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| CLICK HERE FOR A FULL LIST OF ALL NICOLAS TRUDGIAN PRINTS BY TITLE |
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SS Oberscharfuhrer Werner Wendt
Werner Wendt was born in Naugard / Pommern, today in Poland, in 1921. He joined the ,military at the outbreak of war in September 1939, and served first with an SS Artillery Regiment during the Battle of France3. In August 1940 he joined the SS Artillery Regiment Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler and fought in the Yugoslavian and Greek campaigns. Becoming a Tiger tank commander, he took part in the invasion of Russia, and in 1943 fought in a Tiger at the Battle of Kursk during Operation Citadel. Later in 1943 he fought in Italy, and then in 1944 at the Battle of Normandy, followed in December of that year by the Battle of the Bulge. Werner Wendt was awarded the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class. He died on 26th May 2005.
An account of the end of the Battle of the Bulge for Werner Wendt and his Tiger tank :
Scattered elements of s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 continued to fight. On Christmas morning SS-Oberscharführer Wendt received word that the reconnaissance battalion was withdrawing across the Ambleve. Wendt sent his loader to inform his platoon leader, SS-Oberscharführer Brandt, of the withdrawal. As Brandt climbed down from his tank an American shell, the only one of the morning, fell right in front of him. Brandt was mortally wounded and Wendt's loader was killed. Another crew managed to drive Brandt's Tiger across the Ambleve and link up with the rest of their company. Wendt and his driver prepared to destroy their immobilized tank 133 with demolition charges in the turret and engine compartment. They set the charges and crossed the river on an improvised infantry bridge. As they climbed the opposite slope they continued to watch their tank, but Wendt never saw the charges explode. The explosives may have gone off later, as a U.S. Air Force observer reported in the summer of 1945 seeing a Royal Tiger at the Petit Spai bridge with the rear of the turret and the frontal hull roof smashed in, though he attributed this damage to Allied bombing. SS-Untersturmführer Kalinowsky's 008, which had been left with engine trouble near Knittel's command post at the Ferme Antoine between Stavelot and Trois Ponts, continued to fight on until its crew set it on fire and withdrew with the last elements of the reconnaissance battalion Christmas morning.
Below is a photograph of Tiger 133 of Werner Wendt, off the road near the Petit-Spai bridge. (December 1944 Museum, La Gleize).
| SS Oberscharfuhrer Werner Wendt - Signed Nicolas Trudgian Aviation Art Prints Pilot and Aircrew Signatures |
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| Text for the above items : |
Kursk - Clash of Steel by Nicolas Trudgian. The Germans launched their attack on the Kursk salient on 5th July 1943, and for both sides this was maximum effort. The Soviets, however, informed by intelligence of the impending German attack, had ample time to prepare huge defensive works with hundreds of planned anti tank belts. They deployed 10 Tank Corps, 5 Tank Armies, 1 mechanised Corps and 14 Field Armies equipped with 4000 anti tank guns and 6000 tanks. The Soviet Air Forces were equally impressive - 2600 aircraft. The Germans, outnumbered in every department, were forced to scrape together whatever serviceable tanks they could from their badly under strength Panzer formations. Most of the tanks deployed were old Panzer IIIs or IVs, with only 147 Tigers available for action. The northern German attack made very little headway, but, in the south, the Germans had grouped all of the SS Panzer forces into the II SS Panzer Corps and these units, despite the enormous Soviet forces ranged against them, began to smash their way through the Soviet defences. The Luftwaffe too had brought together 1200 aircraft and these made an immediate impact on the fighting - on the first day alone German fighters broke up massive formations of Soviet aircraft, over 400 victories being claimed. |
| SS Oberscharfuhrer Werner Wendt Squadron details |
| SS Oberscharfuhrer Werner Wendt Aircraft details |
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