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~SOLD~KERTZ Wolfram
Major der Reserve
Kertz, Wolfram
* 29.07.1916 Porta Westfalica
Awarded Knights Cross: 04.10.1944
as: Oberleutnant der Reserve Führer 8./Kampfgruppe "Bruhn" (II./SS-Panzerkorps)
Battle of Arnhem
The Battle of Arnhem was a famous Second World War military engagement fought in and around the Dutch towns of Arnhem, Oosterbeek, Wolfheze, Driel and the surrounding countryside from 17–26 September 1944.
After sweeping through France and Belgium in the summer of 1944, the Allies were poised to enter the Netherlands. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery favoured a single thrust north over the branches of the Lower Rhine river, allowing the British 2nd Army to bypass the German Siegfried Line and attack the Ruhr. To this end, the Allies launched Operation Market Garden on 17 September. Paratroopers were dropped in the Netherlands to secure key bridges and towns along the Allied axis of advance. Farthest north, the British 1st Airborne Division, supported by men of the Glider Pilot Regiment and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, landed at Arnhem to secure bridges across the Nederrijn. Initially expecting a walkover, British XXX Corps planned to reach the British airborne forces within two to three days.
The British forces landed some distance from their objectives and were quickly hampered by unexpected resistance – especially from elements of the 9th SS and 10th SS Panzer Divisions. Only a small force was able to reach the Arnhem road bridge while the main body of the division was halted on the outskirts of the city. Meanwhile, XXX Corps was unable to advance north as quickly as anticipated and failed to relieve the airborne troops according to schedule. After four days, the small British force at the bridge was overwhelmed and the rest of the division became trapped in a small pocket north of the river – where they could not be sufficiently reinforced by the Poles or XXX Corps when they arrived on the southern bank, nor by the RAF's resupply flights. After nine days of fighting, the shattered remains of the airborne forces were withdrawn in Operation Berlin.
With no secure bridges over the Nederrijn, the Allies were unable to advance further and the front line stabilised south of Arnhem. The 1st Airborne Division had lost nearly ¾ of its strength and did not see combat again.
Five of the British participants in the battle were awarded for gallantry, the Victoria Cross. On the German side eight men were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
Wolfram Kertz joined the Wehrmacht in 1937 in Köln with the Infantry Regiment 77. By the beginning of the war he was a Feldwebel and by 1940 a Leutnant. He participated and fought in Norway, Finland and Russia where he had earned the Iron Cross (2nd Class) – May 8, 1940, the Iron Cross (1 st Class) – November 15, 1940, the Infantry Assault Badge and the Wound Badge in Black. A wound that saw him sent to a replacement unit to recover from and he was posted to the Ausbildungs und Ersatz-Bataillon 361 (Training and Replacement Battalion 361) in Wuppertal under the command of Hauptmann Hans Bruhn.
On the 17th September 1944, the Battalion was sent to Arnhem and fought mostly on the North of the pocket in Oosterbeek under the command of the 9th SS Panzer Division ' Hohenstaufen'. Kertz, who was now an Oberleutnant, was in command of the 8th Company with the Battalion. It was with this company and also overall command of the battalion where he earned the Knights Cross. 9th SS and those attached to it had quickly surrounded the 2nd Battalion—under the command of Lt. Col. John Frost- cutting them off from the rest of their division. At around 09:00, the 9th SS Reconnaissance Battalion headed back toward Arnhem from south of the river, having concluded that it was not needed at Nijmegen. Though aware of the British troops at the bridge, it attempted to cross by force. In the resultant famous and heroic (on both sides) two-hour battle, it was beaten back with heavy losses, including its commanding officer Viktor Gräbner who led his men from an open position in his troop carrier. German attacks carried on around the British perimeter for the rest of the day but the British continued to hold.
By 21 September, the fifth day of the battle, German forces outnumbered the British by 3:1 and the end for the Allied forces was ordained. Throughout the morning of 26 September, the Germans pressed home their attacks and finally linked up from both sides at the river. It was not until about noon that they realised the British had actually withdrawn. Later in the day, they rounded up about 600 men, mostly the men in the aid stations and those left on the north bank, as well as some pockets of resistance that had been out of radio contact with division Headquarters and did not know about the withdrawal.
On the 1st December 1944, Hauptmann Wolfram Kertz took command of the Wachregiment 'Grossdeutschland' in Berlin. Normally a ceremonial and guard unit, Kertz was once again in combat with this Regiment during the final days of the war in defence of Berlin and the Reichstag . In late April 1945, Hauptmann Kertz was put in command of an Alarm Unit in the 309th ‘Berlin' Division. An ad-hoc group made up of young soldiers, Volkssturm and the odd veteran, this unit made its last stand against the Russian onslaught around the Zoo Bunker in Berlin. On the 21st April 1945, Kertz was wounded and taken prisoner by the Russians. He spent 4 years in captivity in Moscow and Siberia before being released at the end of 1949. Wolfram Kertz went on to have a successful career with the Bundeswehr reaching the final rank of Oberst d. R (Colonel of the Reserve) and retiring in 1967. He passed away 2009.
Postwar 4’ x 6” signed photo of Kertz in Bundeswehr uniform circa 1964 comes with letter on OdR letterhead to a collector . Red is for editing purposes only and not on the actual letter.
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