Enseling, Rudolf, born 30-08-1914 in Karlsruhe,

was one of the earliest members of the SS joining in 1933, when he was posted to the 62
nd SS Standarte, under

SS-Obersturmbannführer
Karl Bock

. He remained with the 62
nd SS Standarte until 1935, when he joined the Pioneer Battalion of the SS-VT which had just been created. In 1936 Enseling was selected to become an officer and was posted to the SS-Junkerschule at Brunswick,

with the later

SS Obersturmführer
Bruno Hinz

graduating in February 1937, when he was given command of the 2
nd Platoon, Pioneer Battalion SS-VT. After serving in the Polish Campaign Ensling was stationed in Dresden with the Pioneer Reserve Company, he then returned to the Reich Division, which is how the SS-VT was now known, as the Pioneer Light column commander. In January 1941 he was the commander of the 3
rd Company of the Pioneer Battalion and was awarded the German Cross in Gold

for bravery when serving with the Kampfgruppe das Reich.

In June 1942 he was given command of the Pioneer Battalion, until June 1944, after Obersturmbannführer der SS,
Christian Tychsen

took temporary command of 2
nd SS Panzer Division, nicknamed “Wolfsangel”

, he was given command of the I
st Battalion, 2
nd SS Panzer Regiment, for the Normandy invasion, taking command of the Panzer Regiment in July 1944. Waffen SS Generaloberst,
Friedrich Dollmann

died of a heart attack on the Normandy beachhead, on 28-06-1944. The division is infamous for the massacre of 642 French civilians in the village of
Oradour sur Glane

on 10-06-1944 in the Limousin region. SS-Sturmbannführer
Adolf Diekmann,

commander of the I Battalion, 4
th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment, Der Führer, that committed the massacre, claimed that it was a just retaliation due to partisan activity in nearby Tulle and the kidnapping of SS Sturmbannführer

,
Helmuth Kämpfe

although the German authorities had already executed ninety-nine people in the Tulle murders, following the killing and maiming of some forty German soldiers in Tulle by the Maquis resistance movement. It was while in command of the 2
nd SS Panzer Regiment that Enseling was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross in August 1944. Total casualties amongst the Waffen-SS

will probably never be known, but one estimate indicates that they suffered 180.000 dead, 400.000 wounded, and 40.000 missing. World War II casualties indicates that the Waffen-SS suffered 314.000 killed and missing, or 34.9 per cent. By comparison, the United States Army suffered 318.274 killed and missing in all theatres of the war.
Death and burial ground of Enseling, Rudolf.
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