Body found at Kursk

[GaryD]

A friend of mine in Russia just told me about a body of an unknown German officer found at the village of Sretino, near Tomarovka on the southern face of the Kursk salient. It's in a trench with 20 or so other bodies. The body is in the black uniform of a colonel and is wearing a tanker's helmet. He has fabric epaulettes with two bronze stars on them. There's a skull on his collar. A German cross is sewn to his shirt and he has an Iron Cross 1st class.

The question is, who is this? My friend suspects it's SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Eugen Kunstmann, the commander of Totenkopf's panzer regiment who died on 8 July 1943. How many colonels could have died during this period?

[Doktor Krollspell]

Hello Gary!

An interesting find, 65 years after the battle. About your friends guess on SS-Sturmbannführer Eugen Kunstmann who died on 08.07.1943, I say he's wrong comparing to the description of the found body. First, Eugen Kunstmann did not receive the DKiG (German Cross). He is not mentioned in Patzwall & Scherzer's "Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945" (2001), nor is he mentioned as a DKiG receiver in Karl Ullrich's "Wie ein Fels im Meer - Kriegsgeschichte der 3. SS-Panzerdivision TOTENKOPF" (2nd ed. 1999). And according to Ullrich (1999), Kunstmann was (just) a SS-Sturmbannführer and as such had no "stars" on his eupalettes.

So it has to be another Waffen-SS or Heer Panzer Oberst with the DKiG that have been found at the village of Sretino...


Just my two cents,

Krollspell

[GaryD]

You're right, now that I look at this site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranks_and_ ... utzstaffel

I see that a sturmbannfuhrer doesn't have anything at all on his epaulettes.

Would a skull on his collar mean simply a panzer officer?

[ghp95134]

...Would a skull on his collar mean simply a panzer officer?

Panzer officer or enlisted -- I think all ranks wore the panzer totenkopf



Photo source HERE.

Two stars/pips on his epaulette would make him a Hauptman (if it was a bullion shoulderboard); two pips on a cloth shoulder strap would be Oberfeldwebel.

--Guy

[Annelie]

I suppose the

http://www.volksbund.de/kurzprofil/homepage_en.asp

were informed? They also are responsible for finding identity of the body and will contact the concerning family.

[GaryD]

I suppose the

http://www.volksbund.de/kurzprofil/homepage_en.asp

were informed? They also are responsible for finding identity of the body and will contact the concerning family.

That's good information, Annelie. I'll pass it on.

I wonder if the body is that of Oberst Rudolf Köhler? I THINK he was the commander of the 19. Panzer-Division's tank regiment. I saw the topic on him viewtopic.php?f=26&t=17847&p=122694

[ghp95134]

If the body is positively identified will the artifacts be returned to his family? His son (if extant) might cherish his father's DKiG, EKI, panzer totenkopfen, etc.

--Guy Power

[HeinrichFrey]

One skull or two skulls. That is the question. Totenkopf had a skull on the right collar. The panzer skulls were different. View the examples given before.
Regards
Matt

[Frederick L Clemens]

Tanker's Helmet?

Maybe you should all take a clue from that bit of information that any information about this supposed officer is suspect. The story has probably been passed on so many times that the body may as well be that of a shoeshine boy for all we really know.

[GaryD]

Tanker's Helmet?

Maybe you should all take a clue from that bit of information that any information about this supposed officer is suspect. The story has probably been passed on so many times that the body may as well be that of a shoeshine boy for all we really know.

Thanks for commenting on something you know nothing about. "Tanker's helmet" was my poor shorthand for the actual quote "На голове одеты наушники, вместе с танковым переговорным устройством" (On the head are headphones with a tanker's communication device).

[Frederick L Clemens]

You just proved my point!

Also, I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has knowledge of senior panzer officers being buried with their communications headgear on.

[TukfromGermany]

Hello,

I´m a relative of Eugen Kunstmann, he was my grandad. My family and me do not know a lot about his "last days" and where he really died. We´ve really searched for things but we were not able to find some more information.

With google I found out feldgrau.net and saw that you´ve written some things about him.
If anyone of you has some further information I would be very pleased if you would contact me via e-mail. Its tikun(at)gmx.de

Thank you very much and greetings from Germany!

Tim

[Annelie]

The question is, who is this? My friend suspects it's SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Eugen Kunstmann, the commander of Totenkopf's panzer regiment who died on 8 July 1943

Was there an positive identification of the body that anyone knows of?

Tim, I hope you and your family will be able to find out more about your Grandfather.
Perhaps you should also contact the Wast?

[TukfromGermany]

I´ve already contacted the Wast. They only know the place of his death and thats it. For my family and me some pictures would be totally great, because we´re only having a few ones.....

But maye we´ll have some luck in the future to find some more information about him;-)

[GaryD]

I´ve already contacted the Wast. They only know the place of his death and thats it. For my family and me some pictures would be totally great, because we´re only having a few ones.....

But maye we´ll have some luck in the future to find some more information about him;-)

I'll my friend and let you know what I find out.