German Soldiers

First Lieutenant of the Reserve Willi Rothhaar! October 18, 1915, Oberbexbach/Saarpfalz - January 12, 1998, Saarbrücken
I cannot find out exactly when he joined the Wehrmacht. He served in France before joining the 544th Infantry Regiment.
The 544th Infantry Regiment was formed on May 22, 1940 in the III Military District (Berlin, Mark Brandenburg) for the 273rd Infantry Division. After the end of the Western campaign, the formation was canceled, and it was resumed in Kassel on January 27, 1942. The Regiment was transferred to the 389th Infantry Division, took part in the Charkow and Isjum encirclement battles from May 1942 and marched with the 6th Army to Stalingrad. Here it became the 544th Grenadier Regiment in October 1942 and was destroyed with the division. It was reorganized in France in February 1943 and was back on the Eastern Front in September 1943.
In January 1944 the 389th Infantry Division was massively attacked by the 2nd Ukrainian Front, was almost completely wiped out and was ultimately surrounded in the Cherkassy pocket with the 57th and 72nd Infantry Division and the 5th SS-PD "W". After the breakout it was pushed back to Romania and Hungary, then pulled out of the front, refreshed and transferred to Army Group North. From July 1944 the division fought in Latvia.
On July 14, 1944 Russian troops attacked with tanks on both sides of the Saizewa-Ossweja road. With 15 tanks, including at least one flamethrower tank, the enemy attacked the positions of the 3rd/Gren.-Regiment 544 under Lieutenant dR R. in order to reach Ossweja and encircle the 389th ID. Lt. R. ordered the defensive fire to be held until the last moment and took out the flame tank with a bazooka. The defensive fire separated the enemy infantry from the tanks, which were then destroyed by "tank crackers" and the infantry defeated in close combat.

The 389th ID remained in Courland until February 45, was later disembarked in West Prussia and deployed with the 2nd Army in East Prussia. The remnants (70 men!) were attached to the 252nd ID in April 45 and were taken prisoner by the Russians near Danzig.
I can't find anything else about Olt dR Rothhaar...
For the EKII and I he wore the wound badge black, silver, gold, infantry assault badge, Eastern medal, Crimean shield, RK 05.09.1944
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