CS- Hilde Kestenbaum: SS Panzergrenadier Sergeant

Name: Hilde Kestenbaum

Date of Birth: May 5, 1922

Place of Birth: Munich, Germany

Service Branch: Waffen-SS

Rank: SS-Oberscharführerin (Staff Sergeant)

Unit: 99th SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment, 39th SS Panzer Division "Bund Deutscher Mädel"

Hilde Kestenbaum was born into a city imbued with both the charm of Bavarian tradition and the fervent stirrings of political change. Her father, a staunch nationalist and veteran of the Great War, and her mother, a devoted homemaker, instilled in Hilde a sense of duty and pride from an early age. With her steely blue eyes and a will as unyielding as the Alps, young Hilde quickly demonstrated she was no ordinary child.

As she grew, Hilde's path was unmistakably shaped by the winds of change sweeping through Germany. At fourteen, she joined the League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel, BDM).

In 1941, the world was engulfed in war. The decision to allow women to serve in the military, including on the front lines, was both revolutionary and controversial. When the Waffen-SS announced the formation of the 39th SS Panzer Division "Bund Deutscher Mädel," drawn predominantly from BDM members, Hilde volunteered without hesitation. This was her chance to prove her loyalty to the Fatherland and fight for the future she had been indoctrinated to believe in.

Hilde's training was grueling, but she thrived under the harsh regimen. Her superiors, impressed by her physical endurance and tactical brilliance. Assigned to the 99th SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment, she was given command of a squad, a responsibility she accepted with both pride and gravity.

The Eastern Front was a theater of unimaginable horrors. As Hilde led her squad through the frozen wastelands and blood-soaked battlefields, quickly promoted her to the rank of SS-Oberscharführerin, she earned the nickname "Iron Maiden" for her unflinching resolve and tactical genius. Yet, the brutal realities of war began to gnaw at her soul. Winter Storm, Kursk, Kharkov,Smolensk, She saw comrades fall, villages burn, and innocent lives shattered. Each battle scarred her not only physically but also mentally, deepening the chasm between the ideology she once believed in and the harsh truths of the conflict.