Heinrich Springer
Encyclopedia
Heinrich Springer was a Hauptsturmführer
(Captain) in the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
. He went to the Gelehrtenschule in Meldorf
. Springer trained as a civil engineer
and an architect
and also served as a Hitler Youth
leader.
As a youth in the Weimar Republic
he trained to be volunteered for the Waffen SS and attended the SS officers training school at Bad Tölz
, after graduation he was posted to the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. He went on to command the 3rd company in 1941 with the rank of Obersturmführer
(First Lieutenant). It was while in command of the 3rd company that he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
. During the Battle of Rostov
he seized a vital bridge over the River Don
.
He later commanded the 1st Company LSSAH from June 1942 to February 1943 with the rank of Hauptsturmführer
(Captain).
Further information on Springer is sparse. After suffering multiple wounds he was awarded the Golden Wound Badge
. He then spent some time at the OKW as the Waffen SS Liaison officer working with General Alfred Jodl
. He was then posted to the headquarters of the Army Group B, under Field Marshal Walter Model
, where he stayed during the Normandy Invasion and the Ardennes offensive. He was then the officer in charge of ordnance for Army Group Vistula. He then spent some time in captivity before being released and returning to his family.
He died in Oelixdorf
, Germany in 2007.
We are all children of the Creator - that is my belief. We have the mission to act in His Will, life-affirming and full of the joys of life. With the consciousness of our responsibility to God and His Creation we shall work until our last breath, until one day we tiredly lie down our head and close our eyes forever.
Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies...
(Captain) in the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard. Initially the size of a regiment, the LSSAH eventually grew into a divisional-sized unit...
. He went to the Gelehrtenschule in Meldorf
Meldorf
Meldorf is a city in western Schleswig-Holstein, in the district of Dithmarschen, and straddling the Miele river. It was first mentioned in writing before 1250 ad, and it served as the capital of the Dithmarschen, a peasant republic with Allies in the Hanseatic league dating from 1468...
. Springer trained as a civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
and an architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and also served as a Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
leader.
As a youth in the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
he trained to be volunteered for the Waffen SS and attended the SS officers training school at Bad Tölz
Bad Tölz
Bad Tölz is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and administrative center of the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen.- History :Since the retreat of the glaciers at the end of the Ice Age, archaeology has shown continuous occupation of the site of Bad Tölz...
, after graduation he was posted to the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. He went on to command the 3rd company in 1941 with the rank of Obersturmführer
Obersturmführer
Obersturmführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi party that was used by the SS and also as a rank of the SA. Translated as “Senior Assault Leader”, the rank of Obersturmführer was first created in 1932 as the result of an expansion of the Sturmabteilung and the need for an additional rank in...
(First Lieutenant). It was while in command of the 3rd company that he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...
. During the Battle of Rostov
Battle of Rostov
Three battles of the Eastern Front of World War II around the city of Rostov-on-Don on the Sea of Azov are known as the Battle of Rostov:*In the Battle of Rostov , the German 1st Panzer Army captured the city but was driven out by the Soviet 37th Army...
he seized a vital bridge over the River Don
Don River (Russia)
The Don River is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres to the Sea of Azov....
.
He later commanded the 1st Company LSSAH from June 1942 to February 1943 with the rank of Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies...
(Captain).
Further information on Springer is sparse. After suffering multiple wounds he was awarded the Golden Wound Badge
Wound Badge
Wound Badge was a German military award for wounded or frost-bitten soldiers of Imperial German Army in World War I, the Reichswehr between the wars, and the Wehrmacht, SS and the auxiliary service organizations during the Second World War. After March 1943, due to the increasing number of Allied...
. He then spent some time at the OKW as the Waffen SS Liaison officer working with General Alfred Jodl
Alfred Jodl
Alfred Josef Ferdinand Jodl was a German military commander, attaining the position of Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command during World War II, acting as deputy to Wilhelm Keitel...
. He was then posted to the headquarters of the Army Group B, under Field Marshal Walter Model
Walter Model
Otto Moritz Walter Model was a German general and later field marshal during World War II. He is noted for his defensive battles in the latter half of the war, mostly on the Eastern Front but also in the west, and for his close association with Adolf Hitler and Nazism...
, where he stayed during the Normandy Invasion and the Ardennes offensive. He was then the officer in charge of ordnance for Army Group Vistula. He then spent some time in captivity before being released and returning to his family.
He died in Oelixdorf
Oelixdorf
Oelixdorf is a municipality in the district of Steinburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany....
, Germany in 2007.
Quotation
(last words in his autobiography, p. 170)We are all children of the Creator - that is my belief. We have the mission to act in His Will, life-affirming and full of the joys of life. With the consciousness of our responsibility to God and His Creation we shall work until our last breath, until one day we tiredly lie down our head and close our eyes forever.
See also
- Waffen SS
- 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf HitlerThe Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard. Initially the size of a regiment, the LSSAH eventually grew into a divisional-sized unit...
- List of Knight's Cross holders 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
External links
- color photograph - Heinrich Springer in the middle, standing next to Fritz WittFritz WittFritz Witt was a German Waffen-SS officer who served with the 1.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler before taking command of the 12.SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend...
who holds his birthday present
