Unteroffizier (later Feldwebel) Röger, the HQ squad leader in 1. Kompanie, seems to have been one of life’s natural born dare-devils. The divisional history relates that in April 1944, whilst GD was tied in knots stabilising the line in the Iassi/Targul Frumos area, Röger and one of his men went on a patrol disguised as Romanian shepherds, complete with staffs and livestock. Behind this façade, they walked clean through the Soviet front positions, placed an explosive charge on a bridge and then slipped away unhurt whilst under retaliatory fire.

His exploits soon spread throughout the division, and it did not take him long to have another go at taking the fight to the enemy. Three months later, as GD was struggling to drive north through Lithuania, Röger was in his platoon leader’s half-track along with a forward observation team from the division’s artillery regiment. As they hurtled along the road that led to the contested Kursenai Bridge, they literally bumped into a heavy Soviet cannon and attendant crew caught in the act of going into action. Röger and his comrades leapt from their SPW and attacked this crew, but in doing so opened a proverbial hornet’s nest as nearby Soviet troops responded with a hail of small arms fire.

Ducking and diving to avoid the bullets that knocked down his comrades, jumping onto and rolling under enemy vehicles, the movements of Röger in this single-handed action read like a Hollywood movie script. Soon enough, more GD troops arrived to support him, and after finally stamping out the remaining enemy resistance he led his section on to secure a ford for the battalion’s vehicles.

Röger, already an obvious long-standing survivor of many actions (see his display of awards in accompanying image), was awarded the Ritterkreuz in September 1944.