Afiero, Massimiliano Festung Kowel. Asedio e Liberación. Marzo / Abril 1944

In March 1944, after fierce fighting had succeeded in dislodging the German units trapped in the Cherkassy-Korsun cauldron, the 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking", although in urgent need of reorganisation and reinforcement, was sent on another focal point mission. This time the SS Division "Wiking" was to participate in the liberation of the German troops from the town of Kowel, which had been declared a fortress and was surrounded by the Soviets.

The chances of success for this attempt at liberation were extremely slim. Under the command of SS Gruppenführer Herbert Otto Gille, the tank and grenade units of the "Germania" and "Westland" regiments, led by battle-hardened officers such as Joachim Richter, Rudolf Mühlenkamp, Franz Hack, Karl Nicolussi-Leck, Walter Schmidt, Hans Dorr, Günther Sitter, Otto Schneider, Friedrich Hannes and many others, succeeded, with great losses of their own, in lifting the siege of the town and clearing a military situation that could have turned into a disaster. Accounts from soldiers involved in the fighting give an undisguised and personal insight into the hardship of the battle for Kowel.