SS-Hauptscharführer Hans Mayer

This story was sent by Rudi Welz, a veteran of "Nord":

My father was in charge of the customs office in Eger (Czech Republic). As I could not join the Hitlerjugend there,
I joined an equivalent association for Reichsdeutsche, for which I received a badge,
the golden Traditionsdreieck of the Hitlerjugend, after the incorporation of the Sudetenland.
This Traditionsdreieck entitled me to wear the "Alte-Kämpferwinkel" on joining the Waffen SS.

At the end of the war, Mayer asked me to remove this badge from my uniform,
as he feared I could get into trouble with the Americans for wearing it.
I took it off immediately, something I would have never thought of if Mayer would not have advised me to do so.
For me, Hans Mayer was a role modell on the same level as General Dietl.

SS-Nr.: 319 066 (Joined 01.12.1937)

08.06.1941 EK II (Iron Cross 2nd class)
07.07.1941 EKI (Iron Cross 1st class)
17.07.1941 Black wound badge
20.07.1942 1941/42 Russian Front medal
12.02.1944 General assault badge
Deutsches Kreuz (German Cross in Gold)
30.4.1945 Ritterkreuz (Knights Cross)



Hans Mayer repeatedly showed extraordinary bravery while fighting with the 6. SS-Gebirgsdivision in Lappland.
As SS-Hauptscharführer he received the Deutsche Kreuz in gold. On the Western front he distinguished himself by intrepidness in critical situations.
On the retreat from the northern part of the Hunsrück, he was able to lead the remaining fighting men all the way back to the Alps
and he was decorated with the Ritterkreuz by General der Gebirgstruppe Ritter von Hengl.

Hans Mayer was the prototype of a brave officer, always there if comrades needed him.
It affected him badly when his predecessor SS-Hauptsturmführer Zimmermann disappeared suddenly in April, only to surface after the war.

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