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Skala, Peter Hans (01326224): Difference between revisions

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|death_place=London, England
|death_place=London, England
|death_date=3 April 2017
|death_date=3 April 2017
|birth_place=Austria
|birth_place=Vienna, Austria
|birth_date=3 September 1924
|birth_date=3 September 1924
}}
}}


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'''[[Skala, Peter Hans (01326224)|Peter Hans Skala]]''' (1924 – 3 April 2017) was a Ritchie Boy (from Austria; Protestant) who trained at Camp Ritchie in [[:Category:Class 10|class 10]] and served with [[Team IPW 101|IPW Team 101]].
'''Peter Hans Skala''' (3 September 1924 &ndash; 3 April 2017) was a Vienna-born Ritchie Boy (Protestant, of Jewish roots) who trained at [[Camp Ritchie]] in [[:Category:Class 10|Class 10]], commanded [[Team IPW 101|IPW Team 101]] with the 95th Infantry Division, and earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart in the battle for Metz and on the Westwall.
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== Biography ==
== Biography ==
Peter Hans Skala was born on 3 September 1924 in Austria. His family fled after Kristallnacht in 1938. While a student at Queens College he enlisted in the Army on 5 April 1943 and graduated from Camp Ritchie with [[:Category:Class 10|Class 10]] as an interrogator ([[Team IPW 101|IPW Team 101]]).
Peter Hans Skala was born on 3 September 1924 in Vienna, Austria; Army records list him as Protestant, of Jewish roots. As a schoolboy he fled Austria after Kristallnacht in November 1938 and from December 1938 to October 1939 stayed in Birmingham and Liverpool, England. He then went on with his family to the United States, lived in Queens, New York City, and studied English at Queens College. He enlisted in the Army on 5 April 1943 (enlisted ASN 32883052) and took basic training as a supply soldier with Company I, 6th Quartermaster Training Regiment, at the Quartermaster Replacement Training Center at Camp Lee, Virginia. In July 1943 he was transferred to the Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie, where he trained as a German-language prisoner-of-war interrogator and graduated with [[:Category:Class 10|Class 10]] (section 5A; certificate 3548); he became a United States citizen in September. From October to December 1943 he was detached with a provisional IPW team to the Desert Training Center at Camp Young, California, for exercises.


Assigned to the 95th Infantry Division in France, Skala used German-language skills to persuade enemy soldiers to surrender. During the capture of Metz in October 1944 he earned the Silver Star for gallantry; he also received the Purple Heart. He later received the French Legion of Honor (2014).
In January 1944 Skala was sent to the Infantry Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, where by May he had completed class No. 329 with the 24th and 27th Companies of the 3rd Student Training Regiment and was commissioned a second lieutenant (officer ASN O1326224). In June 1944 he returned to the MITC, and in July, as a member of provisional IPW Team 169, he sailed for Europe and was assigned to the Military Intelligence Service and its Field Interrogation Detachment at Broadway, England. In August he was placed in command of [[Team IPW 101|IPW Team 101]], which was divided into two groups and detached to the Ninth (later the Third) U.S. Army for service with the 95th Infantry Division. After a rapid advance, from October 1944 he served at and in Metz with the 377th Infantry Regiment as an interrogation officer and, as a platoon leader in its Company I, as a "combat interrogator" in the house-to-house fighting, taking part among other actions in the capture of Generalleutnant Heinrich Kittel; for this he was awarded the Silver Star. His team included [[Necker, Herbert Ferdinand (32962743)|Herbert Ferdinand Necker]]. In December 1944 he was wounded by rifle fire at Fraulautern (Saarlautern) on the Westwall and evacuated to the 109th Evacuation Hospital. He returned to the United States through Britain in February 1945, received the Purple Heart in March 1945 at Newton D. Baker General Hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and was discharged there as a first lieutenant in October 1945. From 1946 he served in the intelligence branch of the Officers' Reserve Corps, leaving the Army for good in April 1953.


After the war Skala earned B.A. (1947) and M.A. (1949) degrees at Yale and worked in international marketing and executive search, including Boyden International posts in Brussels and London. He died in London on 3 April 2017.
After the war Skala earned B.A. (1947) and M.A. (1949) degrees at Yale and worked in international marketing and executive search, including Boyden International posts in Brussels and London. He later received the French Legion of Honor (2014). He died in London on 3 April 2017 and was buried at Fort Myer, Arlington, Virginia.


== Research notes ==
== Timeline ==
* Silver Star; Legion of Honor
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* Fixed malformed live birth_place/death_place strings. Purple Heart added from the packet alongside the existing Silver Star and Legion of Honor display. City of birth within Austria is not asserted.
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* 3 September 1924 — Born in Vienna, Austria.
* 1938 — Family fled Austria after Kristallnacht; December 1938 – October 1939 in Birmingham and Liverpool, England.
* 5 April 1943 — Enlisted while a student at Queens College (ASN 32883052); basic training at Camp Lee, Virginia.
* July 1943 — Transferred to Camp Ritchie; graduated with Class 10 (section 5A). Certificate # 3548.
* September 1943 — Naturalized.
* July 1944 — Sailed for Europe with provisional IPW Team 169.
* August 1944 — Commander, IPW Team 101, with the 95th Infantry Division.
* December 1944 — Wounded at Fraulautern (Saarlautern), Germany.
* March 1945 — Received the Purple Heart at Martinsburg, West Virginia.
* October 1945 — Discharged as first lieutenant.
* 1947 — Received a B.A. from Yale.
* 1949 — Received an M.A. from Yale.
* April 1953 — Left the Officers' Reserve Corps.
* 2014 — Received the French Legion of Honor.
* 3 April 2017 — Died in London, England.
* October–December 1943 — Provisional IPW team at the Desert Training Center, Camp Young, California.
* January–May 1944 — Infantry OCS, Fort Benning, Georgia; commissioned second lieutenant (O1326224).
* October–November 1944 — Battle for Metz; awarded the Silver Star for gallantry.
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== Technical record ==
== Technical record ==
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== Timeline ==
== Research notes ==
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed soldier-timeline">
* Silver Star; Legion of Honor
<div class="soldier-timeline-body">
* Fixed malformed live birth_place/death_place strings. Purple Heart added from the packet alongside the existing Silver Star and Legion of Honor display. City of birth within Austria is not asserted.
* 3 September 1924 — Born in Austria.
* Also held enlisted ASN '''32883052''' (class roster; Austriansoldiers biography). The page title uses his officer ASN O1326224.
* 1938 — Family fled Austria after Kristallnacht.
* The Austriansoldiers biography gives his birth name as "probably" Peter Harald Skala and his death date as 13 April 2017; the page's Peter Hans and 3 April 2017 (RB Archive note) are kept pending review.
* 1943–1944 — Graduated from Camp Ritchie (Class 10); assigned to IPW Team 101 with the 95th Infantry Division.
* Birth city Vienna per the Austriansoldiers biography (supersedes the earlier note that no city was asserted).
* 5 April 1943 — Enlisted while a student at Queens College.
* October 1944 — Awarded the Silver Star for gallantry at Metz.
* 1947 — Received a B.A. from Yale.
* 1949 — Received an M.A. from Yale.
* 2014 — Received the French Legion of Honor.
* 3 April 2017 — Died in London, England.
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== Sources ==
== Sources ==
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* Dan Gross, ''Timeline of Peter H. Skala for Camp Ritchie'' (private research document; 2 source documents reviewed)
* Dan Gross, ''Timeline of Peter H. Skala for Camp Ritchie'' (private research document; 2 source documents reviewed)
* Dan Gross, ''Timeline of Skala, Peter H. for Camp Ritchie'' (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 2 source files: PETER SKALA (2020).doc, PETER SKALA.doc)
* Dan Gross, ''Timeline of Skala, Peter H. for Camp Ritchie'' (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 2 source files: PETER SKALA (2020).doc, PETER SKALA.doc)
* [https://austriansoldiers.lbg.ac.at/bio/peter-h-skala/ Austriansoldiers biography: Peter H. Skala], Austriansoldiers / Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on Consequences of War (in German; accessed 25 September 2026)
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