Death of the Leaping Horseman: The 24th Panzer Division in Stalingrad

561 Pages·2014·14.21 MB·English

by  Jason D. Mark

Death of the
LEAPING
HORSEMAN

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Death of the
LEAPING
HORSEMAN

The 24th Panzer Division in Stalingrad
12th August – 20th November 1942

Jason D. Mark

STACKPOLE
BOOKS

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Copyright © 2003 by Jason D. Mark

Published in hardcover in the U.S. in 2014 by
STACKPOLE BOOKS
5067 Ritter Road
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
www.stackpolebooks.com

First published in Australia in 2003 by Leaping Horseman. This edition published by arrangement
with Leaping Horseman Books. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or
portions thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Leaping Horseman Books, 6 Golfers Parade,
Pymble NSW 2073, Australia

Maps and illustrations by Jason D. Mark

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mark, Jason D.
Death of the leaping horseman : the 24. Panzer-Division in Stalingrad,
12th August–20th November 1942 / Jason D. Mark. — [First Stackpole Books
edition].
pages cm
Originally published: 2002.
ISBN 978-0-8117-1404-4
1. Germany. Heer. Panzer-Division, 24. 2. Stalingrad, Battle of,
Volgograd, Russia, 1942–1943. 3. World War, 1939–1945—Regimental
histories—Germany. I. Title.
D757.5624th .M37 2014
940.54'21747—dc23
2014009957

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This book is dedicated to all the proud
veterans of 24. Panzer-Division

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Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Chapter 1:
APPROACH TO STALINGRAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 2:
STRUGGLE IN THE HILLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Chapter 3:
ARMOURED STAMPEDE! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Chapter 4:
PIERCING THE OUTSKIRTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Chapter 5:
PRELUDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Chapter 6:
CONQUEST OF STALIN’S CITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Chapter 7:
INTERMISSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Chapter 8:
MELEE IN THE SUBURBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Chapter 9:
STALEMATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Chapter 10:
FIGHT FOR THE FACTORIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Chapter 11:
ATTRITION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Chapter 12:
RETROSPECTIVE VIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Chapter 13:
KRASNY OKTYABR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Chapter 14:
THE CLOUDS GATHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Appendix 1: Officer Biographies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Appendix 2: Knight’s Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

Appendix 3: German Cross in Gold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461

Appendix 4: Iron Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Appendix 5: Ehrenblattspange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

Appendix 6: Panzer IV Long-Barrel ‘434’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476

vii

CONTENTS

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Death of the Leaping Horseman

Appendix 7: Panzerjäger-Abteilung 670 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

Appendix 8: Rank Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482

Appendix 9: Orders of Battle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

Appendix 10: Panzer, Vehicle & Equipment Losses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515

Glossary and Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

Supplementary Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550

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This book is far more than my sole contribution. Many people have given unstinting support
and valuable assistance, even in the early days when it seemed as if this book would never be
completed. I will try to list them all but if I have forgotten to name you, please accept my
gratitude. First of all, I would like to thank Thomas Heitzer from Switzerland for his generous
contributions and his trust in me by sending copious amounts of research material half way
around the world. I was introduced to Thomas by Heinz Schlaefereit and after my initial letter,
a stack of excellent unpublished photographs arrived at my home. Rare regimental histories,
divisional newsletters, diaries and more photos continued to arrive over the next few months.
Without his assistance, this book would be much the poorer. Thanks again Thomas.

My heartfelt thanks go to all the veterans who responded to my letters, queries and questions.
Their effort in replying to a young Australian author is particularly admirable, especially when
one considers that some of these octogenarians wrote page after page of anecdotes and
recollections, and also sent their own private photographs. Special thanks go to Heinz Kolczyk,
Dr. Horst Rocholl, Hans-Ludwig v. Stockhausen, Hasse v. Langenn-Steinkeller, Kuno von
Meyer, Georg von Raison, Heinz Schlaefereit, Dr. Hans-Georg von Tiedemann, Hans Henning
v. Christen, Dr. Hubertus Schulz, Richard Wildeus, Günter Koschorrek, Ernst Panse and
Ferdinand Kusterer. Thanks also to Christian Keiler, Egbert v. Schmidt-Pauli, Konrad Freiherr
von Woellwarth, Gerhard Uebach, Heinz Wippermann, Peter Leidner, Friedhelm Heuelmann,
Dr. Thedel Freiherr von Cramm, Dr. Wolfgang Kuls, Horst Haubold, Egon Rudi Schwenger,
Andreas Igor-Meyhoeffer, Horst von Bassewitz, Ina v. Knebel-Doeberitz, Annemarie v.d.
Decken-Offen, the family of Friedrich Raaf, Isa-Karin Freifrau v. Eickstedt, Gabriele v. Sivers,
and Anneli Rogge. My sympathy goes to André von Raison who had the sad duty of
informing me of his fathers death.

I cannot neglect to mention the assistance given to me by veterans of other units, particularly
Ansgar Pawelke of Panzer-Regiment 15, Karl Heinz Loschke of 11. Panzer-Division and Walter
Rahn for excellent information about Karl v. Sivers. Walter Rahn was Ordonanzoffizier to Karl
v. Sivers and was able to provide personal insights into his character. Thanks too to Albert
Schick of 10. Panzer-Division for great information and fantastic photographs of Oberst von
Broich.

I am grateful for the help and advice given to me by two fellow Stalingrad researchers, Geert
Rottiers from Belgium and Hans Wijers from The Netherlands. Both men are conducting first-
rate research and by their efforts, are casting a bright light into the dark corners of history.

ix

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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Geert maintains an excellent Stalingrad website and Hans is in contact with hundreds of
veterans, organises reunions and writes and edits many books. I would especially like to thank
Hans for introducing me to the microfilms of the National Archives in Washington because it is
the 24. Panzer-Division war diaries contained on one of them that provided the solid
framework for this book. Thanks!
I would like to recognise the professionalism of the Bundesarchiv staff, in particular Frau
Martina Caspars, for their prompt response to all my requests. Thanks to the ECPA in Paris and
the National Archives in Washington for supplying me with great photographs.
Thanks to Paul Macarthur and Michael J. Pruett for the use of photos from their private
collections, and Peter Fogg for helping me with other photographic needs.

My greatest respect goes to the patrons of Jason Pipes’ Heer forum on the Web
(www.feldgrau.net). No matter how difficult or obscure my question, there was always
somebody there who could give me a lengthy but clear explanation. Many tricky and colloquial
translations were also solved by the guys on this forum.

My gratitude goes to the staff of University of Sydney Library for helping me in the early
stages of my research. I remember the looks on their faces when they saw me sitting in front of
a microfilm printer churning out hundreds – perhaps thousands – of pages of war diaries. And
their patience in repeatedly fulfiling my requests for more paper and more toner. I fondly
remember the many eight hour days I spent there… but I hope I never have to do it again!

Although all of these people have contributed greatly to my book, all judgements and
interpretations are my own and they bear no responsibility for any errors.

In a few instances, I have been unable to trace the copyright holder of works where the
publisher has ceased trading. In these cases I apologise for any unintentional breach of
copyright.

Any comments, criticism, corrections or additions will be greatly appreciated. Write to me at