Kurt Knispels' Last Stand April 28th 1945 Southern Czechoslovakia
I tried to identify the Soviet military units that advanced towards the Czech city of Znojmo at the end of April 1945 and fought on the front section between the settlements of Stronsdorf in Austria and Vlasatice in the Czech Republic.
As for the publicly available information about the last fight of K. Knispel, there is very little of it and it is contradictory. The German publicist Franz Kurovski wrote about K. Knispel in his book Tank Asses, which has recently been translated into Russian. In this book, he adhered to the version of Hauptmann Diet-Corber, the last commander of the 503rd battalion of heavy tanks · FeldgernhalleЋ (sPzAbt.503 Feldhernhalle). According to this version, K. Knispel died in a battle with Soviet tanks (and / or self-propelled guns) on April 28, 1945 near the village of Vlasatice in the territory of the modern Czech Republic.
BUT!
- Vlasatice was occupied by the Soviet army on April 25-26, 1945, after the capture of Hodonin, Breclav, Mikulov as a result of the Bratislava-Brnovsk offensive operation. Vlasatice is 5 km from Mikulov. There were no heavy battles in Vlasatice, there were no military hospitals either!
The Austrian historian Franz Jordan in the book · Fights in Lower Austria in 1945Ћ adheres to the version of Horst Bechtel and Alfred Rubbel, veterans of the 503rd battalion of heavy tanks · FeldgernhalleЋ. According to this version, K. Knispel was seriously injured in a battle with Soviet tanks (and / or self-propelled guns) on April 29, 1945 near the village of Stronsdorf in modern Austria. units and divisions of the German tank corps operated in the area of the settlements Patzenthal - Patzmannsdorf - Stronsdorf - Stronegg - Unterschoderlee - Oberschoderlee - Unterschnerten Unterchnersten - Kleinbaumgarten (Kleinbaumgarten) - Altenmarkt (Altenmarkt) - Ungerndorf (Ungerndorf) - Falbach (Fallbach) - Ungerhof (Ungerhof). Presumably, on April 29, 1945, Stronsdorf had a tank of K. Knispel killed in battle with tanks / self-propelled guns of the Soviet 23rd Panzer Corps.
It is on the Royal Tiger, or PzKpfw VI Ausf. B Tiger II, held his last battle German tank ace
But Knispel himself was seriously wounded and taken to a hospital in Vrbovec / Urbau (Czech Republic). Only the place of burial of K. Knispel is known - the village of Vrbovec / Urbau (Vrbovec / Urbau), in which at the end of April 1945 the infirmary was located.
This village was located behind the front line in the German rear (20 kilometers from Stronsdorf and 37 kilometers from Vlasatice).
On April 28, 1945, the front line ran along the Dyye River, between Hranice (Czech Republic) and Laa der Thaya. Bridges were blown up, one bank of the river is steep. and another boggy and fortified bunkers of 1938. And this does not allow a direct attack across the river.
By the way, the attack on Laa was carried out along the river, from Vienna.
Vrbovec is located 6 km from Znojmo, 5 km from the Dyye River and 24 km from Laa, where the main battles took place.
Znojmo was taken on May 8, 1945, as a result of the withdrawal of German troops for surrender to the Americans.
All of the above confirms the death of Kurt Knispel in Vrbovec, and not in Vlasatice!
He died at the age of 23!
But it is still unknown where his tank was hit and it is not known exactly where his last battle took place.
It is only known that in those days German troops almost did not suffer losses. And compare the losses on both sides.
Summary of losses for April 27-29, 1945, in the battles of Laa der Thaya:
German troops:
Losses in equipment: 2 self-propelled guns destroyed, several tanks destroyed and sent for repair.
Losses in manpower: 1 officer died, 4 people died in the hospital from wounds (including Kurt Knispel), several soldiers were slightly injured.
Soviet troops:
Losses in equipment: 19 T-34 tanks and 3 self-propelled guns destroyed, 2 T-34 tanks captured by the Germans. Losses in manpower: 25 people were killed in battles, the number of wounded is not known.