Career
The Knight"s Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves were awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Early in the war, the slightly built Carius was rejected twice for military service for being underweight. However, he was eventually enlisted and initially served in the infantry, before volunteering for the Panzer branch.
In 1943, Carius transferred to the 502nd Heavy Panzer Battalion.
He was severely wounded on 24 July 1944 while reconnoitering a village on a motorcycle. Until that day, he was unofficially running the 2nd Company of the 502nd.
He officially became commander of 2nd Company on the day he was shot through the leg and arm, with four more wounds in the back and one the neck. When he recovered, he became commander of a Jagdtiger company of the 512th Heavy Antitank Battalion at the beginning of 1945.
On 8 March 1945, 2nd Company was directed to the front line near Siegburg, where it took part in the defense of the River Rhine and eventually surrendered to the United States Army on 7 May 1945 in Iserlohn and was released on 21 May 1945.
After the war Carius studied pharmacy at Heidelberg University. In 1956 he opened his own pharmacy shop called Tiger Apotheke in Herschweiler-Pettersheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, named after the Tiger tank. He ran his shop until he retired in 2011.
He wrote a book about his experience in the war, Tigers in the Mud.
Carius died on 24 January 2015 at age 92.
