branch death_place death_date birth_place allegiance unit awards battles birth_date alt rank article_title name
18px klobbicke/biesenthal yes 5 june 1946 18 july 1908 berlin nazi germany führer sprengkommando der luftwaffe i/iv ratingen/d üsseldorf knight 's cross of the iron cross world war ii 18 july 1908 luftwaffe hauptmann heinz schweizer
 heinz schweizer
heinz schweizer

hauptmann heinz schweizer -lrb- 18 july 1908 -- 5 june 1946 -rrb- was a luftwaffe `` feuerwerker '' or armourer , specifically a bomb disposal operator , during world war ii .
he is noted for his role in saving a group of political prisoners at the end of the war .
most german bomb disposal during world war ii was carried out by the luftwaffe .
`` feuerwerker '' or armourers were given specific and extensive training in bomb disposal , although by the late-war period this was replaced by experience and examination alone , as for the british system .
a bomb disposal section or `` sprengkommando '' was led by an officer or `` oberfeuerwerker '' -lrb- senior nco -rrb- with three or four `` feuerwerker '' .
simple labouring , such as excavation for buried bombs , was carried out by prisoners : either criminals or political prisoners , but not prisoners of war .
citizens of occupied countries were also used , within those countries .
these prisoner labourers were in turn guarded by luftwaffe guards .
relations between luftwaffe members and prisoners appear to have been cordial , for the political prisoners at least , if not the criminals .
in may 1943 schweizer recovered an unexploded bouncing bomb from a plane that crashed on its way to the target during operation chastise , the dambuster raid .
on 28 june 1943 he was awarded his `` ritterkreuz des eisernen kreuzes '' -lrb- knight 's cross of the iron cross -rrb- as `` hauptmann '' -lrb- w -rrb- and leader of sprengkommando 1/iv ratingen-düsseldorf .
in 1945 , hauptmann schweizer learned that the ss were about to execute a number of political prisoners .
together with his junior assistant , army officer `` oberleutnant '' werdelmann , he went to their camp .
claiming that a number of unexploded bombs required an immediate large team of labourers , he had the threatened prisoners released to his own custody .
he took them to his headquarters at kalkum in the ruhr until they could be released to the advancing american army .
schweizer was murdered on 5 june 1946 in klobbicke/biesenthal .
