Most Admired Second World War Hero

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    • Well, there were not a lot of panzer aces with hundreds of destroyed tanks. The top ace had 168 confirmed kills and only 9 men, on the German side, had 100 or more confirmed kills. Numbers were often inflated near the end of the war to boost morale or multiple tanks could claim the same kill. German records were quite good though and they tried to be meticulous is getting it right, even if iron crosses were given out quite generously near the end, also as morale boosters.
    • I checked with a friend who works in the museum and she says that the tank models which were considered technologically inferior late-war if managed to destroy or cripple an enemy tank then they would get more attention then their late-war tank aces who had better tanks. At least that's what the archives showed.
    • I found this list -

      Here is a list of panzer aces posted by David C Clarke over in the Feldgrau forum.


      TANK KILLERS

      Contributors; Ron Klages, David C. Clarke, Erich Brown, Steve Eckardt, John S.

      1.Kurt Knispel –168 Kills (sPzAbt. 503)
      2.Otto Carius – 150+ Kills (sPzAbt. 502)–Tiger I--Knight's Cross 5/4/44, Oak Leaves 7/27/44.
      3.Johannes (Hans) Bolter-- 139 Kills (possibly 144) (sPzAbt. 502) Tigers– Knight's Cross 4/16/44, Oak Leaves 9/10/44.
      4.Michael Wittman – 138 Kills (sS.S.PzAbt. 101 Liebstandarte)–Tiger I–Knight's Cross 1/14/44, Oak Leaves 1/14/44 with Swords, 6/25/44.
      5.Hans Sandrock – 123 Kills (assorted AFV last unit HJ )
      6.Paul Egger – 113 Kills (s SS Pz. Abt. 102)–Tigers– Knight's cross 4/28/45
      7.Fritz Lang– 113 Kills (StuG. Abt. 232)
      8.Arno Giesen – 111 Kills (Das Reich)
      9.Oberfahnrich Rondorf—106 kills (sPzAbt. 503)–Tigers
      10.Feldwebel Gaetner ( Gartner?)– 103 Kills (sPzAbt. 503)–Tigers
      11.Karl Koener – 100+ Kills (sS.S.PzAbt. 503)–Tigers–Knight's Cross 4/29/44.
      12.Albert Kerscher – 100+ Kills (sPzAbt. 502)–Tigers–Knight's Cross 10/23/44.
      13.Balthazar (Bobby) Woll–100+ Kills, 81 as Gunner (sSS Pz. Abt. 101)–Knight's Cross–1/16/44.
      14.Helmut Wendorff—84 Kills (sS.S.Pz Abt.101)–Tigers–Knight's Cross 2/12/44.
      15.Ernst Barkmann—82+ Kills (Das Reich)—Panther–Knight's Cross 8/27/44.
      16.Eric Litztke—76 Kills (sPzAbt. 509)--Tigers– Knight's Cross 10/20/44
      17.Hermann Bix – 75+ Kills (4th Panzer Division)–Knight's Cross 3/22/45.
      18.Hans Strippel – 70 Kills (4. / II/ PzAbt. 1, 1st Pz. Division)–Pz. IV–Knight's Cross 6/4/44.
      19.Emil Seibold – 69 Kills (Das Reich)–Pz IV+ Captured T-34s
      20.Wilhelm Knauth—68 Kills (sPzAbt. 505)–Tigers–Knight's Cross 11/14/43.
      21.Hugo Primozic– 68 Kills (StuG Abt. 667)–Knight's Cross 9/25/42, Oak Leaves 1/25/43.
      22.Karl Bromann – 66 Kills (sS.S.PzAbt. 503)–Tigers.
      23.Josef William (Sepp) Brandner – 61 Kills (StuG Brigade 912)–Knight's Cross 1/17/45, Oak Leaves 4/30/45.
      24.Hans-Bobo von Rohr – 58 Kills (25 Pz. Abt., 7th Pz. Division)–Knight's Cross 11/15/44, Oak leaves 4/8/45 (Posthumously).
      25.Karl Heinz Warmbrunn-- 57 Kills, 44 as gunner (s SS Pz. Abt. 101)–Tigers
      26.Albert Ernst–55 Kills–(s.Pz. Jgr. Abt. 519)--Nashorn–Knight's Cross–2/7/44.
      27.Richard Engelmann—54 Kills (StuG Abt. 912)–Knight's Cross 7/22/44.
      28.Heinz Kling–51 Kills (s SS Pz. Abt. 101)--Tigers.
      29.Johann Muller–50 Kills ((sPz. Abt. 502)--Tigers–Knight's Cross 10/23/44.
      30.Josef Dallmeier—50 Kills (Fhr. PzJager Kp.1183)–Hetzer–Knight's Cross 4/3/45(?).
      31.Walter Feibig—50+ Kills (StuG Brigade 301)
      32.Heinz Kramer – 50+ Kills (sPzAbt. 502)–Tigers–Knight's Cross 10/6/44.
      33.Alfredo Carpaneto – 50+ Kills (sPzAbt. 502)–Tigers–Knight's Cross 3/28/45.
      34.Oberleutnant Mausberg – 50+ Kills (s.Pz. Abt. 505)–Tigers.
      35.Wolfgang Hans Heimer Paul von Bostell–48 Kills–( Pz. Jgr. Kp. 1023, Pz. Jgr. Abt. 205)–Knight's Cross 9/2/44, Oak Leaves 4/30/45.
      36.Jurgen Brandt—47 Kills (sS.S.Abt. 101)–Tigers.
      37.Heinz Deutsch – 44 Kills (Fsch. StuG Brigade 12) Knight's Cross 4/28/45.
      38.Fritz Amling—42+ Kills (in 48 Hrs. with StuG Brigade 202) Knight's Cross 12/5/42.
      39.Heinz Scharf—40+ Kills (StuG Brigade 202) Knight's Cross 9/5/44.
      40.Walter Oberloskamp – 40+ Kills (StuG Brigade 667) Knight's Cross 5/15/43.
      41.Fredrich Tadje—39 Kills (StuG Abt. 190) Knight's Cross 10/24/42.
      42.Rudolf Roy—36 Kills (12 S.S. PanzerJager Abt. HJ)–JP IV–Knight's Cross 10/16/44.
      43.Gottwald Stier—30+ Kills (StuG Brigade 667) Knight's Cross (date unknown).
      44.Josef Trager – 30+ Kills (StuG Brigade 667) Knight's Cross (date unknown).
      45.Richard Schram—30 Kills (StuG Brigade 202) Knight's Cross 12/12/42.
      46.Karl Pfreundtner—30 Kills (StuG Abt. 244) Knight's Cross 9/18/42.
      47.Karl Heinrich Banze – 24 Kills (13 on one day StuG Abt. 244) Knight's Cross 5/27/42.
      48.Felix Adamowitsch –23 Kills (in an 8 day period, StuG Abt. 244) Knight's Cross 10/20/44.
      49.Eugen Metzger—23 Kills (StuG Abt. 203) Knight's Cross 9/29/41.
      50.Hauptmann Rade –23 Kills (StuG Abt. 244)
      51.Heinrich Teriete – 22 Kills (in one engagement, sPzJgAbt. 653) Knight's Cross 7/22/43.
      52.Franz Staudegger—22+ Kills (sS.S.Pz Abt. 101) Knight's Cross 7/10/43.
      53.Franz Kretshmer – 21 Kills (sPzJgAbt. 653) Knight's Cross 12/17/43
      54.Horst Naumann—21 Kills (StuG Abt. 184) Knight's Cross 1/4/43
      55.Klaus Wagner – 18 Kills (in two days, StuG Abt. 667)
      56.Hermann Feldheim—16 Kills (sPzJgAbt. 654)
      57.Heinrich Engel –15 Kills (StuG Abt. 259) Knight's Cross 11/7/43
      58. Rudolf von Ribbentrop– 14 Kills (LSSAH+ HJ) Knight's Cross 7/20/43.
      59. Wachtmeister Moj–12 Kills (StuG Abt. 190)
      60. Siegfried Freyer– 11 Kills in one engagement (Pz. Abt. 24) Knight's Cross 7/23/43.
      61. Alfred Reginitor–10 Kills (StuG Abt. 279) Knight's Cross (date unknown).
    • It's so interesting on how you guys know what happened to your great-grandparents and grandparents during WW2. I was too young to ask my great-grandparents about their experience in WW2 before they passed away. It would be very interesting to see their point of view on the Japanese occupation of China(the only person left in my family who was born before WW2 is my grandpa and he was only a toddler/child during WW2).
      "As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable." Albert Einstein

      "Giving up is not an option in war, for it proves one's incapability and incompetence as a leader." - Me (Little Racoon)
    • Little Racoon wrote:

      It's so interesting on how you guys know what happened to your great-grandparents and grandparents during WW2. I was too young to ask my great-grandparents about their experience in WW2 before they passed away. It would be very interesting to see their point of view on the Japanese occupation of China(the only person left in my family who was born before WW2 is my grandpa and he was only a toddler/child during WW2).
      I didn't even know my family had something to do with ww2 until my both my parents passed away, they left me some old archives and documents and that's how I found out. In 2018, a friend of mine happened to find some more documents about my ancestors in WW2 and gave them to me. The museum wanted to buy them but I refused : )
    • blue44elephant wrote:

      Little Racoon wrote:

      It's so interesting on how you guys know what happened to your great-grandparents and grandparents during WW2. I was too young to ask my great-grandparents about their experience in WW2 before they passed away. It would be very interesting to see their point of view on the Japanese occupation of China(the only person left in my family who was born before WW2 is my grandpa and he was only a toddler/child during WW2).
      I didn't even know my family had something to do with ww2 until my both my parents passed away, they left me some old archives and documents and that's how I found out. In 2018, a friend of mine happened to find some more documents about my ancestors in WW2 and gave them to me. The museum wanted to buy them but I refused : )
      Great choice. You should remember and keep those documents to yourself. :)
      BeaveRyan
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