Career
The Knight"s Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Bätge was promoted to Kapitänleutnant on 1 September 1943. Shortly after his promotion he took command of the destroyer Z-35 on 25 September 1943.
The destroyers Z-35 and Z-36 both ran into a German naval mine in the Gulf of Finland on 12 December 1944.
However, they all froze to death and were later washed ashore near the Åland Islands. Wehrmachtbericht reference Bibliography.
