- Niels Bätge
-
Niels Bätge 
Born 19 April 1913
RevalDied 12 December 1944 (aged 31)
near the Åland IslandsAllegiance 
Weimar Republic (to 1933)
Nazi GermanyService/branch 
Reichsmarine
KriegsmarineYears of service 1931-1944 Rank Korvettenkapitän Unit SKS Niobe
light cruiser Karlsruhe
Destroyer Hans Lody (Z-10)Commands held Torpedoboot T-2 and T-20
4. Schnellbootflottille
Destroyer Z-35Battles/wars World War II Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross The title of this article contains the character ä. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Niels Baetge.Niels Bätge (19 April 1913 in Reval – 12 December 1944 near the Åland Islands) was a German Schnellboot commander in World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Bätge was promoted to Kapitänleutnant on 1 September 1943. Shortly after his promotion he took command of the destroyer Z-35 on 25 September 1943. The destroyers Z-35 and Z-36 both ran into a German naval mine in the Gulf of Finland on 12 December 1944. Bätge as well as 24 members of the crew managed the save themselves in a life boat. However they all froze death and were later washed ashore near the Åland Islands.
Awards
- Iron Cross (1939)
- Destroyer War Badge (12 January 1941)[1]
- Fast Attack Craft War Badge (30 March 1941)[1]
- Wound Badge (1939) (7 October 1940)[1]
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (4 January 1942) as chief of the 4. Schnellbootflottille[2]
- Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht on 25 November 1941
References
- Citations
- Bibliography
- Dörr, Manfred (1995). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Überwasserstreitkräfte der Kriegsmarine—Band 1:A–K (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio Verlag. ISBN 3-7648-2453-0.
- Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000). Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945. Friedburg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.
- Range, Clemens (1974). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Kriegsmarine. Stuttgart, Germany: Motorbuch Verlag. ISBN 3-87943-355-0.
- Scherzer, Veit (2007). Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
- External link
Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of the Schnellboot serviceNiels Bätge • Heinz Birnbacher • Hermann Büchting • Georg Christiansen (Oak Leaves) • Klaus Feldt (Oak Leaves) • Kurt Fimmen • Heinz Haag • Kurt Johannsen • Karl-Ehrhart Karcher • Friedrich Kemnade (Oak Leaves) • Bernd Klug (Oak Leaves) • Karl-Friedrich Künzel • Jens Matzen • Götz Freiherr von Mirbach (Oak Leaves) • Albert Müller • Karl Müller • Hermann Opdenhoff • Rudolf Petersen (Oak Leaves) • Klaus-Degenhard Schmidt • Werner Töniges (Oak Leaves) • Horst Weber • Siegfried Wuppermann (Oak Leaves) • Felix Zymalkowski
in alphabetical order
see also List of Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipients of the KriegsmarineThis biographical article related to the German Navy is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
