The only 23-year-old German corporal of the 8th Company of the 28th Fighter Regiment of the 8th Panzer Division, Franz Weber had taken command of a battle group in the Carpathians in the fall of 1944.
His unit was deployed in the Rodna Pass and was ordered to occupy Hill 1387 which dominated the area. The Soviets had created an extensive network of trenches there, reinforcing the existing one, a remnant of the First World War. The 8th Company having suffered heavy losses during the previous battles had a regular strength of only 40 men.
Nevertheless, the hill had to be captured as from it the Soviets controlled the entire area and especially the routes through which the lower developed German forces were supplied.
The Germans attacked the largely uncovered terrain and soon found themselves facing heavy Soviet mortar and machine gun fire. Weber ordered his men to take cover where they could. The Weber group formed the extreme left of the 8th Company.
Despite the heavy fire, Weber managed to crawl forward followed by his men. The team found themselves in a WWI-era battle position that the Soviets had not captured, just 40m from the Soviet trenches.
However, the terrain between the German position and the Soviet trenches presented a slump that could only be hit by curved-trajectory weapons.
Immediately Weber decided to exploit the ground. When his team's machine gun started firing forcing the Soviets to take cover, he himself, having taken several grenades, crawled into the fall getting as close as he could to the opposing battle positions.
Weber launched a grenade, but a Soviet caught up and threw it out of their trench. As he was no longer spotted, a Soviet machine gun started firing at him.
Weber pointedly ordered his men to turn their fire on the enemy machine gun. So it happened and Weber, now undisturbed, managed to launch a bunch of grenades into the Soviet trench, killing or wounding the men who manned it.
Immediately after that Weber charged forward with his submachine gun, neutralizing any opponent who tried to resist , simultaneously ordering his men to advance and occupy the enemy trench.
However, his company remained entrenched and so Weber, after conferring with his captain and after equipping himself with grenades, sidestepped the enemy resistance with his team and opened the way for the capture of the uncontested hill. Weber was decorated for his action.
