"Hinrich Ahrens commanded a Pak 36 gun crew during a major Soviet attack
against his division’s sector on the 16.10.1944. Positioned just to the
north of Wirballen, he continued to fight with his Pak gun even after
his entire crew had been wiped out by Soviet artillery fire. He
inflicted heavy losses on the attacking Soviet infantry by firing high
explosive rounds, and he continued to fight them off with hand grenades
as the attackers pushed past him on either side and attacked from the
rear. A group of 10 tanks then approached him. Ahrens knocked out the
first one with the Panzerfaust and thereby forced the remainder to fall
back.
After expending his ammunition he resolved that the gun would not fall
into Soviet hands under any circumstances. He fought his way through the
enemy ring back to his battalion command post, picked up some
explosives and then headed back. Along the way he was badly wounded in
the thigh, however he continued to storm forwards against the bewildered
Soviets along with two other soldiers. He managed to blow up his gun
and thereafter fight his way back to friendly lines with his two
comrades.
Ahrens’ bravery here significantly contributed to the prevention of a
Soviet breakthrough here." from his Knight's Cross to the Iron Cross awarded on January 9th, 1945 as a unteroffizier with the Grenadier-Regiment 1141, 561 Volksgrenadier Division.
Another deadly enemy elite,
Brian
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