Rudolf Säumenicht 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

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...

 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...

 who 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.

Rudolf Säumenicht was born on the 13 February 1916 at Harburg

Harburg

Harburg is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It takes its name from the town of Harburg upon Elbe, which used to be the capital of the district but is now part of Hamburg...

.
He volunteered to join the SS and was selected to become an officer and posted to the SS-Junkerschule at 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....

. Upon graduation he was posted to the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf and participated in the Anschluss

Anschluss

The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....

 of Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 and the occupation of the Sudetenland

Sudetenland

Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...

.

He was awarded the Knight's Cross in October 1943, when with a kampfgruppe

Kampfgruppe

In military history and military slang, the German term Kampfgruppe can refer to a combat formation of any kind, but most usually to that employed by the German Wehrmacht and its allies during World War II and, to a lesser extent, in World War I...

 (battle group) consisting of one Panzer VI

Panzer VI

Panzer VI can refer to two different tanks:*Panzer VIE, or Tiger I*Panzer VIB, or Tiger II...

, five Panzer IV

Panzer IV

The Panzerkampfwagen IV , commonly known as the Panzer IV, was a medium tank developed in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz...

s and six Panzer III

Panzer III

Panzer III was the common name of a medium tank that was developed in the 1930s by Germany and was used extensively in World War II. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen III translating as "armoured battle vehicle". It was intended to fight other armoured fighting vehicles and...

s, without orders, he launched a counter attack to halt a Russian

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....

 breakthrough. Through this action 42 Soviet tanks were knocked out, for the loss of two tanks of their own.

Rudolf Säumenicht was transferred to the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking as the commander of the II. Battalion, 5th SS Panzer Regiment and was killed in action on 26 August 1944 near Czarnov

Czarnów, Warsaw West County

Czarnów is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Leszno, within Warsaw West County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It lies approximately west of Leszno, west of Ożarów Mazowiecki , and west of Warsaw....

, on the Bug River

Bug River

The Bug River is a left tributary of the Narew river flows from central Ukraine to the west, passing along the Ukraine-Polish and Polish-Belarusian border and into Poland, where it empties into the Narew river near Serock. The part between the lake and the Vistula River is sometimes referred to as...

, Eastern Front.

Commands

• 3rd Company, SS Totenkopf Motorcycle Battalion 1941 - October 1942
• 5th Company, SS Motorcycle Regiment Thule October 1942 - February 1943
• 7th Company, SS Motorcycle Regiment Thule February 1943 - April 1943
• HQ Company, 3rd SS Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion April 1943 - August 1943
• 2nd Company, 3rd SS Panzer Regiment, SS Totenkopf August 1943 - September 1943
• I. Battalion, 3rd SS Panzer Regiment, SS Totenkopf September 1943 - February 1944
• I. Battalion, 5th SS Panzer Regiment, SS Wiking February 1944 - August 1944