G and involved in Operation Nordwind together with the 6th SS Gebirgs Division " Nord " over the night of the 16 – 17 January they were tasked with making a breakthrough of the Allied line and forming a bridgehead at Hagenau for the following attack . The attack was to be led by the 3rd Company , 10th SS Panzer Regiment with Obersturmführer Bachmann now the Battalion Adjutant in command . Mounted on a motorcycle , he attacked and destroyed a Sherman tank with a Panzerfaust in Herrlisheim , more Allied tanks were destroyed by the accompanying Panther tank s and in the following fighting 60 prisoners were taken and 20 Germans that had been captured by the Americans were released and rearmed , also 12 Sherman tanks were captured intact . The attack continued from Herrlisheim towards Drusenheim and a further 9 tanks were destroyed . The captured Sherman tanks were formed into the 13th Company , 10th SS Panzer Regiment until the end of the war . For theses actions Erwin Bachmann was awarded the Knight ' s Cross in February 1945 . Bachman was next in combat in Pomerania with the 1st Company at Christinenberg destroying a number of T - 34 tanks . In May 1945 they moved west and in the area Göttingen , Sandbostel were captured by the British . Bachmann died on 18 February 2010 and was buried in Göttingen .