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AUGUST 5, 2022
Ocean City Today
OBITUARIES
WORLD WAR II
Frederick Weiss
FREDERICK BURCH WEISS Ocean Pines Frederick Burch Weiss, 78, of Ocean Pines, passed away Saturday, July 16, 2022, at Atlantic General Hospital. Born Aug. 5, 1943, he was the son of the late Frederick Adolph and Jane Collinson Weiss. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Alta Ann Weiss; two daughters, Lisa Ann Weiss and Elizabeth Jane Koutsoumbaris; sons-in law, John William Strand and T. Alex Koutsoumbaris; grandchildren, Pearl Elizabeth and Lucy Constance Strand; and Benjamin Stamatios and Joshua Frederick Koutsoumbaris. He was preceded in death by his two sisters, Flora Jane Moore and Florence Cole Jeziorski. Growing up, Fred spent his winters in his parent’s Baltimore home and summers at their waterfront home on the Severn River. He bought his own boat at age 12 and had a boat ever since. He was an excellent water skier and also enjoyed fishing or just cruising around with family and friends. Fred was an athlete throughout his elementary, high school and college years. He played football, lacrosse and soccer and received numerous trophies and awards. In 1958, Fred began his sophoContinued on Page 67
Continued from Page 65 Another Brandenburger unit, also dressed in Soviet uniforms and commanded by Lt. Ernest Prochaska and also traveling in captured Soviet trucks, advanced toward the strategically important bridge at Bjelaja, and by yelling “Tanki, Tanki!” while gesticulating and looking terrified, convinced the Soviet defenders that these were Soviet troops in full retreat. The Soviet troops defending the bridge abandoned their positions and fled, allowing the Brandenburgers to disarm the demolition charges. Both lieutenants were decorated with the Knight’s Cross — Prochaska posthumously. On Aug. 9, Hellmut von der Chevallerie’s 13th Panzerdivision marched in and captured the city, the oil fields, 1,000 prisoners and the base, without a shot being fired. Accompanying the division was an “oil salvage company,” which, although it may have known something about oil production, knew little to nothing about combat, which didn’t serve it well when it encountered the Red Army. That same day, Gen. Rouff’s Seventeenth Army occupied Krasnodar. It is located 50 miles east of the Black Sea and 620 miles south of Moscow. Located on the Kuban River, it has a population of 750,000. But its refinery was destroyed. Unfortunately for Hitler, the capture of Maykop did not solve his fuel problems. The Red Army had, in fact, sabotaged the wells, storage facilities and refineries. A bigger target — and even further distant — was Baku. Der Führer urged Field Marshal von List to scrape together all available forces for the final push to Grozny and Baku. Today, Baku, a 2,000-year-old city on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, with a population of 2 million is the capital of Azerbaijan. Eighty years ago, it had a population of 800,000 and produced 80 percent of the Soviet Union’s oil. Its capture — no matter the condition of the oilfields — would have driven the
U.S.S.R. from the war. Prior to the campaign, a cake had been presented to der Führer in the shape of a map of the Caspian Sea, with Baku spelled in chocolate. After eating the cake, Hitler told the assembled, “Unless we get Baku oil, the war is lost.” On Aug. 25, tanks of XXXX Panzerkorps, commanded by Baron Geyr von Scheppenburg, were at Mozdok, 50 miles from Grozny, on the Terek River. The river was crossed on Sept. 2. Grozny is the capital of Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation, with a population of 271,000. Before the war, Chechnya had a population of about 700,000, of which 53 percent were Chechens and 29 percent were Russians. The Russians have always had trouble with the Chechens and 80 years ago was no different. Therefore, the Germans expected a lot of help, but it didn’t happen to the extent that the Germans thought, and hoped, it would. The Supreme Warlord relieved Field Marshal von List of the command of Armeegruppe A on Sept. 9. Hitler replaced the field marshal with himself — 1500 miles away! Three days later, Malgobek in the Republic of Ingushestia, was occupied. Ingushestia is a part of the Russian Federation, bordering Georgia to the south and the Russian republics of North Ossetia–Alania and Chechnya to its east and west. Today, Malgobek has a population of 31,000, and on Oct. 8, 2007 was designated a “City of Military Glory.” On Sept. 20, Eberhard von Mackensen’s III Panzerkorps began driving toward Grozny, and Terek was captured. Today Terek, located on the Terek River, has a population of 19,000. III Panzerkorps consisted of two Panzerdivisions, Felix Steiner’s SS Viking Division and two Rumanian Mountain Divisions, commanded by Ion Dumitrache and Radu Fâlf nesque. On Oct. 6, Gen. Fâlf nesque was replaced by Leonard Mociulschi. The Supreme Warlord sacked Army
Field Marshal Wilhelm von List wearing Knight's Cross
Chief-of-Staff Franz Halder on Sept. 25, 1942, and replaced him with Kurt Zeitzler. Although the Axis came within 50 miles of Grozny, on Oct. 29, 1942, they were never able to capture it, or Baku. Hitler’s decision to attack Stalingrad, and the subsequent siphoning of forces from the efforts to capture the Soviet oilfields, insured that the forces were insufficient for either goal. The high-water mark of this effort was the failed attempt to capture Vladikavkaz, capital of North Ossetia, which today has a population of 311,000. On Oct. 8, 2007, President Putin recognized it as a “City of Military Glory.” In November 1942, der Führer decided that if he couldn’t have those oilfields, the Soviets couldn’t either, so he ordered the Luftwaffe to begin attacking them. Previously, the Germans had not bombed them, figuring that they were going to capture them. On Jan. 29, 1943, the Red Army recaptured Maykop, without the Germans having extracted a drop of oil. Next week: Operation Pedestal - The Relief Of Malta Mr. Wimbrow writes from Ocean City, Maryland, where he practices law representing those persons accused of criminal and traffic offenses, and those persons who have suffered a personal injury through no fault of their own. He can be contacted at wimbrowlaw@hotmail.com
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