Major Willi Braun of Grenadier-Regiment 576 in the Battle of Stalingrad

Major Willi Braun, the commander of Grenadier-Regiment 576 / 305.Infanterie-Division in the Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943). He was an avid sportsman who excelled at swimming, skiing, marksmanship and horseriding, the latter bringing him to grief in May 1939 when a fall during a tournament put him out of action for two months. He was also a keen motor enthusiast and was one of the first in his home town of Hasenweiler to own a private car. He began his career as a police officer and it lasted for 13 years, until he was transferred over to the army in October 1935. Various postings followed until he was transferred in late November 1940 into the newly-forming 305. Infanterie-Division as commander of II./Infanterie-Regiment 576. And he had commanded that battalion ever since. The entire summer campaign had been difficult but it all paled into insignificance compared to the weeks in Stalingrad. When the regiment commander, Oberstleutnant Karl-Heinz Krüder, went on leave in October 1942, and the substitute commander Oberstleutnant Werner Gunkel was transferred in late October, Braun took temporary control of the regiment.

Source :
"Island Of Fire: The Battle For the Barrikady Gun Factory In Stalingrad November 1942 - February 1943" by Jason D. Mark

Oberstleutnant Hans-Georg Brandt of Grenadier-Regiment 577 in the Battle of Stalingrad

Oberstleutnant Hans-Georg Brandt, the commander of Grenadier-Regiment 577 / 305.Infanterie-Division in the Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943). He cared deeply for his men. One example will suffice. On 2 July 1942, Gefreiter Franz Winter, a messenger on the staff of 6. Kompanie in Brandt’s II. Battalion, witnessed a shocking event during a Soviet tank attack that would ultimately demonstrate how Brandt felt about his men: "We had a good view over the battlefield from our elevated position. What we saw happening there caused the blood to freeze in our veins: to the left of us, in the hollow of a valley, the third platoon of our fifth company was attacked. We saw how they surrendered and ran towards the tanks with their hands above their heads. These monsters circled around our comrades, opened fire and pulped them under their tracks". Winter’s unit was ordered to fall back and the situation gradually eased. It was then that Winter and his comrades saw Major Brandt: "Sitting in a roadside ditch, surrounded by officers, was our battalion commander, a beaten man. I had never seen a German officer in such a state. A person who was otherwise seen by us ordinary soldiers to be head and shoulders above us, in appearance and conduct, now sat there and we could see that he was also only a human, like us, how he was depressed and tormented by anxiety. He had observed the tragedy down below through binoculars. He probably also felt responsible for it". Brandt had commanded his battalion in Grenadier-Regiment 577 from the first day of its creation. In fact, it is probably correct to say he even commanded it before that because he led III./Infanterie-Regiment 520, the unit which was transferred en masse on 4 December 1940 to form II./Infanterie-Regiment 577. When regiment commander Oberst Max Voigt was transferred home at the end of September 1942 due to heart problems, Major Brandt took over as Regimentsführer and led the regiment in an exemplary manner. The fighting in Stalingrad-North had been a severe test but his superiors were impressed by his performance and he received a promotion to Oberstleutnant in November 1942.

Source :

"Island Of Fire: The Battle For the Barrikady Gun Factory In Stalingrad November 1942 - February 1943" by Jason D. Mark