Gordon Williamson

Hi Kevin, You just beat me to it. Been going through the SS Führerlist and came to the same conclusions re Wiemann and Bäurle. Still trying to work out the other signatures relating to the Pz-Korps. Lösel sadly didn't have any of his documents. A lot of his personal docs from his Police service were destroyed when the Police HQ in Stettin was bombed. All of his personal stuff was taken from him by the American troops top whom he surrendered ( from his letters looks like he was basically stripped of all his medals and insignia while being slapped around by souvenir hunting GIs. I suppose, being Waffen-SS its not too surprising ). He did say that one of his captors complimented him on the conduct of the Feldgendarmerie-Kompanie. He also gave me some info on his EK1. It was awarded for saving a group of elderly German army troops ( typical late war second-line troops) who were sheltering along with some civilians in a bunker. He and a few of his NCOs were decorated for that. So, I don't think he ever had the Soldbuch after being released from captivity in 1947.

An interesting comparison with the signature in his Soldbuch to the signature on the last letter I received from him before his death., shaky but still recognisable.

And the man himself.

And the most interesting entries, his awards. Note the Infanterie Sturmabzeichen and the EK1. Not especially high awards by any means, but decorations that are rarely seen being awarded to Feldgendarmerie and indicative of the heavy fighting that GvB found itself embroiled in during the battles in Normandy.

Interesting entry showing that he was classed as fit for service in "tropical" areas "Tropendienstfähig"

And indeed there is an entry showing that he possessed an automatic pistol that was his personal property.

Lösel told me his personal weapon was an automatic pistol, but interesting to see that he was also issued a Machine Pistol, not so common for an officer.

Interesting entries at the lower part of the left hand page for the issue of tropical clothing "Tropenbekleidung"

Kit issue entries showing the stamp for SS-Feldgendarmerie Kompanie 17

After serving on the Eastern Front, Lösel was posted to France to take command of the Feldgendarmerie-Kompanie of the new 17 SS-Panzergrenadier Division, Götz von Berlichingen. Note the unit info entry 17 SS-Pz. Gren. Div. "GvB"

The Soldbuch was issued 2 September 1942 by the Generalkommando of the SS.Panzer Korps.

His last entry in the Dienstpass being in 1942, subsequent career moves are shown in his SS-Soldbuch, Lösel having been transferred from the regular Police to the Military Police. Lösel had been at pains to stress in his correspondence that he was a career Police Officer who had been drafted (not volunteered) into the SS-Feldgendarmerie. I suppose with Himmler being Chief of the German Police as well as Reichsführer-SS he could post “his” personnel wherever he wanted. Interesting then, that his rank is shown in the Waffen-SS Soldbuch, not as SS-Untersturmführer but as Leutnant der Schutzpolizei. (The original cover of the Soldbuch was ripped off - possibly while he was a POW). It is interesting also to note the stamp of the American CIC (Counter Intelligence Corps). Lösel even remembered the name of the US Intelligence officer who interrogated him, Captain Kaltenbach, and thar he amazed Lösel by seeming to already know all sorts of personal information about him, to the tiniest details.

As well as his later military decorations, his Dienstpass shows the SA Sportabzeichen and the Police Long Service Medal for 8 yrs.

There are several pages showing his various unit postings with the Police, including attachments to the Luftschutzamt

Lösel carried out his obligatory national service with the military from October 1932 to March 1934 with Artillerie Regiment 51, as shown on page 8

Like many Police officers, Lösel was given equivalent rank in the SS, in this case SS-Untersturmführer as shown in the entry at the bottom of page 7.

Personal details and Next of Kin

The Polizei Dienstpass, issued April 1941

Interior. No photo was ever attached, the licence being validated by the Sold buch which did contain a photo. The Feldpost number on the licence corresponds to the Generalkommando of the SS-Panzerkorps, later to become II SS-Panzerkorps. Lösel belonged to the Feldgendarmerie Trupp attached to the Korps.

Nevertheless, if it was indeed the same guy, I was still interested in his Polizei Dienstpass so contacted the seller and asked for any more images. I was even more surprised when what arrived was a set of images of --- an SS-Soldbuch. Sadly the cover was missing and had been replaced with a crude plain card cover but the inside was completely intact and even better, from the information inside it clearly WAS the same Oskar Lösel that I had known ( sadly he passed away several years ago). Even his signature was still identical and hadn’t changed in the least from the 1940s to when I had corresponded with him. I double checked with the seller and he confirmed that the group included the Dienstpass, Ausweis, Führerschein and Soldbuch. For some bizarre reason, he had omitted the Soldbuch from the image posted on the auction site. Here are the docs. First the SS-Führerschein

Here is a superb set that I just acquired from a German auction site, thanks to a tip off from Ian Jewison. Many years ago, when visiting my Knight’s Cross winner friend Heinrich Springer, he took me to visit the chap who ran the Truppenkameradschaft of the Götz von Berlichingen Division, Walter Ott. Herr Ott asked me what my special interests were and when I told him it was the Feldgendarmerie, he provided me with the addresses of several former members of the Divisional Feldgendarmerie-Kompanie, including its commander and suggested I write to them. The company commander, Oskar Lösel, was one of those who replied and we remained in touch for some time during which Herr Lösel kindly supplied me with information about his career and a few photos. I was surprised when Ian sent me a link to the auction site, to see a seller offering a small grouping consisting of a “Soldbuch, Polizei Dienstpass and Führerschein” in the name of Oskar Lösel. Unfortunately, the auction photo showed a nice Führerschein and Dienstpass, but not a Soldbuch, but rather an Ausweis to a pre-war organisation which was later banned by the Nazis, the “Arbeiter-Turner-Samariter-Kolonne” an organisation promoting health and safety at work, first aid training etc etc.

I have one of the higher quality three-piece examples with the nickel backplate with the maker details. This one without the crown is Zinc. I have seen these offered on various sites in the past as being late WW2 period. A quick look around this evening showed up this one, identical in construction to the crown-less one shown above. http://www.picardyantiquesltd.com/shop/article_S1006/Royal-Bulgarian-Wound-Badge-for-one-wound,-1908-1946-issue,-probably-late-World-War-II.html?shop_param=cid%3D200%26aid%3DS1006%26

Hi Will, Many thanks for the info. I have the opportunity to get the badge in the photo and wanted to be sure that such badges did indeed exist "officially" without Crown. I can live with the fact that it could just be a case of the Crown coming loose on this example if I know that it could equally be one actually issued without a Crown. I can see that it would be a very simple matter to add a red star using the original hole for affixing the Crown. Have you ever seen an example with a red star ? I've been looking around for a photo of the Bulgarian Wound Badge being worn. One would think that with something like a Wound Badge pictures of it being worn wouldn't be all that rare but they don't seem to turn up. Gordon

Does anyone have any info regarding the Wound Badges issued after the "Liberation" by the Red Army, given to Bulgarian troops fighting against their former German allies ? I read somewhere, but can't find it now, that the Wound Badges were issued with the Crown removed, or even with a red star pinned through the hole for the crown fitting. The reason I ask is that I have seen a couple of these, sans Crown, and the way the Crown was attached on these , it doesn't look particularly weak or likely to coma adrift , so I wondered if the reports of the pro-Communist regime issuing these without the Crown is true. Anyone any ideas ?.

Another beauty ! Values on these senior rank KM visor caps are rocketing.