After the campaign against Poland the German army started to experiment with radio controlled vehicles that could be used to clear minefields or to destroy bunkers, the vehicles that delivered the explosive charge were the Borgward Sd.Kfz301, a light tracked ammo carrier, the control vehicles were adapted Stug III's or Pzkw III's.
These remote control vehicles were used with some success on the Eastern front and after the battle of Kursk the unit commander made a request that his unit would be equipped with the new Tiger tanks, their thicker armour and higher profile made operating the demolition vehicles safer and easier.
It is in this period that the "Funklenk Panzer" companies were equipped and trained on the Tiger tanks that Heinrich Kiesenkamp joined them.
Heinrich K. (°1924) was an electrician from Essen, he started his military career in December 1942, he got his basic training in a motorcycle unit but after finishing his training he didn't join a motorcycle unit but went to another training facility: Pz Vers u Ers Abt 300 (Fkl), the armies experimental tank unit for remote controlled vehicles.
Eventually he ended up with Pz Kp (Fkl) 316, this unit was initially equipped with Tiger I's, they were replaced by Stug III's until the new Tiger II's, King Tigers could be delivered.
In April 1944 while they were in France and attached to the Panzer Lehr Division they received five Tiger II's with Porsche turrets (the interior of the turret was adapted to fit the extra radio sets it needed to control the Borgward).
Their Tiger II's turned out to be very unreliable and when the allies landed in Normandy and the Panzer Lehr was ordered to the front, they left their King Tigers behind in Chateaudun (they remained their and were eventually destroyed) and went to war in their Stug's as an ordinary Stug unit, no remote control actions were done.
They were heavily engaged in Villers-Bocage, it is here that Heinrich K was WIA.
After he was discharged from the hospital he once again joined the experimental tank outfit.
In January 1945 he was assigned to the first company of schwere Pz Abt (Tiger/Fkl) 301, a unit like the name already suggests equipped with Tiger I's and attached to the 9 Pz Div.
When the Ardennes offensive started the heavy Tiger I's were still being maintained and the crews trained, also transporting them to the front was an impossible task eventually they were engaged against the British in Waldfeucht on the German Dutch border on January 20 1944.
It was in this battle that he was WIA for the second time, he entered the hospital with burns, he was lucky that he managed to escape his burning tank.
On February 2 1945 he was discharged from hospital and sent back to his unit and I suppose he ended the war as an allied POW.
These remote control vehicles were used with some success on the Eastern front and after the battle of Kursk the unit commander made a request that his unit would be equipped with the new Tiger tanks, their thicker armour and higher profile made operating the demolition vehicles safer and easier.
It is in this period that the "Funklenk Panzer" companies were equipped and trained on the Tiger tanks that Heinrich Kiesenkamp joined them.
Heinrich K. (°1924) was an electrician from Essen, he started his military career in December 1942, he got his basic training in a motorcycle unit but after finishing his training he didn't join a motorcycle unit but went to another training facility: Pz Vers u Ers Abt 300 (Fkl), the armies experimental tank unit for remote controlled vehicles.
Eventually he ended up with Pz Kp (Fkl) 316, this unit was initially equipped with Tiger I's, they were replaced by Stug III's until the new Tiger II's, King Tigers could be delivered.
In April 1944 while they were in France and attached to the Panzer Lehr Division they received five Tiger II's with Porsche turrets (the interior of the turret was adapted to fit the extra radio sets it needed to control the Borgward).
Their Tiger II's turned out to be very unreliable and when the allies landed in Normandy and the Panzer Lehr was ordered to the front, they left their King Tigers behind in Chateaudun (they remained their and were eventually destroyed) and went to war in their Stug's as an ordinary Stug unit, no remote control actions were done.
They were heavily engaged in Villers-Bocage, it is here that Heinrich K was WIA.
After he was discharged from the hospital he once again joined the experimental tank outfit.
In January 1945 he was assigned to the first company of schwere Pz Abt (Tiger/Fkl) 301, a unit like the name already suggests equipped with Tiger I's and attached to the 9 Pz Div.
When the Ardennes offensive started the heavy Tiger I's were still being maintained and the crews trained, also transporting them to the front was an impossible task eventually they were engaged against the British in Waldfeucht on the German Dutch border on January 20 1944.
It was in this battle that he was WIA for the second time, he entered the hospital with burns, he was lucky that he managed to escape his burning tank.
On February 2 1945 he was discharged from hospital and sent back to his unit and I suppose he ended the war as an allied POW.
Attachments
-
DSC00756.jpg117.2 KB · Views: 38
-
DSC00757.jpg145.5 KB · Views: 66
-
DSC00758.jpg121.3 KB · Views: 43
-
DSC00759.jpg169.5 KB · Views: 37
-
DSC00760.jpg130.6 KB · Views: 38
-
DSC00761.jpg128.9 KB · Views: 37
-
DSC00762.jpg165.2 KB · Views: 31
-
DSC00763.jpg153.3 KB · Views: 23
-
DSC00764.jpg180.9 KB · Views: 26