"He received the Knight’s Cross for his exceptionally brave conduct
during the fighting for the high ground east of Staro Shiwotow. During
this time the enemy launched a dawn attack with strong forces that
succeeded in penetrating through a front-line gap and capturing a PaK
position. At this time Abel was engaged in fierce defensive fighting
further to the east, and he made the decision to restore the situation.
He assumed command of the nearest friendly machine-gunner and stormed
forwards with him. After this machine-gunner became fatally wounded,
Oberfeldwebel Abel shot up the foremost Bolshevik
troops that had
already reached the friendly Pak gun. He then rushed forward to these
guns and from here was able to halt and force the retreat of the
follow-up Soviet forces.
The bravery and decisiveness he displayed here did not only prevent the
loss of a still-operational Pak gun, but also prevented an enemy
breakthrough at this boundary position (which would’ve in turn created
the danger that the friendly front-line would be rolled up. from his
Knight's Cross to the Iron Cross citation, awarded on November 23rd,
1941 as Oberfeldwebel of Infanterie-Regiment 217.
Another capable enemy elite,
Brian
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