The First German Soldier to Receive the Ritterkreuz

Hubert Brinkforth was born on April 15, 1916 in Marl in Westphalia and joined the 14th (anti-tank) company of the 25th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division (motorized) on November 14th, 1938. With his company he took part in the Polish and Western campaigns.

During the regiment's heavy defensive battles in the Abbeville area, the gun, on which Brinkforth was used as a gunner, was tasked with taking up an important position six kilometers in front of the main battle line in an advanced position to secure the bridgehead and to actively intervene in the defensive battles. The gun and especially the gunner Brinkforth managed to repel a British tank attack on the southern edge of the village of Huppy on May 27, 1940. In just 20 minutes he managed to shoot down 11 tanks. He even allowed some of them to come within 100 meters and defied the cannon and machine gun fire. Through his behavior he also encouraged the other anti-tank operators in the area to hold out, which meant that the attack could be repelled.

For this act he was promoted to private and received the EK II, at the same time he was submitted for the Knight's Cross by the then Generalleutnant Erich von Manstein.

On March 7, 1941, he was the first soldier from the enlisted rank to be awarded the Knight's Cross. He received this award as a private anti-tank rifleman in the 14th (anti-tank) company of the 25th Infantry Regiment, which at the time of the award was already part of the 12th Panzer Division as the 25th Rifle Regiment.

The then gun commander Horst Nickstat stated after the war that two of the 11 tanks were shot down by another gun in the company. However, corresponding evidence is lacking.

Brinkforth is mentioned for his success in the Wehrmacht report on May 28, 1940:

     "On the southern front, individual tank-led enemy attacks on the lower Somme were repelled. Thirty enemy tanks were destroyed, nine of them by Schützen Brinkforth [...]"

After the end of the Western campaign, the Infantry Regiment 25 (motorized) was renamed Schützen-Regiment 25 on January 10, 1941, with Brinkforth, who was not yet a Knight's Cross recipient at that time, being transferred to the 5th (heavy) company of the regiment. According to the report, he took over the position of gun commander in the company's anti-tank platoon.

On April 1, 1941, he was presented with the Knight's Cross by the division commander, Lieutenant General Harpe, at the Tucheler Heide military training area. He then had to personally report to the Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht, Hitler, at the Reich Chancellery on April 4, 1941.

At the start of the Eastern campaign, Brinkforth was back in action and was wounded in the left arm by a mortar grenade near Smolensk on August 1, 1941. He is then first transferred to the reserve hospital III in Königsberg-Marlaufenhof and then to the reserve hospital Gelsenkirchen-Buer in the Marienhospital there. Having recovered, he was sent to the Infantry Tank Hunter Replacement Company 2 (motorized) in Stettin-Krekow and was transferred back to the 12th Panzer Division on November 24, 1941. With the report of December 16, 1941, he was again a member of the 5th (heavy) company and took part in the heavy defensive battles of the winter of 1941/42.

During the fighting in the summer of 1942, Hubert Brinkforth, a non-commissioned officer, fell to a direct artillery hit south of Pogostje am Wolchow.

The burial took place on June 8, 1942 at the Ivanowskoye military cemetery, south of Shapki. Hubert Brinkforth rests today at the war cemetery in Sologubowka-St.Petersburg - final grave location: Block 4 Row 12 Grave 1184.

Source :
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Image-No.: 00047549)
https://web.archive.org/web/20110105215722fw_/http://ritterkreuztraeger-1939-45.de/Infanterie/B/Br/Brinkforth-Hubert.htm