Karl Heintz

Karl Heintz as a Bavarian artilleryman, 1916

The Bavarian Bravery Medal

Karl Heintz (born June 7, 1897 in Saalstadt ; † September 23, 1978 in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse ) was a volunteer in the Bavarian Army in the First World War . In 1916, in the heaviest drumfire, at risk of his own life, he dug up two people who had been buried and thus saved their lives. For this he was awarded the Bavarian Bravery Medal , the highest Bavarian war medal for NCOs and men .

Life

Heintz was born as the youngest of five sons of master blacksmith Ludwig Heintz. After attending school, he aspired to become a civil servant and initially worked as a stage manager at the district office in Ludwigshafen am Rhein .

At the age of eighteen, Heintz joined the Bavarian Army as a volunteer in August 1915 during the First World War . After three months of training in the artillery , he came to the Western Front as a gunner of the 12th Artillery Regiment . At the beginning of 1916 he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class and promoted to private .

As a member of the 3rd battery of his regiment, Heintz took part in the Battle of the Somme . On September 14, 1916 he was busy repairing a totally shot telephone line in the face of the heaviest barrage in the Foureaux forest. Other soldiers informed him that infantrymen of the 18th Infantry Regiment "Prince Ludwig Ferdinand" had just been buried at a certain point . Despite the unabated artillery fire, Heintz had the site shown to him immediately and began, completely alone and without cover, to dig up his comrades in heavy fire. He finally succeeded in rescuing two seriously wounded men after a long period of time at the greatest risk of his own life and saving them from suffocation. They were able to be connected by paramedics who were called and taken out of the combat zone.

For his selfless rescue mission, Heintz received the Silver Medal of Bravery , the highest Bavarian war medal for NCOs and men. Later, in Flanders , he was also awarded the Iron Cross First Class for having voluntarily carried out a dangerous exploration and repair of a telephone connection.

After the First World War, Heintz became an administrative officer and worked in various positions in the Bavarian and later Rhineland-Palatinate civil service. He worked for a long time at the Kirchheimbolanden district office , where he also lived with his family. He was later transferred to Neustadt, then to the Ludwigshafen am Rhein district administration . Here he became a senior administrator in pension and finally passed away at his last residence in Neustadt / Wine Route.

In the memorial of Bavaria's Golden Book of Honor , Heintz and his award facts are recorded on page 315. The Illustrierte Zeitbilder , supplement to the newspaper Pfälzische Presse Kaiserslautern , published a report with a photo about him in its number 22 of November 4, 1917.

literature

• Bavaria's Golden Book of Honor. Bavarian War Archives. Munich 1928.
• "Bavaria's Golden Book of Honor, The Holders of the Military Max Joseph Order and the Military Merit Medal in the First World War" , reprint, Phaleristischer Verlag Michael Autengruber, Konstanz, 2000
• Illustrated time images. Sunday supplement of the Palatinate Press. Kaiserslautern No. 22 from November 4, 1917 (with photo).