Franz Staudegger was a Oberscharführer

Oberscharführer

Oberscharführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that existed between the years of 1932 and 1945. Translated as “Senior Squad Leader”, Oberscharführer was first used as a rank of the Sturmabteilung and was created due to an expansion of the enlisted positions required by growing SA membership...

 (Staff Sergeant) in the Waffen-SS

Waffen-SS

The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...

 and 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...

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As a Unterscharführer (Corporal/Sergeant) Franz Staudegger was the first member of the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard. Initially the size of a regiment, the LSSAH eventually grew into a divisional-sized unit...

 Tiger tank

Tiger I

Tiger I is the common name of a German heavy tank developed in 1942 and used in World War II. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. E, often shortened to Tiger. It was an answer to the unexpectedly formidable Soviet armour encountered in the initial months of...

 commanders to win the Knight's Cross

On 7 July 1943, a single Tiger I tank commanded by SS Oberscharfuehrer Franz Staudegger from the 2nd Platoon, 13th Panzer Company, 1st SS Panzer Regiment LSSAH engaged a Soviet group of some 50 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 around Psyolknee in the southern sector of the Battle of Kursk

Battle of Kursk

The Battle of Kursk took place when German and Soviet forces confronted each other on the Eastern Front during World War II in the vicinity of the city of Kursk, in the Soviet Union in July and August 1943. It remains both the largest series of armored clashes, including the Battle of Prokhorovka,...

. Staudegger used up his entire ammunition supply and destroyed 22 Soviet tanks, while the rest retreated. For his achievement, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross. The first Tiger tank crewman to be awarded the Knight's Cross.

He was also summoned to the Führer Headquarters to give Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

 a detailed account of the tank battle.

Staudegger ended the war in the 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion

101st SS Heavy Panzer Detachment

SS Heavy Panzer Battalion 101 SS Heavy Panzer Battalion 101 SS Heavy Panzer Battalion 101 (in German Schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 101, commonly abbreviated as s.SS-Pz. Abt. 101 was one of Waffen-SS's elite armored units, acting as a fire brigade and a crack assault unit on all fronts...

 which was present at the Battle of Normandy

Battle of Normandy

The Invasion of Normandy was the invasion and establishment of Allied forces in Normandy, France, during Operation Overlord in World War II. It was the largest amphibious operation in history...

 in 1944 under the command of Michael Wittmann

Michael Wittmann

Michael Wittmann was a German Waffen-SS tank commander during the Second World War. Wittmann would rise to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer and was a Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross holder....

 and was later involved in the Ardennes Offensive

Battle of the Bulge

The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...

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See also

• Waffen-SS
  Waffen-SS
  The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
  
  
• 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
  1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler
  The Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler was Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard. Initially the size of a regiment, the LSSAH eventually grew into a divisional-sized unit...
  
  
• List of Knight's Cross holders 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

External links

• Photo of Franz Staudegger
• http://news.webshots.com/photo/2676823300096466526McBUpT