Rosen, R. Freiherr von Als Panzeroffizier in Ost und West

In the Panzer III, Tiger and King Tiger in Russia, France and Hungary. Richard Freiherr von Rosen, born on 28 June 1922, took part in the Second World War from 1941 to 1945, first with Panzer Regiment 35, then as a member of Heavy Panzer Division 502 and, after the 2nd Company of Heavy Panzer Division 502 was incorporated, as the 3rd Company in Heavy Panzer Division 503. He saw action on both the Eastern and Western Fronts, rising to the rank of First Lieutenant and Company Commander by the end of the war. Awarded both Iron Crosses, the Wounded Badge in Gold, the Tank Combat Badge II Level and the German Cross in Gold, he continued his military career after joining the newly founded German Armed Forces, becoming a General Staff Officer with the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Land Forces in Fontainebleau (1964-1966), Commander of Tank Battalion 294 (1966-1970) and an advisor in the Federal Ministry of Defence (1970-1972). From 1972 to 1976, he commanded Panzer Brigade 21 (Augustdorf), and from 1976 to 1980 he served as Defence Attaché at the German Embassy in Paris. Finally, he was the German representative to the Commander-in-Chief of the French armed forces in Germany and retired in 1982 with the rank of Major General.

Friday, 1 September 1939: Seventeen-year-old Richard Freiherr von Rosen listens to Hitler's Reichstag speech on the attack on Poland over the radio. Not enthusiastic about the war, but like many of his peers, filled with a sense of duty and the urge to prove himself, he soon applies for an active officer's career in the armoured forces. His wish was fulfilled in October 1940 when he was called up to the Panzer Ersatzabteilung 35 (tank replacement division 35) stationed in Bamberg. After tough basic training and an intensive officer candidate course, the young recruit was now prepared for the forthcoming war mission in France and the Rhineland. At the end of April 1941, with the rank of flag junkie, he finally transferred with Panzer Regiment 35 to the Warthelager in Posen. On 22 June 1941, the war against the Soviet Union began for Richard Freiherr von Rosen as a gunner in Panzer III with the "Barbarossa" operation. Deployed as part of the 4th Panzer Division in Heeresgruppe Mitte, he experienced his baptism of fire in the heavy fighting of his regiment around Stary Bychow and was wounded a short time later. After his recovery and transfer to the heavy tank division 502, he fought with the tank VI "Tiger" from January 1943, initially in the Kalmyk steppe. In the same year, Rosen - now a lieutenant and platoon leader with the 3rd Company of Tiger Division 503 - took part in Operation "Citadel", the largest tank battle of the Second World War.
In the summer of 1944, he was assigned to the invasion front, where the heavy tank units were to stop the advance of the Allied troops. But the experienced tank soldier relentlessly feels the enemy air superiority. After re-equipping his division in Sennelager, he is ordered to the crumbling front in Hungary - now as company commander and commander of a "King Tiger" (Tiger II). There he suffers his fifth wound in early 1945 and experiences the end of the war at home. After the war, Major General Richard Freiherr von Rosen made a career in the Bundeswehr and Nato. His accounts, compiled from diary entries, provide a detailed picture of tank warfare on the Eastern and Western Fronts. This gripping and unique account of his experiences is supplemented by 445 picture documents, some of them unpublished.