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Lambach, Helmut (Grenadier-Regiment 88)

Date of birth:
January 14th, 1918 (Büdingen/Eastern-Prussia, Germany)
Date of death:
June 29th, 2000 (Sichels-Fulda/Hesse, Germany)
Nationality:
German (1933-1945, Third Reich)

Biography

After graduating from high school, he became a forest official.
From 1936 to 1938 he did his military service at the 11./ Inf.Reg. 15 in Kassel.
Recalled with mobilization in 1939, he started in the 11./ Inf.Reg. 88 - 15.Inf. Div. and took part in the campaigns in France and up to Moscow in this unit.
He was sent to the war school and promoted to lieutenant in the reserve in October 1942.
He took part in the division's second mission on the Donets and Dnieper rivers and was promoted to first lieutenant in October 1943 and awarded the German Cross in Gold on January 16, 1944.
He was awarded the Knight's Cross for leading his company in the heavy defensive battles of Krivoy Rog on September 30, 1944. In his sector, five tanks were destroyed in close combat and a Russian attack with tanks and infantry repelled.
Helmut Lambach was wounded six times during the war - most recently in April 1945, when he was now commanding the I./ Grenadier Regiment 88 - 15.ID.
The end of the war see him hospitalized in Zwickau.

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Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Leutnant der Reserve (2nd Lieutenant of Reserves)
Unit:
Chef 11. / Grenadier-Regiment 88 - 15. Infanterie Division
Awarded on:
January 16th, 1944
Deutsches Kreuz in Gold
Period:
Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:
Oberleutnant der Reserve (1st Lieutenant of Reserves)
Unit:
Chef 11. / Grenadier-Regiment 88 - 15. Infanterie Division
Awarded on:
March 6th, 1944
During the fighting NW of Krivoi Rog, on the 14.01.1944, Oberleutnant Lambach and his 11. Kompanie particularly distinguished themselves. During the defensive battles on this day a Soviet break-in attempt with tanks and infantry was foiled and 5 tanks were destroyed in close combat by the Kompanie. For this action Lambach would be decorated with the Knight’s Cross.
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes

Sources

  • Photo: Ritterkreuztr�ger in der 15. I.D.
    - Lambach, Helmut : L
  • - Die Ordensträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht (CD), VMD-Verlag GmbH, Osnabrück, 2002
    - Fellgiebel W.P., Elite of the Third Reich, The recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939-1945: A Reference, Helion & Company Limited, Solihull, 2003, ISBN 1-874622-46-9
    - Patzwall K., Scherzer V., Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945, Geschichte und Inhaber Band II, Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt, 2001, ISBN 3-931533-45-X
    - ritterkreuztraeger-1939-45.de

Photo