This Date in History: August 21

 

West of Stalingrad on August 21, 1942, the 100th Jäger Division defended in sector along the Don River against the 40th Guards Rifle Division and prepared to move from the Don River bend west to assume defensive positions west of Sirotinskaya.  The division suffered 12 NCOs/enlisted killed in action and one officer, 40 NCO/enlisted wounded in action.  To the southeast was the 44th Infantry Division; to the north was the 376th Infantry Division.  (Stalingrad: The Death of the German Sixth Army on the Volga, 1942-1943)

**********

SS-Hauptsturmführer Heinz Kling commanded the 13th (Heavy) Company of Tigers at Kursk.  He was wounded eleven times during the war, once on August 21, 1944.  After the war Kling was interned by the British at Bad Nenndorf.  On his release he became a textile representative for the Schiesser Company in Radolfzell, before becoming an independent textile merchant in 1950.  He is also believed to have worked at the Radolfzeller Schürzenfabrik, living at Schützenstraβe 21.  Business was apparently good as Heinz joined the Radolfzell Yacht Club.  Heinz Kling accidentally drowned in the Zeller See on lower Lake Constance near the town of Radolfzell on September 30, 1951 when his boat capsized.

(Waffen-SS Tiger Crews at Kursk: The Men of SS Panzer Regiments 1, 2 & 3 in Operation Citadel, July 5-15, 1943)