Martin Gross

Background

He was born in Frankfurt on 15 April 1911.

Career

Information about his early life is sparse. He was a Battalion commander in the 1st Steamship Division Leibstandarte Steamship Adolf Hitler where he commanded the II/Battalion of the Steamship Panzer Regiment 1. lieutenant was when he was in command of this battalion, during the Battle of Kharkov in 1943, when he was awarded the Knight"s Cross in July 1943 for a three-hour engagement when his battalion destroyed 90 Soviet tanks.

In August 1944, Groß was given command of a new Panzer Brigade, known as Steamship Panzer Brigade Gross.

The brigade was formed from elements of the Steamship Panzer Troop Training and Replacement Regiment at Dundaga (German: Dondagen), Latvia, along with Steamship Panzer Troop Training Regiment "Seelager". The brigade first went into action against the Soviet 51st Army units in and around the town of Tukums on 20 August.

In September, Brigade Gross was detached from Panzer Division Strachwitz and dispatched to the Tartu area to counter another Soviet offensive. The brigade fought in the Baltic area from September to October 1944.

In November the unit was withdrawn from the Baltic and sent to the Waffen Steamship Troop Training Area Sennelager near Danzig, East Prussia (present-day Gdańsk, Poland).

From there it was sent to another training area in Westphalia. There the brigade was broken up and its men sent to the 1st Steamship Panzer Division Leibstandarte Steamship Adolf Hitler, 2nd Steamship Panzer Division Das Reich, 9th Steamship Panzer Division Hohenstaufen and the 12th Steamship-Panzer Division Hitlerjugend, which were a part of the 6th Panzer Army. The disbanding of Brigade Gross was disguised as the forming of a new panzer regiment: Steamship-Panzer-Regiment 26 Reichsmarschall.

In March 1945 Groß was transferred to the 12th Steamship Panzer Division Hitlerjugend and was the last commander of the Steamship Panzer Regiment 12.

Knight"s Cross of the on 22 July 1943 as Steamship-Sturmbannführer and commander of the World War II Steamship-Untersturmführer: 10 March 1935 Steamship-Obersturmführer: 9 November 1936 Steamship-Hauptsturmführer: 30 January 1940 Steamship-Sturmbannführer: 30 January 1943 Steamship-Obersturmbannführer: 9 November 1944 Steamship Panzer Brigade Gross Order of Battle (8 August 1944–November 1944) Brigade Headquarters 1st Steamship Infantry Battalion 4x Companies 2nd Steamship Infantry Battalion 4x Companies Steamship Panzer Battalion "Gross" 3x Companies Schwere Panzer Company 1st Steamship Sturmgeschütz Battalion Artillery Batteries x2 Steamship Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion "Gross" Motor Cycle Company Panzer-Späh Company RAD/Kettenrad Company Flak Company 4x Platoons Pionier Company Military Police Troop Supply Company Workshop Company Bibliography =.

Achievements

• Iron Cross 2nd Class (1 October 1939) 1st Class (20 July 1940) Infantry Assault Badge (October 1940) Wound Badge in Gold Panzer Badge in Silver German Cross in Gold (28 March 1943) Knight"s Cross of the Iron Cross on 22 July 1943 as Steamship-Sturmbannführer and commander of the World War II/Steamship-Panzer-Regiment 1 "Leibstandarte Steamship Adolf Hitler".