This Date in History: May 11

Heinrich “Hein” Reimers.  “Hein” Reimers is another soldier to go down in history as one Michael Wittmann’s “boys,” a 22-year-old who perished with Wittmann on August 8, 1944 in his Tiger in Normandy and who shares a group memorial at the German War Cemetery in La Cambe, Normandy.

“Hein” hailed from Schnepke/Syke in Lower Saxony on May 11, 1924.  Single and a farm worker, he joined the SS on September 8, 1941.  He served as the driver on Tiger 411 in the First Platoon during the fighting near Kharkov in February-March 1943, receiving an Iron Cross Second Class and the Panzer Battle Badge in Silver.  At Kursk, SS-Sturmmann Reimers served as the driver of Tiger 1301 in the Headquarters Platoon.  Heinrich was promoted to SS-Rottenführer on September 1, 1943 and SS-Unterscharführer on April 20, 1944.  He subsequently served as a driver on Tiger 205 in Normandy.

Hein was killed in action on August 8, 1944 near Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil, Normandy serving in the 2^nd Company of the 101^st SS Heavy Panzer Detachment, as the driver for Michael Wittmann, when their Tiger 007 was engaged by Sherman Firefly tanks from Squadron A of the 1^st Northamptonshire Yeomanry.  Undiscovered for four decades, the German War Graves Commission disinterred the bodies of five men in the early 1980s and found Heinrich Reimers’ identity disc with one of the corpses.  His remains are located at the German War Cemetery in La Cambe, Normandy in Plot 47, Row 3, in Grave 120G, along with the rest of the crew.  (Waffen-SS Tiger Crews at Kursk: The Men of SS Panzer Regiments 1, 2 & 3 in Operation Citadel, July 5-15, 1943)

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Franz Kraml.  Franz Kraml was born on December 1, 1917 in Winterberg in the district of Prachatitz, then part of Austria (and later the Sudetenland.)  Entering the Waffen-SS on April 1, 1939 he was assigned to the Deutschland Regiment, before transferring to the Das Reich panzer detachment’s 1^st Company.  Promoted to SS-Unterscharführer on September 1, 1942, he remained in this unit until late February 1943.  During the fighting at Kharkov in February-March 1943, SS-Unterscharführer Franz Kraml served as the gunner of Tiger 800 and later 802 in the Headquarters Platoon of the 8^th (Heavy) Company. ⁵⁹

During the Kursk Offensive, Franz was the commander of Tiger S13 in the First Platoon.  He transferred to the 1^st Company of the 102^nd SS Heavy Panzer Detachment on February 23, 1944, where he commanded Tiger 112 and subsequently fought in Normandy.  In 1945, Kraml commanded  King Tiger 112 in the First Platoon of the 1^st Company in the 502^nd SS Heavy Panzer Detachment.  During the war he received the Panzer Battle Badge in Silver and the Wound Badge in Black.  British soldiers later captured him, and he was taken to a prisoner of war camp in England, where he was confined for almost three years.  He and his wife later had a son.  On May 11, 1991, Franz Kraml – who is seen holding his Luger as the commander in one of the most iconic photographs of Tigers at Kursk – died in Fallingbostel. (Waffen-SS Tiger Crews at Kursk: The Men of SS Panzer Regiments 1, 2 & 3 in Operation Citadel, July 5-15, 1943)