Fritz Henke

Who was Fritz Henke?

Fritz Henke was a Untersturmführer in the Waffen SS who was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Henke was born on the 21 June 1921 in Oldendorf, in Lower Saxony. After school he had planned on being a Master craftsman, then on the 4 September 1939 he volunteered to join the SS.

He was posted to the 2nd Reserve Company of the SS Regiment Germania stationed at Langenhorn, Hamburg where he received training as a basic infantryman.

In May 1940 he started training as a Radio Operator and upon completion was posted to the Sturmgeschütz Battery of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Regiment and participated in Operation Marita the Balkans Campaign.

In 1942 now in command of his own Sturmgeschütz, during heavy fighting around Shitomir he covered the withdrawal of the grenadiers during darkness after his own withdrawal had been prevented by Russian Infantry during which he destroyed 21 tanks and 11 anti tank guns. For these actions Henke was awarded the Knight's Cross promoted to Oberscharführer and given command of a platoon in the 3rd Battery, 1st SS Sturmgeschütz Battalion.

In September 1943 he was sent to the SS officers training school and promoted to Untersturmführer. During the war he was wounded only once on 20 April 1945, just prior to surrendering to the Allies.