Casper "Antoine" Sporck was a Unterscharführer

Unterscharführer

Unterscharführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party used by the Schutzstaffel between 1934 and 1945. The SS rank was created after the Night of the Long Knives...

 in the Waffen SS during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. 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...

, which was awarded to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership by Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

. He was the third Dutchman to be awarded the Knight's Cross.

World War II

Sporck volunteered to join the Waffen SS in April 1941. He was commander of a Sdkfz 251/9

SdKfz 251

The Sd.Kfz. 251 half-track was an armored fighting vehicle designed and first built by Hanomag company during World War II. The largest and best armored of the wartime half-tracks, the Sd.Kfz. 251 was designed to transport the panzergrenadiers of the German mechanized infantry corps into battle....

 half-track

Half-track

A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels on the front for steering, and caterpillar tracks on the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. The purpose of this combination is to produce a vehicle with the cross-country capabilities of a tank and the handling...

 Schützenpanzerwagen (armored personnel carrier) equipped with a 75 mm L/24 low velocity gun, nicknamed "Stummel". The panzerwagen was attached to the 5th (Heavy) Company, 11th SS Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion, 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland.
He took part in Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...

, the invasion of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, and was awarded the Eastern Front Medal

Eastern Front Medal

The Eastern Front Medal, , more commonly known as the Ostmedaille was instituted on May 26, 1942 to mark service on the German Eastern Front during the period November 15, 1941 to April 15, 1942...

 for service on the Eastern Front

Eastern Front (World War II)

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...

 during the first Russian winter of the war. He was wounded for the first time in April 1942 near Veliky Novgorod

Veliky Novgorod

Veliky Novgorod is one of Russia's most historic cities and the administrative center of Novgorod Oblast. It is situated on the M10 federal highway connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg. The city lies along the Volkhov River just below its outflow from Lake Ilmen...

. Evacuated to hospital, he remained there until July, when he was sent to Bussem in Holland to recuperate until October 1942.

He was awarded the Knight's Cross for his actions near the town of Gubanizy in January 1944. A Russian tank force had broken the German line and entered the town. Sporock drove his Stummel into their midst and began to engage them, eventually making 11 kills.

Later, during the last hours of the Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive

Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive

This is a sub-article to Battle of Narva.The Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive was a campaign between the Soviet Leningrad Front and the German 18th Army fought for the eastern coast of Lake Peipus and the western banks of the Narva River from 1 February till 1 March 1944...

 during the Battle for Narva Bridgehead on 31 January 1944, Sporck stayed back alone with his Stummel and patrolled to the east of the main battle lines, seeking out enemy vehicles and providing protection for stragglers. At dusk, with the enemy close behind, Sporck's vehicle was the last to cross into the German lines. For his bravery he was recommended for the Knight's Cross by his battalion commander, Rudolf Saalbach

Rudolf Saalbach

Rudolf Saalbach was a Sturmbannführer in the Waffen-SS during World War II. Who was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, which was awarded to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership by Nazi Germany during World War II.-Early life:Rudolf Saalbach was born on...

.

Casper Sporck did not survive the war. He died from wounds that he received at the Stettin Bridgehead. He died in a field hospital in Bayreuth on 8 April 1945.

Further reading

• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945. Friedburg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas (2000). ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.
• Mitcham, Samuel Jr. Retreat to the Reich. Stackpole Books (2007). ISBN 081173384X.
• Henschler, Henri; Fay, Will. Armor Battles of the Waffen-SS, 1943–45. Stackpole Books (2003). ISBN 0811729052.
• Mitcham, Samuel. The German Defeat in the East, 1944–45. Stackpole Books (2007). ISBN 0811733718.