Kurt ‘Panzer’ Meyer
A BOLD AND SUCCESSFUL SOLDIER, WAS ALSO A CONVICTED WAR CRIMINAL
some accounts assert that Kurt ‘Panzer’ Meyer earned his nickname because of aggressive battlefield conduct, others relate that he fell off a roof while a police cadet, breaking 18 bones, and his friends thereafter called him ‘Panzer’ because he was tough like a tank. Born to a lowerclass family on 23 december 1910, Meyer joined the Nazi Party in 1930 and the ss a year later, eventually rising to the rank of major general.
With the outbreak of the war, Meyer was with the First ss Panzer division leibstandarte Adolf hitler, serving in the Polish campaign and receiving the Iron Cross, second Class. he earned the Iron Cross, First Class, fighting in France and the Knight’s Cross in Greece. during Operation Barbarossa he received the German Cross in gold.
In the summer of 1943 Meyer was assigned a regiment of the newly formed 12th ss Panzer division hitlerjugend. he had already developed a reputation for heroism and was fond of leading his troops into battle while riding a motorcycle. supremely confident, he later led the entire division in Normandy. By the end of August 1944 he had received the oak leaves and swords to his Knight’s Cross. he was captured by partisans in september 1944 and handed over to American forces.
Meyer was associated with several atrocities, including the massacre of Canadian prisoners in Normandy. he was later tried and convicted of war crimes. A death sentence was commuted to life in prison, and he was released in 1954. Meyer died in 1961 at the age of 51.