Body of German tank Ace found.

[wodin]

"The remains of a German soldier regarded as the world's greatest ever tank ace have been found in a grave the Czech Republic.

The remains of Kurt Knispel - who was the tank warfare equivalent of what the Red Baron was to flight - were found by historians at the Moravian Museum in Vrbovec lying in an unmarked grave for German soldiers at a cemetery in Znojemsko."

http://www.croatiantimes.com/news/Around_the_World/2013-04-17/32974/TIGER_IN_THE_TANK_-_Historians_Find_Body_Of_German_War_Hero

[Rosseau]

Shamed to say I never heard of him. Kurt Meyer gets all the credit.

[sullafelix]

He is in panzer Aces II by Kurowski or so I have been told. I had never heard of him either until now. Which is pretty surprising seeing how many books I have read on WWII. It looks like he really had bad press and the Nazi goverment sort of hushed him up.

[nicwb]

I had not heard of him before - any details about his career.

I must admit I had read a bit about fighter aces and U-boat aces but surprisingly not Panzer aces. Wittman is the only one I can recall reading much about

[rodney727]

Stackpole military series has three books out panzer aces I,II,III. Good reading and you will find a whole section on him. He is in panzer aces II. Pages 125-195. Covers his whole career until his death on April 29th 1945. He was the "worlds leader" in total tank kills. The book cost 19.99 softcover or 9.99 as an iBook or 11.99 amazon ebook. Well worth it.

ORIGINAL: nicwb

I had not heard of him before - any details about his career.

I must admit I had read a bit about fighter aces and U-boat aces but surprisingly not Panzer aces. Wittman is the only one I can recall reading much about

[Mobius]

To me he kind of looked like Burt Lancaster with a beard.

[nicwb]

Thanks Rogo,

also found a note about him in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Knispel

168 confirmed kills. But only ever promoted to Feldwebel and never got the knights Cross. Apparently he was regarded as having a discipline problem. The article says he once punched out an Einsatzgruppen officer for mistreating Soviet prisoners. You have to respect someone like that.

[Gilmer]

There's a medal/achievement in World of Tanks with his name.

[rodney727]

Never played world of tanks is it good? Back to Kurt .... Like most german young adults during this time he wanted to to serve his country. He was not a member of the nazi party. Also as a NCO he in fact did strike a officer in the SS. After reading all the panzer aces books I feel there are many who might have been better tank commanders but he tops the list as far as tank kills. The top five tank aces of ww2 all belong to Germany except for the fifth spot which goes to the Soviet Union.

[Dragoon.]

ORIGINAL: H Gilmer

There's a medal/achievement in World of Tanks with his name.

Likewise. Learned about him by playing WoT. I think the Knispel's Medal is awarded for the total damage caused.

[Gilmer]

ORIGINAL: rogo727

Never played world of tanks is it good?

Depends on what you want out of a game. In some respects it is awesome and in some it is frustrating. A lot of grinding if you play it for free. Not as much but still a decent amount of grinding if you don't.

You can buy "gold" and using that gold, you can either upgrade your account to premium or buy a Gold Tank. Either will earn you more "silver"/credits to buy ever increasing powerful tanks and upgrades. You almost always start with a crappy gun, but you can upgrade it to better guns to optimize each tank.

It's a lot more in depth than you would think.

Since it is free to play, you can download it and start with no output of any money. Then, later on you can pay money if you want some of the things mentioned. It can still be a very good game without paying. I paid some at the beginning and bought a gold tank (A Type 59 that is actually no longer even offered) which earns more credits per battle.

You can join a clan and participate in clan wars which seem to be pretty popular. I have never joined a clan, though.

[barkman44]

Men like him are the reason I believe the Russians built over 30.000 t-34's.
Because they had to!
On the subject of tank aces the german foreign minister that milqtoast Ribbentrop
had a real man for a son who served in the army almost exclusively on pzkfw 4's.
Go's to show you the apple does'nt always fall close to the tree.

[british exil]

I think he was fortunate, not to be sent elsewhere after punching an SS man. Just shows what kind of panzerman he was, they needed every good fighting man in the Eastern Front, so they probably felt that they needed him bad and did not send him of elsewhere.

Mat

[Hentzau]

ORIGINAL: british exil

I think he was fortunate, not to be sent elsewhere after punching an SS man. Just shows what kind of panzerman he was, they needed every good fighting man in the Eastern Front, so they probably felt that they needed him bad and did not send him of elsewhere.

Mat

Hard to threaten you with transfer to the eastern front if you're already there. LOL

[british exil]

They did have concentration Camps.

Mat

[nicwb]

And punishment battalions.