Hauptmann der Reserve Walter Schaefer-Kehnert (born 1918) received Deutsches Kreuz in Gold in 5 December 1943 as Hauptmann der Reserve and Kommandeur II.Abteilung / Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment 119 / 11.Panzer-Division "Gespenster Division" / III.Panzerkorps / 8.Armee / Heeresgruppe Süd. Schaefer-Kehnert, a reservist from the town of Kehnert on the Elbe, had been serving with his division since its inception in late 1940. A veteran ofthe Battle of France, the invasion of Yugoslavia, and the Eastern Front, he had been commissioned in 1940 as a signals officer. Wounded during the Battle for Moscow in January 1942, he was wounded again in the hip during von Manstein's abortive offensive to relieve Stalingrad in December 1942, recovering in time to take part in the Battle of Kursk and the retreat to the Dnieper. He had earned the Deutsche Kreuz in Gold (German Cross in Gold) for his repeated bravery in action, an award he referred to jokingly as the "Party Badge for the Nearsighted," because of the large swastika it bore in its center. Nevertheless, its wearers were highly respected. About the type of war in the Eastern Front, he commented: "The Russians were cruel. At the start of the Russian campaign of 1941, we had to retreat rapidly. We were unable to take our wounded with us. When we retook the area, we discovered that they had been murdered. The Russians had smashed their skulls with their pioneers' shovels. Our men were furious and didn't take any more prisoners. All the Russian soldiers were shot, even the ones who wanted to surrender. As a reprisal, the Russians naturally also decided to take no prisoners. This situation continued for several weeks until both sides realised that it was counter-productive."."The Russians, who had already been taken prisoner, were never harmed although an exception was made for the political commissars. Hitler had given an order that all commissars were to be summarily executed. Our division also received this order but with the verbal addition that it contravened the laws of war and should therefore be ignored. So we let the commissars live. I once watched our soldiers arrest a truck full of Russians. The Russian soldiers were told to surrender. One man stood up and shot himself through the head. It was the political commissar."
Source :
Book "Hell's Gate; The Battle Of The Cherkassy Pocket" by Douglas E. Nash
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