Alois Kalls

Alois Kalls (1920–1945) was a Hauptsturmführer in the Waffen SS during World War II. Who was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, which was awarded to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership by [...] Germany during World War II.

Early life

Alois Kalls was born on 18 February 1920, in St Gilgen a village near Salzburg in Austria.

World War II

Kalls volunteered to join the Waffen SS during World War II and was posted to the SS Division Das Reich. He was awarded the Iron Cross I & II class during the invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) in July and September 1941. In the Third Battle of Kharkov he was in the 8th Company , SS Panzer Regiment 2 and throughout September 1943 Das Reich Tiger tanks scored heavily against Russian armor. On the 23 September Alois Kalls received the German Cross in Gold for his adept leadership of his platoon during the late summer. On the 18 September he took over command of the Tiger Company and wounded soon afterwards. The Das Reich Tiger tank Company was disbanded and its surviving personnel distributed among the 3 companies of the forming 102 SS Heavy Panzer Battalion (most Das Reich veterans went to its first company).

Kalls in command of the 1st Company, together with the 102 SS was sent to Normandy to counter the D Day landings. The Battalion was involved in the fighting for point 112 and was almost completly destroyed during the fighting in Normandy. Kalls was awarded the Knight's Cross in August 1944 for his bravery during the Fighting in Normandy. In September 1944, The Battalion was pulled back to Germany to reform. Stationed in Sennelager the Battalion was renamed the 502 SS Heavy Panzer Battalion.

Kalls was killed in action on the 2 May 1945, in the vicinity of the Kummersdorfer Forest south of Berlin, when his Tiger received a direct hit from an Anti tank gun.

Further reading