GÜNTER HALM, youngest Knight’s Cross holder of Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Corps, has died in his hometown of Bad Münder, Germany on 26 September 2017 reports Robin Schäfer. President of the Association of Knight’s Cross Holders, Günter Halm was a well known visitor to the UK, invited to British veterans meetings and acting as public speaker at the Chalke Valley History Festival in 2016 and 2017. He was one of the first highly decorated German Army veterans to stand and answer questions from the general public. His message was always one of peace and reconciliation.
In July 1942 the Axis advance in North Africa had been checked at the British defensive line south of El Alamein, Egypt, in what became known as the First Battle of Alamein. In the night of 21-22 July 1942, Allied high command launched Operation Splendour, an offensive targeting German positions on Ruweisat Ridge, midway between the Mediterranean Sea and the so-called Qattara Depression, with the aim of cutting the German front half. The attack ended in disaster when Allied forces ran into fierce German-Italian resistance.
During this battle Günter Halm, serving as anti-tank gunner in the 104th Panzergrenadier-Regiment, distinguished himself by…
