Franz Josef Kneipp career, please infos

[viva_giulio]

Hi all,
I would have some info about career and awards gained by the famous Kneipp, the guitarist boy scout and first aid volunteer of 12HJ

[Lloyd I.]

That image was indeed taken near Buron, at the HQ of III./SS-Pz.Gren.Regt 25. Pictured on the right is SS-Ustuf Kurt Bergmann, Adjutant to SS-Ostuf. Karl-Heinz-Milius, shown in this image lower left as viewed. This is just before Kniepp took command of the Stabskompanie at the Abayye d'Ardenne. At this time he was in Stab III as Nachrichtenoffizier (Signals Officer)





Franz-Josef "Franzl" Kneipp was born on September 19th 1911 in Wiesbaden, located in Hesse on the north bank of the Rhine


In 1933, aged 22, he enters the Reichswehr (the army of 100,000 men), and serves for two years in the 3.Jäger Battalion of Infantrie-Regiment 15 stationed in Kassel.

Kniepp: "I join the state police of Hesse in 1935 and work as a radio operator and encryptor until 1939. I then enlisted in the Waffen-SS and was transferred in December 1939 to the Nachrichten-Ersatz 2.(Funk)-Kompanie stationed at Nuremberg. I was then assigned to the Panzer-Spahzug of the "Totenkopf". In May 1940 I was wounded on the Canal de la Bassée and treated in a German military hospital.

After my convalescence, I rejoined the reserve battalion in Nuremberg, and was later transferred to SS-Flak-Abteilung "Ost" which is set up in May 1941. This unit is engaged in October 1941 in operations within Heeresgruppe North in the Leningrad area.

I'm serving as the chief of a radio team with the rank of SS-Unterschaführer in the 2.Batterie 3,7cm gun battery, under the command of SS-Obersturmführer Rudolf Dirnage. I take part with this unit in operations in the northwestern sector of the Russian front and in the fighting in the Wolchow Front. Meanwhile, I am decorated with the Iron Cross 1st class as well as Flak-Kampfabzeichen.

On the recommendation of my superior, I am sent to the Signal Officer School in Metz as an officer candidate.

In September 1943, I arrive as an officer (SS-Standarten-Oberjunker) in Turnhout located in Belgium in the Flandernkaserne and am assigned to Nachtichten-Abteitung 12 of Panzer-Division "HJ", 2.Funkkompanie as section chief. The company is then run by SS-Obersturmführer Rolf Uibelhack, a seasoned veteran of 2./SS-Nachrichten-Abteilung LSSAH"


Someone else can post Franzl's SS-Personalakte

[viva_giulio]

Thank you very much. There were personal Nara files published but the forum was closed so no more available.

[Lloyd I.]

On the morning of July 8, 1944 SS-Ustuf. Kneipp was severely wounded and captured by Canadian troops who turned him over to the British.

Thanks to John P. Moore we have his recollection as John had the opportunity to spend much time with Franzl Kniepp.

"Despite being kicked out of the officer course at the signal school in Metz near graduation for an affair with a French girl, he was promoted to SS-Untersturmführer in April 1944 upon the recommendation of his regimental commander, Kurt Meyer.

He was wounded on July 8, 1944 as signal officer of III./SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 25 in Normandy. He was sent out on a reconnaissance mission in a tank to look for the enemy. He was standing in the tank turret looking through his binoculars and the next thing he remembers is waking up while some Canadian soldiers were pulling him out of the tank with his arms streaming blood. His tank had taken a hit from a Canadian tank and he had been wounded in both arms.

Following a brief hospitalization in Scotland, Kneipp was handed over to the Americans and transported by ship to the United States where he was brought to Washington, D.C. for questioning about his knowledge of German code machines. He had also been interrogated by the British about code machines and threatened with being shot if he did not tell what he knew. Kneipp refused.

Kneipp was moved among seven different prisoner-of-war camps in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Virginia, Texas and Illinois until the Americans sent him to a camp in France in March 1946 and later to Marburg an der Lahn in Germany to work with the US Army Historical Division until his final release on October 10, 1947. No sooner had he been released by the Americans than he was arrested by the Germans for his membership in the SS and placed in the Darmstadt internment camp until April 1948.

After his release Kneipp ended up on the staff of the US Air Force Wiesbaden air base commander. Although he had nearly completed his education as an optometrist prior to the start of the war, he was unable to complete his training following his release from internment because of the severe restrictions on employment placed on all former Waffen-SS officers. In 1950 he became a driver for the base commander at the US Air Force base in Wiesbaden and was later a driving instructor for the US military until 1964 when he took a position with the German State of Hesse where he remained until his retirement in 1976.

For many years Kneipp was the chairman of the Wiesbaden HIAG veterans association.

Kneipp died in Wiesbaden on October 12, 2002 at the age of 91."


(Sources: Maranes Editions, John P Moore, Heimdal)

[o.r.k.]

Very interesting, especially when having in mind the bloody feud between the SS and the Canadians in Normandy. Nice to read that humanity could prevail, too despite the hateful background.