Dr Gustav Krukenberg was Brigadeführer

Brigadeführer

SS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945. Brigadeführer was also an SA rank....

 of the Charlemagne Division

33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French)

The 33. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Charlemagne and Charlemagne Regiment are collective names used for units of French volunteers in the Wehrmacht and later Waffen-SS during World War II...

 of the Waffen-SS

Waffen-SS

The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...

 and further commander of its remains and the SS Division Nordland

11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland

The 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, also known as Kampfverband Waräger, Germanische-Freiwilligen-Division, SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 11 or 11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland, was a Waffen SS, Panzergrenadier division recruited from foreign volunteers...

 during the Battle of Berlin

Battle of Berlin

The Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II....

 in April 1945.

He was born in Bonn

Bonn

Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

, the son of a professor at Bonn University and his mother was the daughter of the archeologist Alexander Conze

Alexander Conze

Alexander Christian Leopold Conze was a German archaeologist who specialized in ancient Greek art. He was a native of Hannover, and studied at the University of Göttingen. In 1863 he became a professor at the University of Halle, and from 1869 to 1877 worked at the University of Vienna, where he...

. He gained a doctorate in law and joined the army in 1907. During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, he served as an ordnance officer and adjutant

Adjutant

Adjutant is a military rank or appointment. In some armies, including most English-speaking ones, it is an officer who assists a more senior officer, while in other armies, especially Francophone ones, it is an NCO , normally corresponding roughly to a Staff Sergeant or Warrant Officer.An Adjutant...

 and was promoted to Hauptmann

Hauptmann

Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian and Swiss armies. While "haupt" in contemporary German means "main", it also has the dated meaning of "head", i.e...

 in 1918. After the war he served in the Civil Service as the private secretary to the Foreign minister and was briefly a director in industry. He joined the Nazi Party in 1932 and he worked at the propaganda ministry after Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

 came to power and was a member of the Allgemeine SS

Allgemeine SS

The Allgemeine SS was the most numerous branch of the Schutzstaffel paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany. It was managed by the SS-Hauptamt...

.

With the outbreak of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 he re-joined the army as a Major

Major

Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

 and served on the General Staff in Paris. In December 1943 he transferred from the Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht

The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

 Heer, in which he had reached the rank of Oberstleutnant

Oberstleutnant

Oberstleutnant is a German Army and Air Force rank equal to Lieutenant Colonel, above Major, and below Oberst.There are two paygrade associated to the rank of Oberstleutnant...

, to the Waffen SS which he joined with the equivalent rank of Obersturmbannführer

Obersturmbannführer

Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...

. He was soon promoted to Standartenführer

Standartenführer

Standartenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in the so-called Nazi combat-organisations: SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK...

 and then Oberführer

Oberführer

Oberführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party dating back to 1921. Translated as “Senior Leader”, an Oberführer was typically a Nazi Party member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geographical region...

. A fluent French speaker, he commanded the French volunteers of the SS Charlemagne Division and following a summons to help with the defence of Berlin he breached several obstacles to lead the remnants of the division into the city in April 1945.

On 25 April, Brigadeführer Krukenberg was appointed the commander of (Berlin) Defence Sector C, which included the Nordland Division, whose previous commander Joachim Ziegler

Joachim Ziegler

Joachim Ziegler was a Brigadeführer and Major General in the Waffen SS during World War II and the commander of the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, who was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves...

 was relieved of his command the same day. The arrival of the French SS men bolstered the Nordland Division whose "Norge" and "Danmark" regiments had been decimated in the fighting.
By 26 April, with Neukölln heavily penetrated by Soviet combat groups, Krukenberg prepared fallback positions for Sector C defenders around Hermannplatz. He moved his headquarters into the opera house. Forced to fall back on 27 April, Krukenberg's Nordland headquarters was then a carriage in the Stadtmitte U-Bahn station in Defence sector Z (Central District).

The Frenchmen under Krukenberg proved particularly good at destroying tanks, of the 108 Soviet tanks destroyed in the centre district, they had accounted for about half of them. On 29 April 1945 Krukenberg awarded one of the last Knight's Crosses

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...

 of the war to Unterscharführer

Unterscharführer

Unterscharführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party used by the Schutzstaffel between 1934 and 1945. The SS rank was created after the Night of the Long Knives...

 Eugène Vaulot

Eugene Vaulot

Eugène Vaulot was a Frenchman with the rank of Unterscharführer in the Waffen SS during World War II, who was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.Eugene Vaulot was born in Paris in 1923...

. It is widely believed that On 1 May, Krukenberg attempted to stem the Soviet advance by ordering sapper

Sapper

A sapper, pioneer or combat engineer is a combatant soldier who performs a wide variety of combat engineering duties, typically including, but not limited to, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, demolitions, field defences, general construction and building, as well as road and airfield...

s to blow up the S-Bahn

S-Bahn

S-Bahn refers to an often combined city center and suburban railway system metro in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark...

 tunnel under the Landwehr canal

Canal

Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...

 causing 25 kilometres of S-Bahn and U-Bahn

Berlin U-Bahn

The Berlin is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, and is a major part of the public transport system of that city. Opened in 1902, the serves 173 stations spread across ten lines, with a total track length of , about 80% of which is underground...

 tunnels to flood, which led to many casualties. But in fact it is far more probable that the massive bombardment of the city by hundreds of tons of shells and rockets by the Soviets have caused the flooding of the tunnels. As the Germans made extensive use of the underground (U-Bahn) for redeployment of troops, makeshift-hospitals or just a place to take refuge from the constant shelling, it seems highly doubtfull that Krukenberg ordered the destruction of the U-bahn tunnels.

After Hitler's death Krukenberg assembled most of his escort made up of French SS for the breakout. They joined up with Ziegler and a larger group of Nordland troops. They crossed the Spree just before dawn. Near the Gesundbrunnen U-Bahn station they came under heavy fire. Brigadeführer Joachim Ziegler was gravely wounded and died on 2 May. Later, Krukenberg made it to Dahlem

Dahlem (Berlin)

Dahlem is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in southwestern Berlin. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a part of the former borough of Zehlendorf. Dahlem is one of the most affluent parts of the city and home to the main campus of the Free University of Berlin with the...

 where he hid out in an apartment for a week before surrendering to the Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

.

Awards

• 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....
  
   Second Class and 1939 Clasp
  Clasp to the Iron Cross
  The Clasp to the Iron Cross was a metal medal clasp displayed on the uniforms of German Wehrmacht personnel who had been awarded the Iron Cross in World War I. It was displayed on the uniforms of many high ranking officers during World War II as most had also served in World War I...
  
  
• Iron Cross First Class