Hans Siegel Siegfried " Hans " Siegel ( 25 July 1918 — 18 April 2002 ) was a Sturmbannführer ( Major ) in the Waffen - SS during World War II . He received 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 . The only son of Ernst and Liddy Siegel , Siegel was born on 25 July 1918 in Böckau in the Erzgebirge . In his youth he was the leader of the Hitler Youth in his village and later took on the role of social secretary . He also completed voluntary military training at school and at the local sports ground with the 15th SS " Totenkopf " Standarte . In 1938 , after completing his six - month compulsory labour service , he volunteered to join the SS - VT ( SS service number 293261 ) and was assigned to the Leibstandarte SS " Adolf Hitler " Regiment ( mot ) . World War II . Siegel took part in the Polish Campaign in 1939 , in command of the Heavy Granatwerfer ( the standard German medium mortar ) platoon , 12th ( MG ) ( Machine Gun ) Company . He was then selected to become an officer and sent to the SS - Junkerschule at Bad Tölz . Upon graduation in 1940 he was posted to the 4th ( MG ) Company , SS Training and Reserve Battalion , LSSAH . In 1941 he was promoted to Untersturmführer ( Second Lieutenant ) and in December posted to command the 1st platoon , 3rd Battery , 1st SS Sturmgeschütz ( Assault Gun , StuG ) Battalion , LSSAH , fighting in Russia in the Taganrog sector beside the Azov Sea . He took part in the Battle of Kharkov in March 1943 , as part of Kampfgruppe ( Battle Group ) Peiper , which was based on the III . 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment , supported by the 3rd SS Sturmgeschütz Battery , under the command of Karl Rettlinger . Siegel was wounded by a sniper during the attack . He was wounded in the head and back which had damaged the 3 and 4 Vertebra in his spine resulting in paralysis from his chest to his legs . He was evacuated first by a Fieseler Storch to Poltava and then by a Ju - 52 to Kiev , and then by rail to Stettin , and finally to Berlin . He was hospitalised for six months and after recovery was classified as unfit for front line service . In the Autumn of 1943 he was given command of the SS Training and Reserve Battalion Truppenübungsplatz in Krakow until January 1944 , when he was posted to the Panzer Division " Hitlerjugend " and given command of the 8th Company , II Battalion , at the request of Lieutenant Colonel Max Wünsche . During the Normandy Invasion Siegel and his company were always in the thick of the fighting . He was wounded for the fifth time on 27 June 1944 , when his Panzer was hit and he received severe burns on his face and hands . He refused to be evacuated to the rear and remained with the Division . He was awarded the Knight ' s Cross for his bravery and leadership in Normandy , in the Caen sector at Le Mesnil - Patry and Cheux , when on 27 June his company destroyed 37 Allied tanks , 11 of which Siegel destroyed himself . After a short stay in a field hospital he returned to the division and was given command of the II . Battalion , 12th SS Panzer Regiment after its previous commander Karl Heinz Prinz was killed in action in August 1944 . During the fighting in spring 1945 , in the Esztergom Bridgehead , in preparation for Operation Spring Awakening , the Battalion committed itself to a night attack during the night of 7 and 8 March , and overcame a Russian anti - tank force within the first two kilometers advancing towards Puszta Antal which is six kilometers away . Siegel led the remaining Panzer IV s of the regiment in a number of small actions , until the division was forced to withdraw . He commanded the rear guard , and on 24 March in a duel with a T - 34 he received his ninth wound and was evacuated by rail to St Pölten . After treatment for damage to his knee he returned to his battalion on crutches with a cast around his knee . Siegel remained with the Division and was wounded again on 8 May 1945 , after sustaining a shattered left elbow . His arm was amputated in a Russian hospital . Post war . After his release from Russian captivity Siegel returned to Austria , but moved to West Germany after it became known to the occupying power he was an ex - SS officer and they tried to arrest him . He went on to study at the university of Emden and studied architecture at the university of Stuttgart . After graduating he worked successfully as an architect and formed his own company . He also took part in battlefield tours and had a high reputation with the Staff College of the Canadian Armed Forces , participating in 19 battlefield tours going over the battlefields that the 12th SS Panzer Division had fought over , his last tour being in 2001 . Hans Siegel died on 18 April 2002 in Andernach .