A German Chaplain on the Russian Front

I'm always drawn to annecdotes in military history about the work of chaplains. This short and tantalizing story is found in Panzer Commander, the memoirs of Colonel Hans Von Luck, a German officer with a distinguished service record in World War Two.

In Von Luck's account of 7 Panzer Division's retreat from Moscow in the winter of 1941, he mentions the division's chaplain, Martin Tarnow. Thus far I've been unable to find anything about him, and would be grateful for any information. MP+

"Only the will to reach safety in the prepared positions kept the men going. Anything to avoid being left behind and falling into the hands of the Russians.

Our divisional chaplain, Martin Tarnow, in his notes "Last Hours", has described the suffering and death of so many men.

"Voda, voda (water): Some wounded men lay in a kind of barn, among them a few Russians. In the face of death there were no longer any enemeies. Again and again came the penetrating cry of a Russian: 'Voda, voda". I gave him my water-bottle; he drained it in one grateful swig. When I raised his blanket, I saw the blood-saoked bandage. A stomach wound, no hope. We couldn't understand each other, but suddenly he grasped my silver cross. Perhaps he, too, had a cross at home, hanging on the wall of his parents' house? I thought of Christ on the cross, who had once cried out, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise". It was not long before his hand released my cross, he died very quickly. In dying, I believe he was consoled."

Hans Von Luck, Panzer Commander (New York: Dell, 1989), p. 82.