Hitler's Iron Maidens - Women Awarded the Iron Cross in Combat

[Music] the iron cross a decoration that has become synonymous with the german military of two world wars it was a medal awarded for gallantry or meritorious service in operations against the enemy and necessarily almost all were awarded to men as germany prohibited women from joining combat units but you may be surprised to learn that in world war ii somewhere in the region of 40 women did actually receive this decoration under the same criteria as men for battlefield heroism the majority were army nurses who received it for valorous acts of self-sacrifice rescuing wounded under fire or saving patients in air raids and artillery strikes a couple of the awardees were famous female test pilots melita countess von stauffenberg and hannah reich but perhaps half a dozen iron crosses actually went to women who took up arms against the enemy and fought alongside male soldiers in battle this is what this video concerns itself with during world war ii half a million women served in the german armed forces they served as nurses communications clerks headquarters personnel and some served as so-called flak helpers not manning the guns but the direction finding and radar equipment and sometimes hauling ammunition [Music] [Music] nazi germany did not consider the front lines to be a suitable place for women unlike the soviet union which had all-women's sniper teams fighter and bomber squadrons and anti-aircraft batteries britain also had all-female anti-aircraft units as well as female pilots in the non-combat air transport capacity as did the americans and many other allied nations where millions of women served in uniform as defeat loomed large for nazi germany in the first months of 1945 the prohibition on women serving in combat was relaxed a little and some women actually received arms training [Music] all the iron crosses awarded to german women for combat were earned in the last few months of the war in europe and all on the eastern front as the red army swept into germany the iron cross was an old award far older than the third reich or even germany itself it dated as a decoration to 1813 long before a unified germany and was an award for officers and men alike issued by the kingdom of prussia a simple but striking design it went through little alteration up to its reissue under hitler in 1939 and that's why all world war ii iron crosses bear the date 1939 irrespective of the date of the award by world war ii the award consisted of several grades each with different versions of the iron cross the lowest was the iron cross second class some four and a half million being awarded during world war ii it was only worn in the full medal version for the first day of the award and in full dress uniform thereafter only the ribbon was worn through the second buttonhole of the tunic the next level up was the iron cross first class awarded 300 000 times including twice to women this was worn on the left breast pocket as a badge next up was the most famous level the knights cross worn around the neck unlike the erroneous impression given by many films and computer games today which shows german officers always with the knights cross it was in fact a rare and illustrious award equal in status to the u.s medal of honor or the british victoria cross and given out in small numbers just over 7 000 were awarded during world war ii many men won more than one night's cross so special devices were affixed to the medal to show this the knights cross with oak leaves indicated two awards with oak leaves and swords three awards and oak leaves swords and diamonds four knight's crosses and the rarest the knights cross with golden oak leaves swords and diamonds for five awards this last level was awarded only once the famous stuka pilot hans ulrich rudel but there was one more grade above the knights cross the grand cross of the iron cross founded in 1813 and resurrected by the nazis the grand cross was also only awarded once in world war ii to hermann goering head of the german air force regarding female recipients of the iron cross records are incomplete and due to the confusion of the last months of the war a lot of material has been lost but several combat actions do stand out and can be reconstructed the soviet advance west had reached the older river by early february 1945 and here the red army halted to consolidate the gains it had made in three weeks of heavy fighting through poland and east prussia the older river was defended by a motley collection of worn out infantry panzer grenadier and panzer divisions supported by a wide variety of emergency formations including folkstorm home guard units and hitler youths from towns on the river's west bank the red army was regrouping for the final drive on berlin but continued to conduct local operations and strong patrol activities ferstenberg was one such river town to come under threat the 2nd of april 1945 soviet troops crossed the order to the north near aurit and pushed into the ziltendorffer valley on the 3rd of april the 600 meter long bridge at firstenberg was blown up in the nick of time preventing a direct soviet crossing at the town the young pioneer who was killed setting off the charges eustace jurgensen was subsequently awarded the knights cross for his heroism and self-sacrifice red army forces crossed the order on the third of april one and a half kilometers south of the town at levitz fierce german resistance prevented the soviets from unifying their two bridgeheads and isolating and capturing fersenberg commanding in the town was major kedzin of the 98th grenadier regiment one of the women's soldiers on duty was a signaler named anna herzekorn during the fighting around the town's perimeter here's the corn under her own initiative armed herself and leaving her post which was under fire gathered together a group of teenage hitler youth boys carrying rifles and panzerfausts herezikorn led the ad hoc battle group ford to reoccupy a village on the fersenberg perimeter that had been evacuated earlier ordering her soldiers into defensive positions it appears that herzekorn and the dozen hitler youths managed to hold the village for a while before being relieved by regular german troops on the 5th of march 1945 erna helsicorn as we see here in this film was awarded the iron cross second class for her leadership and courage under fire one of the most dramatic examples of a woman entering combat in 1945 occurred at the town of greifenhagen on the 12th of march during a fierce soviet tank assault number four battery heavy flak up thailand 326 of the luftwaffe was re-rolled to anti-tank defense its 88 millimeter guns having proved themselves to be formidable tank busters on several war fronts the unit had been sent forward from berlin and had two guns in placed at measuring and four defending greifenhagen in command of one of the guns was sergeant herbert junger the gun covering a road southeast of the town thirty-year-old hedwig curtail's husband was one of junga's gunners and she had volunteered as a luftwaffe flak helper soviet t-34 tanks advanced on the position when the position came under fire kurtel left her post and jumped on a bicycle and rode to the position she began helping the wounded and hauling ammunition under heavy fire making repeated trips as junger kept the 88 in action blasting the soviet tanks as crewmen were wounded curtail would give them first aid before resuming running out under fire to collect more shells during her time at the gun position the germans managed to knock out seven soviet tanks using the 88 and as the fighting was very close two more were knocked out by panzerfaust several crew members were wounded and kurtel continued her duties until herself wounded by shrapnel and evacuated the hospital sergeant junger kept the 88 in action until the following day accounting in total for 13 tanks he received the knight's cross while hedvig curtail was awarded the iron cross second class and the wound badge in black unfortunately for historians there isn't much surviving detail to the stories of other women awarded the iron cross in the last weeks of the war in combat just citation dates and perhaps one sentence about what happened during the action the examples of herzekorn and kurto give some flavor of the capabilities of women volunteers in action on the eastern front in 1945 and the unusual circumstances that led them to receive germany's iconic award for bravery in battle many thanks for watching please subscribe and share you can also help to support both of my channels at paypal and patreon details in the description box below you

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 934,777

Rating: 4.9509554 out of 5

Keywords: Mark Felton, Iron Cross, Women Soldiers, Eastern Front

Id: r9UreiyaSws

Length: 11min 18sec (678 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 04 2021