Walter Gerhold

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Walter Gerhold , (born June 8, 1921 in Benolpe near Olpe ( Sauerland ); † March 2, 2013 in Lünen ) was a German naval member, lone fighter and one-man torpedo driver of the Negro type , most recently in the rank of clerk's mate in World War II and first holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of the Navy in the crew stand.

Life

Gerhold joined the Navy on October 16, 1940 and on the same day was assigned as a recruit to the 6th Ship Mastery, which was stationed in the Graf Spee barracks in Wilhelmshaven . On December 2, 1940, Gerhold was transferred to the 2nd ship master department , where he began training as a clerk guest. From January 30, 1941 to December 3, 1943 Gerhold was initially employed as a clerk and performed his service in this function in various torpedo boat flotillas and on the torpedo boats T 111 and from June 5, 1942 on T 20 of the 3rd torpedo boat flotilla. On September 4, 1943, Gerhold suffered a broken collarbone while on duty and was treated as an inpatient from October 6 to 22, 1943 in the Reserve Lazarett II in Lübeck . On December 4, 1943, he was assigned to the Navy's Education Inspectorate and later worked in the Heiligenhafen Marine Operations Department, from where he volunteered for the newly established small combat units of the Navy in the spring of 1944 . His first small combat operation took place on the night of April 20-21, 1944 in the port of Nettuno , where Gerhold was one of 23 Negro drivers assigned to the 361 K-Flotilla . It was here that Gerhold experienced his first enemy contact with the Allied fleet.

On the night of July 5th to 6th, 1944, still assigned to the K-Flotilla 361 , Gerhold had his second combat mission against the Allied invasion fleet in Normandy from the beach of Trouville . Gerhold and his Negro passed six British destroyers in the immediate vicinity without being noticed, then broke through their security belt against torpedoes and attacked the cruiser ORP Dragon , which was anchored behind these ships . The torpedo impact triggered a severe boiler explosion, but could not completely sink the ship. It was listed by the Royal Navy as Ships damaged beyond repair and sunk on July 20th as an artificial reef for Mulberry Port B near Courseulles-sur-Mer. For these achievements, Gerhold was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on July 6, 1944 as the 233rd member of the Navy , which was awarded to him on July 14, 1944 by Rear Admiral Hellmuth Heye .

After this act, no further missions by Gerhold in the small combat units are documented. He was then employed in the area of ​​the Norwegian west coast in the staff of Admiral Otto von Schrader as clerk's mate. On July 15, 1945, Gerhold was released from the Navy in E -stelle VI Heide (Holstein) and was taken prisoner by the Allies, which he left again on September 30, 1945.

After the war Gerhold lived in Westphalia and worked as a police officer.

Awards

Promotions

  • Corporal October 1, 1941
  • Corporal, 1st October 1942
  • Schreibermaat August 1, 1944 (according to the special order of the K Association of July 28, 1944)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to Wehrmacht files Walter not like the Walther spelling used by Gerhold
  2. ↑ [1] Obituary notice at trauer.ruhrnachrichten.de, accessed on March 10, 2013
  3. ↑ The K-Flotilla 261 is erroneously mentioned in the literature . This is wrong, however, as in April 1944 no beavers had been mass-produced. This only started in May 1944. It is probably a typographical error
  4. ↑ Notes and a. at: The Knight's Cross Bearers of the Navy, Motorbuch, Stuttgart 1974, p. 82
  5. ↑ Manfred Dörr, The Knight's Cross Bearers of the German Navy 1939–1945 Volume I, Letter AK, pp. 199–200.
personal data
SURNAME Gerhold, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerhold Walther
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German marine, most recently clerk's mate in World War II and holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
DATE OF BIRTH June 8, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Benolpe
DATE OF DEATH March 2, 2013
Place of death Luenen