Ernst Johann Tetsch was a Sturmbannführer

Sturmbannführer

Sturmbannführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party equivalent to major, used both in the Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel...

 (Major) 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 a recipient of 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

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...

.

Early life

Ernt Johann Tetsch was born 28 October 1916, in Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe

The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...

, Baden

Baden

Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....

. After he finished elementary school he volunteered to join the SS-VT and was assigned to SS-Standarte Germania (SS number 199 968), he also joined the NSDAP (party number 5 262 862). He was then selected to become an officer and sent to the SS-Junkerschule in Braunschweig

Braunschweig

Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....

, being in the Class of 35.

World War II

Tetsch started World War II in the SS Germania Regiment which at the time was part of the SS-VT. On the reformation of the SS-VT after 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...

 he was part of the SS Division Das Reich and given command of the 8th (Heavy) Company, 2nd SS Panzer Regiment.

He then went onto command the III. Battalion, 2nd SS Panzer Regiment between July and October 1943, this unit had been formed from captured T-34

T-34

The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II...

 tanks and crewed by the 2nd SS Panzerjager

Panzerjäger

Panzerjäger was a branch of service of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War which were the anti-tank arm-of-service who operated anti-tank artillery, and made exclusive use of the tank destroyers which were also named Panzerjäger...

 Battalion.

In 1944 he was posted to the 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg to command the I. Battalion, 10th SS Panzer Regiment, a Panther tank

Panther tank

Panther is the common name of a medium tank fielded by Nazi Germany in World War II that served from mid-1943 to the end of the European war in 1945. It was intended as a counter to the T-34, and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV; while never replacing the latter, it served alongside it as...

 battalion. It was while in command of this battalion that he was awarded the Knight's Cross serving 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...

in March 1945. Shortly after he assumed command of the 10th SS Panzer Regiment until the end of the war.

Commands

• 8th (Heavy) Panzer Company, 2nd SS Panzer Regiment
• III. Panzer Battalion (T-34), 2nd SS Panzer Regiment July 1943 - October 1943
• I. Panzer Battalion, 10th SS Panzer Regiment 1944 - March 1945
• 10th SS Panzer Regiment March 1945 - May 1945