For those who are concerned about history:
Kurt Knispel's body has been found in the village of Vrbovec (German name: Urbau) near Znojmo. It was known he died in fighting somewhere around the village, but not where exactly. A metallic identification sheet has been recovered, identifying the body as Knispel's.
Kurt Knispel was a German tank ace, racking up 168 confirmed kills, mostly on the Eastern front. There are two theories of his death, according to the article: a German military log mentions the loss of two King Tigers on 30th of April, 1945, one being Knispel's during the Soviet assault on the village (the Germans managed to destroy 10 enemy tanks). The second theory (confirmed by an eyewitness from his units) says he was wounded a day earlier and died in the local field aid station.
Hey I live in Vrbovec, but Vrbovec in Croatia xDD
ReplyDeleteI am sure there are tankers buried near Vrbovec Croatia to. Civil war in Ex-Yu was hell in it's own way.
DeleteOh, go troll somewhere else.
DeleteVrbovec is a small town very close to Croatian capital of Zagreb. There were no tank battles there. Second, there was no "civil-war" in Ex-Yu. Yugoslavia (federation) became Ex-Yugoslavia when all constituent countries, except Serbia, decided they have had it enough, to which they had every legal right. Serbia, on the other hand, retaliated in force. It all started on 25.6.1991. with Ten-Day War (Slovenia) and ended on 11.6.1999. with NATO bombardment of Serbia (end of Kosovo War). Obviously, Serbia lost all those wars and those countries are all independent today.
Now go, and read some books.
So I was wrong, so what? No trolling intended.
DeleteSta se ti osecas prozvanim, pa mi cupas clanke sa vikipedije i serendas? Mani se corava posla i "idi trolaj negde drugde".
a sta mi pises na engleskom jebote hahaha..and yes, there wasn't civil war
DeleteOk, you two sort it out in your native language somewhere else. Even Google goes haywire when trying to translate it. I just hope there is no cursing or swearing in-there.
Delete@PijacMali
You admit being wrong and it's no big deal? And it is not trolling? Oh, dear...
Anon from above
no civil war, Serbia was aggressor, Croatia was defending...
DeleteTry to evade any kind of political argument on a blog that considers a game..
DeleteDon't act like a child.
Go back to school noobs... @.@
DeletePijacMali is serbian and he knows all of that, he's just trolling
Delete(Josip K)
What does now happend to the corpse?
ReplyDeleteHis corpse will be examined by antropologs and then putted to honorable graveyard.
DeleteWell, graveyard -.- But in which country and who pays for it?
DeleteLooks like his remains will stay in Czech Republic and it will be payed by taxpayers (state):-)
DeleteAt least it isn't a political mess like: buried in Germany and pay by czech or buried in the Czech Republic and paid by germans. :D
DeleteIt is a little problematic. Many citizens of CZ dont agree with that funeral. There are many simple minded persons who does not know someones history and automaticly judge soldiers by his side in this war.
Deletehttp://www.volksbund.de/
Deleteofc germans will pay for it. Like they're doing for 95% of WW2 Graveyards on EU territories
Germany isn't paying for 95% of WW2 Graveyards on EU territories, you douche. I think it's fair to say that she created 95% of them, but that's an entirely different thing.
DeleteGermany has paid for its mistakes in spades and now is the top economy in Europe and a valued alley of the United States of America.Stop trying to rehash the past ...by the way I'm American.
DeleteSad WOT doesnt give out Top-Notch-Medals on German tank aces. They surely would have deserved it according to the performance!
ReplyDeleteIve never heared 90% of the ppl which you are getting medals from, but top aces like Wittmann, Knispel and Caruis have beaten their achievements 5 times, and im sue there are alot more "good" ones which surely would have deserved a medal over some random tanker who shot 5 Trucks and a Bike in his "impressive" career.
(yeh i dont count that Class 4-1 stuff, its reached by any noob over time)
Walter Kniep, Karl Körner, Balthasar Woll, Paul Egger, Hans Sandrock, Helmut Wendorff, Ernst Barkmann, Franz Bäke, Hermann Bix, Hans Strippel, Emil Seibold, Hugo Primozic, Karl Brommann, Josef Brandner, Hans-Babo von Rohr etc.
DeleteWhat they have in common is that they all have more confirmed kills than Sydney V. Radley-Walters, and yet there we have Radley-Walters’ Medal. He has 18 confirmed kills(18 tanks). Lets take a moment so that information can be absorbed.
And yet our dear Sydney represents one of bigger medals in game. So sad...
Don't forget Staudegger.
DeleteIt is not so easy. For example Wittmann was in Waffen SS. During the Nuremberg Trials, the Waffen-SS was declared a criminal organisation, except conscripts from 1943 onward, who were exempted from that judgement as they had been forced to join.
DeleteSo there may be some legal problems with putting such a medals into game.
Half of the names mentioned were members of Waffen-SS.
DeleteNothing wrong with that (if they didn't do things that are usually associated with Waffen-SS), but that is one big no-no from WG's and legal point of view. Plus, people would whine why there are so little other heroes, like for example, French ones...
Yes, it is kind of stupid to put men who destroyed whole battalions of tanks into same basket with men who destroyed a couple of tanks and machine gun nests, but well..
R.I.P.
--
ActionMan
There wouldn't be that problem with Knispel, because he was known for being not that much friendly to the nazi regime (although he, as many other german people living in pre-WW2 Czechoslovakia, sided with Reich in 1938, he wasn't a "nazi lover", especially as the war became longer, with more losses and atrocities on both sides)...
DeleteEr, people I am pretty sure there is Knispel's medal already...
DeleteYes there is, its so funny people dont even realise it.
DeleteAnonymous: All members of waffen SS was declared as war criminals(mutual guilt). I am not defending this judgment but putting they names as rewards can have some legal problems in some countries and WG want WoT to be playable in most countries.
DeleteFor example some WW2 games were made in 2 versions. One with hackenkreuzes and one with other flag because there are countries where can be legal problems with hackenkreu. Same problems can have WG if there will be in game some praising of war criminals.
"... im sue there are alot more "good" ones which surely would have deserved a medal over some random tanker who shot 5 Trucks and a Bike in his "impressive" career."
DeleteFunny to think of it, but maybe WG just tries to be politically correct about it. Giving most nationalities in game a medal for a local hero.
Also some of those random tankers have had quite interesting careers. Dumitru's medal for example is awarded for killing 5 artys, because in the late war, fighting on the soviet side he managed to flank and destroy some german SPGs. The part that, before Romania switched sides, he was already a tank ace with kills against the soviets is brushed aside in the description. Also he was captured and escaped twice from soviet prisoner camps to finally rejoin the army.
-Sl8_EU
He's actually a very distant relative of me. My great grandmother lived in Czechoslovakia, and her father was from a long branch of Sudeten-families. Kurt was in one of them.
ReplyDeleteInteresting :)
DeleteHe should be a lot more praised then Wittmann. He wasn't arrogant, actually had a heart for prisoners of war (even got in conflicts due it) and he would often give away kills if the discusion was who killed what. Also growing a beard whereas it wasn't allowed.
ReplyDeleteProbably also why he was always with the heer and not with any nazi related branch.
Great to hear this guy gets his long earned R.I.P
ReplyDeleteAmongst those other dubious War iconics, knispel is something special.
He despised the military authority and refused to obey orders which was one the reason he never got the Ritterkreuz, even though he scored more kills than everybody else.
There is also a story of him physicly intervene some cruelty done to jews by some ss officers at a train station. He got back to his train afterwards. On the next stop the SS wanted to arrest him, but his own officer covered him, telling the SS they would have to arrest the whole group.
Huh, sounds like commendable moral (and in no small degree physical) courage that.
DeleteYeah and there is a story about him saving a Golden Retriever from a burning 16 storey building and another one about him, giving swimming classes for poor little children...
DeleteDont know if he liked dogs or know how to swim *facepalm*
DeleteBut those Stories seem legit. with his impressive success, he would have been perfect propaganda material like Wittmann, Bölter,etc. But he wasnt a soldier to show and exhibit.
In fact, it was the opposite, only his succes saved him military prison.
but Regardless of that, he wa and will most likely ever be the most successfull Tank Ace of all time. And maybe he was even a great guy, dieing 10 Days before the War ended
Kurt had to die in the war so he could reincarnate in Wisconsin to German American parents. He is doing just fine and living a long humble life and did not have to go to war this lifetime. THANK YOU
DeleteGlad to hear he was found. Always wondered what had really happened to him.
ReplyDeleteHe always stuck out in the list of the "Panzer Aces". Not only because of his kill-count, which is the highest, but chiefly because he was a very down-to-earth kind of guy, modest and generous.
He made such an impression that I had the name of my Tiger commander changed to "Knispel", in honor of this man.
Quick! dont let SerB hear about this!! in his usual drunk vodka state, he will go on a rage mode, remembering his dear rusikes nailed by Knispel, and nerf the fk out of german tanks. Surely Knispel tank was OP has hell!!
ReplyDeleteHis namesakes you occasionally meet in the game OTOH tend to be kinda UP... :P
DeleteI read somewhere on the German forum that Otto Carius is still alive. He has had a Pharmacy named 'Tiger Pharmacy'. Someone needs to vosit him begore he dies!
ReplyDeleteMonthey_
You can even buy his book "Tigers in the mud". When you visit him in his pharmacy he will sign your copy ;)
Deletehttp://www.tiger-apotheke.de/tiger-im-schlamm-otto-carius/
I visited him a year ago when I was in vacation in Germany, he is a very nice person and will share stories about his time in ww2. Like he said before the will sign your book :). He is 91 now and is healthy for his age.
DeleteHe is...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tiger-apotheke.de
This blog needs an editor....
ReplyDeleteMonthey_
Once.. while I was checking my "medals" I got interested in names and overall history of tank aces. During that research I stumbled across Knispel and his record/history. He seems like a fine man.. even on the picture ^^
ReplyDeleteI'm glad they've found him :)
Who cares about another dead Nazi
ReplyDeleteLooks like plenty of people do. I would class Knispel as German more than a Nazi however.
DeleteThis comment exactly reflects what's wrong with modern education. Most German soldiers were simply Germans, not the bloody Nazi-Germany. Still everyone refers to anyone living in Germany during 1933-1945 as a "Nazi".
DeleteEver heard of the "Nazis" doing that 20 July plot?
If you ask people on the street who Rommel was maybe 70% never heard of him and 29% say "Wasn't that some kind of Nazi?"
It's a shame any brave man and woman who stood against the Nazi-regime and the SS is refered to as "another dead Nazi".
I am the last person who would love nazis (I hate them as much as I hate communists), but all the historical sources admit this man was a skilled, honorable soldier, not an SS brat like Wittman, who was also very skilled, but allegedly a huge dick.
DeleteHe was not a nazi. He was a german soldier. If he were a nazi he would be in the nazi party. He also beat the shit out of a schutzestaffel officer for mistreating POWs.
ReplyDelete@nemanja77Apr
ReplyDeletewho cares about crackwhorebastards like u
May he rest in peace. May he always be remembered as the pleasant, smiling young man, as can be seen in his picture (above).
ReplyDeleteL0Rd_0f_War
This dude wore a goatee and long hair under Nazi commanders. Nuff said....
ReplyDeleteIt dont get cooler then that.
Ice cold.