German Hauptmann Friedrich Winkler

Hauptmann Friedrich Konrad Winkler was the Kompanieführer (Company Commander) of the 6. Kompanie / Grenadier-Regiment 577 during the battles at Barrikady Gun Factory in Stalingrad. In January 1943, his regiment was destroyed. Winkler was captured in February and he died shortly after his capture, at the age of 34 in POW camp Beketowka. He was one of those soldiers wearing a broken Infantry Assault Badge. Breaking the assault badge was commonly done by the Stalingrad veterans as an indication that earning the assault badge in Stalingrad was a different level of achievement than earning it somewhere else.