Eberhardt Telkamp was a Obersturmbannführer

Obersturmbannführer

Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...

 (Lieutenant Colonel) 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...

 during World War II.

Eberhardt Telkamp was born on the 8 May 1914 in Leer

Leer

Leer is a town in the district of Leer, the northwestern part of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated at the river Ems, near the border with the Netherlands....

, Ostfriesland. He volunteered to join the SS-VT. He was awarded his first combat decoration the Iron Cross

Iron Cross

The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....

 II class in June 1940 and the Iron Cross I class in October 1940, during the Battle of France

Battle of France

In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...

.
After the armistice with France he was involved in Operation Marita in the Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

 with the Das Reich

Das Reich

Das Reich is the name of:* a German SS-division, see 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich* a national socialist newspaper, see Das Reich * the main work of German right-wing intellectual Friedrich Hielscher...

 Division, where he was awarded the General Assault Badge

General Assault Badge

The General Assault Badge was awarded to personnel of the German Wehrmacht who were not in infantry or tank units during World War II.Instituted on 1 June 1940, the General Assault Badge was awarded to assault engineers as well as to those troops who supported infantry and armor units in combat...

. He next 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....

.
In 1942 he was given his first command the 10th Battery, 2nd SS Panzer Artillery Regiment. His Knight's Cross was awarded in August 1944, while in command of the 9th SS Panzer Regiment, 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen which was part of Army Group B

Army Group B

Army Group B was the name of three different German Army Groups that saw action during World War II.-Battle for France:The first was involved in the Western Campaign in 1940 in Belgium and the Netherlands which was to be aimed to conquer the Maas bridges after the German airborne actions in Rotterdam...

 in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 (Operation Overlord

Operation Overlord

Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...

).
Telkamp survived the war and died on 20 May 1992 in Pfronten

Pfronten

Pfronten is a municipality in the district of Ostallgäu in Bavaria in Germany.-External links: German Wikipedia article...

, Bayern.

Commands

• 10th Battery, 2nd SS Panzer Artillery Regiment, 1942
• 1st Sturmgeschütz
  Sturmgeschütz
  Sturmgeschütz is a German word for "assault gun", usually abbreviated StuG. The vehicle was a leading weapon of the Sturmartillerie, a branch of the German artillery tasked with close fire support of infantry in infantry, panzer, and panzergrenadier units...
  
   Battery, Das Reich 1942 - May 1943
• 9th SS Sturmgeschütz Battalion, June 1943 - November 1943
• II. Panzer Battalion, 9th SS Panzer Regiment November 1943 - July 1944
• I. Panzer Battalion, 9th SS Panzer Regiment July 1944 - September 1944
• 9th SS Panzer Regiment September 1944 - May 1945

Further reading