"Zillies was awarded the Knight’s Cross for his defense of Würselen on
the 21.10.1944. The following wartime excerpt details this action as
follows…
Lt. Zilles realized that the Americans were threatening to envelop his battalion… He decided… to firmly establish himself in the ruins of the village (the southern part of Würselen) with the merged remnants of his company so as to hold off the Americans long enough for his battalion to occupy its new defensive positions. In the 24 hours of battle which followed he repelled tank-led enemy attacks. 7 Sherman tanks were destroyed by his small unit. Although no armor-piercing weapons were available, and all the heavy weapons had been knocked out, the panzergrenadiers continued to hold their ground with machine-pistols and hand grenades. In bitter close combat they repeatedly denied the Americans the way forward. Only after the battalion had entrenched itself in its new defensive line did Lt. Zillies break-out of the village with his brave band of soldiers following an order transmitted by radio. They passed through the American lines and reached the new position, at which point they joined their comrades along the defensive front." from his Knight's Cross to the Iron Cross citation, awarded on December 11th, 1944 as second lieutenant of the 10th Grenadier Regiment 8.
Lt. Zilles realized that the Americans were threatening to envelop his battalion… He decided… to firmly establish himself in the ruins of the village (the southern part of Würselen) with the merged remnants of his company so as to hold off the Americans long enough for his battalion to occupy its new defensive positions. In the 24 hours of battle which followed he repelled tank-led enemy attacks. 7 Sherman tanks were destroyed by his small unit. Although no armor-piercing weapons were available, and all the heavy weapons had been knocked out, the panzergrenadiers continued to hold their ground with machine-pistols and hand grenades. In bitter close combat they repeatedly denied the Americans the way forward. Only after the battalion had entrenched itself in its new defensive line did Lt. Zillies break-out of the village with his brave band of soldiers following an order transmitted by radio. They passed through the American lines and reached the new position, at which point they joined their comrades along the defensive front." from his Knight's Cross to the Iron Cross citation, awarded on December 11th, 1944 as second lieutenant of the 10th Grenadier Regiment 8.
Another capable enemy elite,
Brian
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