Tiger Ace

Otto Carius
Otto Carius

Awards

Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class (EK II and EK I)
Knights Cross (Ritterkreuz)
Oakleaves to the Knights Cross (Eichenlaub)
Wound Badge in Gold
Panzer Battle Badge in Silver (100)

Otto Carius was born on the 27th of May 1922 in Zweibrucken, Rheinland-Pfalz in Southwest Germany. Just as he graduated from school, World War II broke out and he volunteered for 104th Infantry Placement Battalion in May of 1940. Following training, he was assigned to the 21st Panzer Regiment and experienced his first battle as a loader on a Panzer 38(t)during the "Barbarossa" operation in June of 1941 In 1943 he transferred to the 502 Tiger battalion. This unit fought at Leningrad and then in the area of Narva, Estonia. Carius was wounded in the summer of 1944, subsequently becoming the commander of a Jagdtiger company in the West at the beginning of 1945. On the 8th of March 1945,without finishing its training, 2nd company was directed to the frontline near Siegburg. It then took part in the defence of the River Rhine and eventually surrendered to the US Army on the 15th of April 1945 Otto Carius destroyed more than 150 tanks during his WWII career.