Balthasar "Bobby" Woll was a Oberscharführer

Oberscharführer

Oberscharführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that existed between the years of 1932 and 1945. Translated as “Senior Squad Leader”, Oberscharführer was first used as a rank of the Sturmabteilung and was created due to an expansion of the enlisted positions required by growing SA membership...

 in the Waffen SS who was also awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...

. He was born in Wemmetsweiler

Saarland

Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...

 on 1 March 1922, (died 18 March 1996).

After an apprenticeship as an electrician, he reported on 15 August 1941 as a volunteer for the Waffen SS.
He was posted as a machine gunner to the 3rd Company, 1st SS Totenkopf Infantry Regiment

3rd SS Division Totenkopf

The SS Division Totenkopf , also known as 3. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Totenkopf and 3. SS-Panzer-Division Totenkopf, was one of the 38 divisions fielded by the Waffen-SS during World War II. Prior to achieving division status, the formation was known as Kampfgruppe Eicke...

.
He was wounded during the fighting at the Demyansk Pocket

Demyansk Pocket

The Demyansk Pocket was the name given for the encirclement of German troops by the Red Army around Demyansk , south of Leningrad, during World War II on the Eastern Front. The pocket existed mainly from 8 February-21 April 1942. A much smaller pocket was simultaneously surrounded in Kholm, about ...

 and sent to hospital in Germany.
While recovering from his wounds he was awarded the Iron Cross

Iron Cross

The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....

 2nd class and the Wound Badge

Wound Badge

Wound Badge was a German military award for wounded or frost-bitten soldiers of Imperial German Army in World War I, the Reichswehr between the wars, and the Wehrmacht, SS and the auxiliary service organizations during the Second World War. After March 1943, due to the increasing number of Allied...

 in black, in July 1942.

After his recovery he retrained as a tank gunner and at the end of 1942 posted to the 13th Heavy Tank Company, SS Panzer Regiment 1, 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard. Initially the size of a regiment, the LSSAH eventually grew into a divisional-sized unit...

 where he met his tank commander Michael Wittmann

Michael Wittmann

Michael Wittmann was a German Waffen-SS tank commander during the Second World War. Wittmann would rise to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer and was a Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross holder....

.

By the time of Operation Citadel they were one of the best tank crews in the Division, and in September 1943 was awarded the Iron Cross 1st class, having destroyed 80 tanks and 107 anti tank guns.

He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...

 in January 1944 the 1st and only tank gunner to receive the award and in October 1944 promoted to Oberscharführer

Oberscharführer

Oberscharführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that existed between the years of 1932 and 1945. Translated as “Senior Squad Leader”, Oberscharführer was first used as a rank of the Sturmabteilung and was created due to an expansion of the enlisted positions required by growing SA membership...

.

When Wittmann was killed in Normandy in 1944, Woll was in command of his own tank and severely wounded, but survived the war.

See also

• Waffen SS
• 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
  1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
  The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard. Initially the size of a regiment, the LSSAH eventually grew into a divisional-sized unit...
  
  
• List of Knight's Cross holders 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
• 101 SS Heavy Panzer Battalion

Further reading

• Panzer Aces By Franz Kurowski
• Michael Wittmann and the Waffen SS Tiger Commanders of the Leibstandarte By Patrick Agte
• Armor Battles of the Waffen-SS, 1943-45 By Will Fey, Henri Henschler

External links

• Names, scores and pictures of the top Tiger Aces at the Tiger I Information Center
• http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/alkantolga/photos/3.htm&date=2009-10-25+12:19:57 - Picture of Woll