The Final Hours by J. Steinhoff-Identity of Personnel

[kaki3152]

In his book, "The Final Hours", Johannes Steinhoff, he tells the story of meeting Hitler when he was awarded the Swords on July 28,1944. He describes two other individuals who were there
(1) Major S.
(2) Leutnant B.

Major S. is identified as commander of a 20mm four-barrelled anti aircraft unit, while Lt B. is a fighter pilot.

Although I have tried to identify these individuals, so far no luck.

[Nick Beale]

If these men receiverd their medals at the same time as Steinhoff, it is possible that they would be named in the announcement of his award in the Völkischer Beobachter.

The newspaper announced the award of Knight's Crosses (and oak leaves etc.) almost every day). You can read the Vienna edition online at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek here: https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/a...m=1944&zoom=33

[Johannes]

Hi
Unlikely these Guys were there for medals as unlikely to be given by Hitler for less than the Eichenlaub, and no Leutnant or Major awarded Eichenlaub this day.
Could be Schwerter winners, but unlikely a flak commander got the Schwerter, and if a fighter pilot it would be unlikely to be so low ranked, and there are so few anyway.

Kind Regards

Johannes

[kaki3152]

Nick/ Johannes,

Thanks to both of you for some good leads. Steinhoff followed the German habit of not providing a full name but instead only the first letter of the last name. Wolfgang Spate did the same in his book "Top Secret Bird". I have been able to identify most of the names but there are several names that remain unknown. Still, it's fun to try to ID these names.

[John Manrho]

The problem with The Secret Bird is also that Wolfgang Späte is mixing stories and dates. This makes it very confusing.....

[Johannes]

Hi

I checked fighter pilots with Ritterkreuz awards for 28th July 1944, and found none being "B", however two JG 52 Leutnant received the Ritterkreuz on the 27th(perhaps they just hung around) Hans-Joachim Birkner and Herbert Bachnick, and both were away from the front at this time making it possible that each had their Ritterkreuz awarded as quite often happened away from their units.

Kind Regards

Johannes