Oberstürmbannführer Vinzenz Kaiser

[Mark C Yerger]

His full bio with all award proposal texts, multiple photos, commands, etc etc. is in volume 2 of "German Cross inb Gold Holders of the SS and Police."

[lebus12]

Again him on the Eastern front with one Churchill tank ....

[BlackCat1982]

An Officer i have studied in the past Nick Zenz was one of the most well known and highly decorated Officers of Das Reich and the Waffen SS although not as well known as some of the LAH " stars ". He became an Armoured Infantry specialist ( SPW ) and commanded III (gep ) / DF for a long period especially during Third Kharkov and Kursk , their are some fantastic photos of Zenz taken during the Kursk Battles.

He was also awarded the NKiS in Gold , at 40 he was one of the oldest recipients !! When he commanded I / DF a veteran friend of mine served under him and he desctibed him as a real "Hard bastard " and a terrific front line Officer .

He went on to command SS Pz Gren Regt 38 of GVB as an SS Obersturmbannfuhrer ending up fighting in the defence of Nuremburg.

He commanded GVB for a day when Fritz Klingenberg was killed and before Jopp Fick took command in March 1945.

On 20th April 1945 he went out on a Recce with his adjutant SS Hauptsturmfurher Kukula , both were never seen again and were reported MIA , the body of Kukula was recovered in 1965 it appeared that he had been executed by a shot to the back of the head , the body of Kaiser has never been found !!

Via Traces of War site: The fate of Vinzenz Kaiser and Franz Kukula remained shrouded in mystery until 1976 when around 200 bodies were found in a mass grave near Nuremberg were autopsied. The grave of Kukula was discovered after section of his remains and Franz Kukula’s body was positively identifed, with the cause of death confirmed as a shot to the back of the head at close rang. Vinzenz Kaiser’s body was never found. The most plausible answer is that both encountered American GI’s, were captured and shot on the spot