2 Piece Lot of PANZER COLONEL ERNST-WILHELM HOFFMAN's KNIGHTS CROSS WITH OAK LEAF CLUSTER AND HEINRICH HOFFMAN PRESENTATION PHOTO

ABOUT COLONEL ERNST WILHELM HOFFMAN

Pictured left is an enlarged view of Colonel Hoffman. As seen in the actual size photograph, Der Fuhrer is just finishing the award of a decoration to another army officer standing immediately to Colonel Hoffman's left. As such, he has turned his head slightly to anticipate Der Fuhrer reaching him next.

Clearly visible in this enlargement, Colonel Hoffman is wearing a numbered tank assualt badge. More interesting is the fact that he also chose to wear the Golden Hitler Youth Membership Pin, which he could just as easily elected to not wear with his Army uniform..

As this photo was taken on 20 June 1944, two full weeks after the D-Day Normandy landings, it would seem that, contrary to modern propaganda, all German Army officers this late in the war were not against the party. Rather, it was only a handful who would, exactly one month after this photo was taken would attempt to murder Der Fuhrer and his staff with a bomb in a briefcase.

This summary would be incomplete without taking a few moments to identify some highlights of Colonel Hoffman's military career, which began with his joining of Infantry Regiment 21 in Nurnberg in 1921. As a non WWI veteran, Colonel Hoffman was fully representative of the younger generation of German Army officers who supported Der Fuhrere and were not tainted by the old imperial system where one could only rise in rank to a level determined in advance by personal family lineage.

Despite severe restrictions on the size of the Army mandated by the Versailles Treaty, Colonel Hoffman's dedicated service earned him a promotion to First Lieutenant in 1928 and to Captain in 1935. During this period, he successively served as a platoon leader, company comander and executive officer for Schutzen Regiment 12. Promoted to Major, he was the commander, lst Battalion, Schutzen Regiment 12 on 4 September 1940 when he received the Knight's Cross for service during recently concluded Battle of France. As the Commander of Panzer Grendier Regiment 12, which was part of the 4th Panzer Division, he won the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross in June 1944 as seen here. He would end the war serving as the deputy commander of the 4th Panzer Division. Narrowly escaping with his unit from the Kurland pocket, he would participate in the Battle for Berlin in 1945, an honest German hero right to the end.

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