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~SOLD~HALM Guenter
Leutnant
Halm, Günter
* 27.08.1922 Elze/Niedersachsen
Awarded Knights Cross: 29.07.1942
as: Grenadier Richtschütze PakZg StabsKp/PzGrenRgt 104
Postwar photo measuring 3 ¼” x 4 ½”
Halm was born on 27 August 1922 in the town of Elze, Lower Saxony. On attending his local school in Braunschweig, he completed his studies, two of which were dedicated to his vocation as a machinist. At the end of 1941 he was called up for military service, where he completed his basic training and served with the Panzerjäger-Ersatzabteilung 13 in Braunschweig. In 1942 he was posted to the Afrika Korps where he was employed as a gunner with support company’s anti-tank platoon of Panzergrenadier-Regiments 104, 21. Panzer-Divison
The anti-tank platoon consisted of two captured Soviet anti-tank guns, both being 76mm M1936s (F22), which the Wehrmacht designated as the PAK 36 or PAK 36(r), and were colloquially known at the ‘Ratsch-Bumm’. With Halm's gun under the command of Unteroffizier Jabeck, his unit took part in Operation Theseus, also known as the Battle of Gazala. In July 1942 he was promoted to Gefreiter and on 15 July 1942 he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class for the elimination of two British tanks at the Battle of Bir Hakeim.
Following this he fought at the First Battle of El Alamein, where he, despite the fact that his gun had taken a direct hit which had wounded two of the crew, successfully destroyed 15 tanks of the British 23rd Armoured Brigade at Ruweisat Ridge on 22 July 1942. For this achievement he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class. As his efforts had essentially blunted the British counter-attack in a matter of minutes, however, it was suggested that he ought indeed to have received the Knight's Cross and, with the application having been approved, he was awarded Germany’s highest award for bravery at the age of 19 on 7 August 1942 by General Field Marshall Erwin Rommel himself.
His promotion to Unteroffizier soon followed in November 1942, before being wounded twice; the first being in December 1942 and then again March 1943. Having been hospitalised in Athens and Vienna, he became a Fahnenjunker in July 1943 and a month later successfully completed the Fallschirmjäger course at Wischau. In October 1943 he was promoted to Feldwebel and in November 1943 to Oberfähnrich.
Between December 1943 and the end of February 1944 he undertook officer training in Berlin and on completion was subsequently promoted to Leutnant. In March 1944 he deployed to France where he held the position of ordnance officer with the Panzergrenadier-Regiment 192 of the 21. Panzer-Division. During heavy fighting at the Battle of the Falaise Pocket he was captured by Allied troops in August 1944 and shipped to a POW camp in the United States
Working in conjunction with Paul Carell, Halm published his biography in 2012: Ein Grenadier entscheidet eine Schlacht. Die Erinnerungen von Günter Halm, dem jüngsten Ritterkreuzträger des Afrikakorps, (A Gunner Resolves A Battle, the memories of Günter Halm, youngest bearer of the Africa Corps' Knight's Cross ).
Halm died in September 2017 at the age of 95.
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