Defending Arnhem © 2006

Hauptmann Wolfram Kertz


	Knights Cross - 4.10.44
	Iron Cross I Class - 15.11.40
	Iron Cross II Class - 8.5.40
	Close Combat Clasp in Bronze
	Infantry Assault Badge in Silver
	Wound Badge in Black

Wolfram Kertz joined the Wehrmacht in 1937 in Köln with the Infantry Regiment 77. By the beginning of the war he was a Feldwebel and by 1940 a Leutnant. He participated and fought in Norway, Finland and Russia where he had earned the Iron Cross (2nd Class) – May 8, 1940, the Iron Cross (1 st Class) – November 15, 1940, the Infantry Assault Badge and the Wound Badge in Black.

It was possibly a wound that saw him sent to a replacement unit to recover from and he was posted to the Ausbildungs und Ersatz-Bataillon 361 (Training and Replacement Battalion 361) in Wuppertal under the command of Hauptmann Hans Bruhns.

On the 17th September 1944, the Battalion was sent to Arnhem and fought mostly on the North of the pocket in Oosterbeek under the command of the 9th SS Panzer Division ' Hohenstaufen'. Kertz, who was now an Oberleutnant, was in command of the 8th Company with the Battalion. It was with this company where he earned himself the Knights Cross. There have been some suggestions that Hauptmann Bruhns was wounded early in the Battle and Kertz took over the Battalion and perhaps it was here where he earned the Knights Cross. To date, no evidence has come to light to prove this theory.

On the 1st December 1944, Hauptmann Wolfram Kertz took command of the Wachregiment 'Grossdeutschland' in Berlin. Normally a ceremonial and guard unit, Kertz was once again in combat with this Regiment during the final days of the war. In late April 1945, Hauptmann Kertz was put in command of an Alarm Unit in the 309th ‘Berlin' Division. An ad-hoc group made up of young soldiers and the odd veteran, this unit made its last stand against the Russian onslaught around the Zoo Bunker in Berlin. On the 21st April 1945, Kertz was wounded and taken prisoner by the Russians. He spent 4 years in captivity in Moscow and Siberia before being released at the end of 1949. Wolfram Kertz went on to have a successful career with the Bundeswehr reaching the final rank of Oberst d. R (Colonel of the Reserve) and retiring in 1967.

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