Fritz Klingenberg

Fritz Klingenberg (17 December 1912 – 23 March 1945) was a German officer in the Waffen-SS who served with the SS Division Das Reich and was a commander of the SS Division Götz von Berlichingen. He was best known for his role in the capture of the Yugoslavian capital, Belgrade for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

In April 1941, the Germany Army invaded Yugoslavia and then Greece. Klingenberg, a company commander in the Das Reich division, led his unit to the capital, Belgrade, where a small group in the vanguard accepted the surrender of the city on 13 April. A few days later Yugoslavia surrendered.

On 21 December 1944, Fritz Klingenberg was promoted to SS-Standartenführer and two weeks later (on 12 January 1945) was appointed to command the SS Division Götz von Berlichingen. The division was attached to XIII SS Corps, defending southeast of Saarbrücken against the XV Corps of the Seventh United States Army. On 23 March 1945, Klingenberg was killed by a tank shell during a firefight on the western edge of Herxheim and is buried at the German War Cemetery in Andilly, France.

Klingenberg (far left) with Heinrich Himmler and other SS officers on tour of Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, June 1941.

• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 14 May 1941 as SS-Hauptsturmführer and chief of the 2./SS-Kradschützen-Bataillon of the SS-Division "Reich".
• German Cross in Gold on 28 April 1944 as SS-Obersturmbannführer in the 2. SS-Panzer-Division "Das Reich"