Kurt Knispel

{{short description|German World War II tank gunner}}

{{expand German}}

{{Infobox military person

| name = Kurt Knispel

| birth_date = {{birth date|1921|9|20|df=y}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|1945|4|28|1921|9|20|df=y}}

| birth_place = Salisfeld, Czechoslovakia

| death_place = Urbau, German occupied Czechoslovakia

| image = Kurt Knispel.jpg

| caption =

| nickname =

| allegiance = Nazi Germany

| branch = German Army

| serviceyears = 1940–1945

| rank = Feldwebel

| commands =

| unit = 12th Panzer Division
503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion

| battles = World War II

| awards = German Cross in Gold

}}

Kurt Knispel (20 September 1921 – 28 April 1945

{{cite web

| title = Detailansicht

| url = http://www.volksbund.de/graebersuche/detailansicht.html?tx_igverlustsuche_pi2%5Bgid%5D=9859af90f691820f6bd35f4d5e54ffbb&cHash=ac2bdeec7a3e1810e8b4871400e3cc7e

| access-date = 2017-08-03

}}

) was a German tank commander during World War II.

Knispel was severely wounded on 28 April 1945 by shrapnel to his head when his Tiger II was hit in battle by Soviet tanks. He died two hours later in a German field hospital.{{cite web|title=Sudetendeutsche: Tschechien kümmert sich nicht um deutsche Gräber|periodical=Die Welt|publisher=|url=http://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article129139966/Tschechien-kuemmert-sich-nicht-um-deutsche-Graeber.html|access-date=2016-11-25|archive-url=|last=Hans-Jörg Schmidt|date=2014-06-16|language=|pages=|quote=}}

On 10 April 2013, Czech authorities said that Knispel's remains were found with 15 other German soldiers behind a church wall in Vrbovec, identified by his dog tags.{{cite web|url=http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/zpravodajstvi-brno/zpravy/222114-archeologove-objevili-hrob-nejvetsiho-tankoveho-esa-2-svetove-valky/ |title=Archeologové objevili hrob největšího tankového esa 2. světové války — Zprávy — Zpravodajství Brno — Česká televize |publisher=Ceskatelevize.cz |date=2013-04-09 |access-date=2015-12-17}}

On 12 November 2014, the German War Graves Commission reburied his remains at the Central Brno military cemetery in Brno.[http://www.vets.cz/vpm/26217-hrob-kurt-knispel/ Grabstätte von Kurt Knispel] He was buried with 41 other German soldiers who died in Moravia and Silesia.{{cite web |url=http://www.mzm.cz/ulozeni-ostatku-kurta-knispela/ |title=MZM - Uložení ostatků Kurta Knispela |publisher=Mzm.cz |date= |access-date=2015-12-17 |archive-date=2015-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222160545/http://www.mzm.cz/ulozeni-ostatku-kurta-knispela/ |url-status=dead }}

Knispel was profiled extensively in the second installment of the popular historical fiction series Panzer Aces, written by Franz Kurowski. Alfred Rubbel, Knispel's superior officer during the war, challenged Kurowski's retelling of Knispel's alleged tank kills and awards. Rubbel described Kurowski's writing on Knispel as "a sheer outrage. What he wrote in there, it is all made up. Alone the quotes he puts in my mouth. It is all completely untrue."{{Cite journal |last=Töppel |first=Roman |date=2018 |others=Arbeitskreis Militärgeschichte E.V. |title=Der ganze Krieg als Abenteuer. Der Schriftsteller und "Historiker" Franz Kurowski |url=http://portal-militaergeschichte.de/toeppel_kurowski |journal=Portal Militärgeschichte |language=de |doi=10.15500/AKM12022018 |issn=2198-6673}}{{Cite journal |last1=Töppel |first1=Roman |last2=Straub |first2=Katharina |date=2018 |title=The War, One Great Adventure: The Writer and "Historian" Franz Kurowski (2018) |url=https://www.academia.edu/37429738 |journal= |language=English}}