hucks216

Oberstleutnant Deert Jacob Reeder. Born: 22nd August 1900 Died: 7th July 1944 near Minsk II/Infanterie Regiment 254 Kdr II/Grenadier Rgt 254 Kdr Grenadier Rgt 254 RK - 30th Nov 1943 DKiG - 19th Dec 1941 Ehrenblattspange - 25th May 1942 Image: Ost Medal citation

I think that the heads of the 3 services are just as much to blame as the politicians. The British Armed Forces are by far and away too top heavy in terms of the numbers of senior officers and yet to save money the military powers that be never suggest cutting the numbers of Admirals, Generals & Air Marschals to a more relaistic level for what the Britsh Armed Forces have become. They would rather see the numers of front line staff, ships and regiments cut before they even contemplate suggesting the unthinkable (to them.) I believe that the Government even suggested that a way to save some of the titles was to downsize from Regiment to Battalion (or reduce the manning levels of battalions) but the head of the Army refused. I don't know the numbers money wise but I think you could slash those senior officers by 50% and make a huge saving without affecting the running of the Armed Forces, by using senior Captains/Colonels etc to take up those roles.

Fritz Albrecht was indeed a commander of Pz.Art.Rgt GD. In April 1942 it was Jauer, followed by Oberst Reinke and Albrecht took over from him. I don't have many details for Reinke except a date of 1st December 1942 and it is possible he was transferred out on this date. I have seen a citation with Röckner's signature on it dated for the 2nd July 1944 and in the position of the Rgt Commander. It is possible that Röckner was just a Rgt-Führer rather then Kommandeur but as mentioned, I have yet to get that far in my research so can't confirm. And the same for Hauptmann Plange, on a citation dated for 17th July 1944 in the position of Nachr.Abt Kommandeur. The names & citations appear in either (or both in the case of names) Scott Pritchett's 3 GD volumes and Helmuth Spaeter's 3 Volume GD History. As for the other question, I mentioned that the Third Reich Document section was where such things were posted but if you meant actual different forums then the only ones I can think of are http://www.forum-der...ht.de/index.php and http://forum.axishistory.com/

Thanks for the attempt at the name. In my research into the GD officer database I am only up to the end of 1943/early 1944 so far (and it is far from complete) so as of this moment I don't know who held those positions in 1945. I know that by July 1944 the commander of the Pz.Art.Rgt GD was Major Röckner who was an Oberstleutnant by December 1944. Again, in July 1944 the commander of the Nachr.Abt was Hauptmann Plange. With regrads to the section for personel research etc then it is usually the Third Reich Documentation section. The only mention of the 1944 DAL with reference to Oberleutnante that I've been able to find is in the thread as the DAL 1.5.43. You could try contacting Glenn J as he is the owner of the DAL May 1944.

7) 13./Infanterie Rgt GD 1 (Pz.Gren.Rgt GD) April to at least Oct 1942

6) Ersatz Abt Schnelle Truppen Ersatz Brigade (mot.) Großdeutschland Nov 1942 - Seemingly a common signature and always seems to be associated with this unit but I have so far failed to identify it.

5) Stab/Pz.Rgt GD Aug 1943 - Regimental Adjutant

4) 13./Infanterie Rgt Großdeutschland 1 (Pz.Gren.Rgt GD) Sept 1942

3) 13./Infanterie Rgt GD Sept 1939 to at least Jan 1940 - as an early Kompanie Kdr (with rank of Hauptmann) I thought this one would of been mentioned somewhere but so far I have drawn a blank.

2) 3./Pz.Gren.Rgt GD Dec 1944

OK, some more and all these are Großdeutschland related and would be of great help both for additions to this database and also in my efforts to compile a database of officers who served with GD... 1) 12./Pz.Gren.Rgt GD Sept 1944 - Believe it says Freiherr von Wesenhausen but confirmation &/or additional details appreciated.

Welcome to GMIC and any and all help you can provide the members will always be much appreciated. Thanks for the names. Just so I am on the right track: Regiment-Führer of Grenadier Rgt 184 in late 1943 = Hans Michaelis (RK & DKiG) (Ost Medal) Gren.Rgt 254 of 110 ID and dated for early 1944 = Deert Reeder (RK, DKiG & Ehrenblattspange) (Ost Medal) Art.Rgt Stab (mot.) zbV 627. Dated for late 1943 = Weissenbruch

Nice additional images. They could well be a unit photographers images, bought by a soldier and then compiled into a photo album sometime after the war when some of the details might of been a little hazy due to the mists of time. The post-war memorial photos show (I believe) that the album at least belongs to a particular soldier or that it was compiled for a veterens organisation. It is the same with alot of photo albums for sailors who served on the big ships. It is very common to see the same photos appear in numerous KM albums, especially those related to Scharnhorst & Gneisenau with some of them being stills taken from the official newsreel films. Doesn't detract from them though.

It's not just the spelling but the unit designation. 4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenader-Brigade but the document has the incorrect designation of 4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenader-Division.

Firstly, 'Nederland' is spelt incorrectly on the front. Secondly the Nederland division was established in February 1945. In October 1943 4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenader-Brigade was established when the Nederland Legion was upgraded, so for the date shown on the paper the unit designation is totally wrong. Between 4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenader-Brigade and 23 SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division 'Nederland' there was SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade 'Nederland' so all in all I have my doubts. And I have my doubts about the Hitler signature as well.

I can imagine it isn't an easy album to obtain - decent SS ones rarely are especially those for the ones that fought in a largely unknown theatre. Don't worry about hijacking the thread, feel free to post whatever examples you wish.

Generalleutnant Walther Risse. Born: 13th Dec 1892 Died: 21st Jun 1965 Kommandeur II.Ersatz-Bataillon / Infanterie-Regiment 37 Kommandeur Infanterie-Regiment 474 Kommandeur 225.Infanterie-Division RK - 22nd Sep 1941 / EL - 18th Jan 1945 DKiG - 30th Sep 1944 Image: EK II Citation

Konteradmiral Joachim Lietzmann. Born: 01 Sep 1894 Died: 19 Sep 1959 Highest rank reached: Vizeadmiral Marineattache Tokyo Chef d. Stabes Stab Admiral West Chef d. Stabes Stab Kommandierender Admiral Frankreich Befehlshaber Ausbildungsverband d. Flotte Küstenbefehsh. pomm, Küste Kommandierender Admiral Adria Admiral z.b,V Südost DKiG - 06 Jan 1945 Image: HSF Badge citation

Very interesting images. Do they belong to a specific soldier (i.e. private photos) or are they the type taken by a unit photographer and then sold to the soldiers?

I have had this EK II citation for a fair while (at least 4 years) and originally bought it as at the time I didn't have a signature of Erich Bey, For that reason I was pleased to get it but never really bothered to check the possible background for it. Then a few days ago I was going through my citation folders and saw it again and wondered if it would be possible to figure out what it was awarded for. Checking http://www.german-navy.de/ there is a brief mention of a particular operation but no dates so checking another site I was able to confirm that it is a high probability that the citation was awarded to Leutnant z.See Burmeister from the destroyer Z30 for Operation Sizilien which was the small Naval raid against Spitzbergen and marked the only time that Tirpitz fired her main armament in anger which occured just 8 days before the awarding of this citation. (Taken from... http://www.bismarck-...ersizilien.html )... Two hundred & forty kilometers (150 miles) north of Bear Island and 640 kilometers (400 miles) north of Kåfjord and North Cape, the most northerly point of Norway and the Continent of Europe, is South Cape, the most southerly point of the island of Spitzbergen. A bleak island which before the war had some 3,000 inhabitants, Norwegian and Russian, whose livelihood had been coal mining, its inhabitants had been evacuated by the Allies in August 1941 and the mines smashed. A month later the Germans had set up a weather reporting station on the island. A rival Norwegian station had been established in the summer of 1942 and the Germans had been forced to evacuate their weathermen by submarine.On 6 September 1943 squadron consisting of Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and 9 destroyers (Erich Steinbrinck, Karl Galster, Hans Lody, Theodor Riedel, Z27, Z29, Z30, Z31, Z33) weighed anchor in Altenfjord and Kåfjord and headed for Spitzbergen. The objective was to attack the enemy base on Spitzbergen. The mission was codenamed Operation "Sizilien". At dawn on 8 September 1943 Tirpitz and Scharnhorst opened fire with their main armament against the two 3 in guns which comprised the defences of Barentsburg and the destroyers ran inshore with landing parties. Before noon it was all over. Some prisoners had been taken, a supply dump destroyed, the wireless station wrecked and the landing parties had returned on board. The German ships returned safely to Altenfjord and Kåfjord 9 September 1943 at 1730 . For the only time in her existence Tirpitz had fired her main armament offensively at low trajectory. Although those on board were not to know it, Tirpitz had carried out her last operation. In the 14 months remaining to her, she was to be nothing but a target for attack.

I have 2 questions with regards to the archive having never used it before. Firstly, would it upload a file/database compiled on an Excel Spreadsheet, and secondly if I was to post a file (of any format) is there a facility that allows me to edit that post so I can remove an old file and replace it with a more updated version as and when needed? I ask as I am currently working on a large name/position Excel Spreadsheet database of officers who served with Inf.Rgt Großdeutschland (and subsequent designations) down to Kompanie and even, where possible, Zugführer level. It isn't ready for posting as there is still a fair amount of work to do on it but with such an undertaking it will probably always be a work in progress as new names are discovered and added/amended/deleted etc so if I did post it (and I do intend to share the database when the time is right) on X Day would I be able to replace it on Z Day having found some new entries since the original version was posted?

Hauptmann Herbert-Albin Nöbel Born: 07 Mar 1906 Died: 25 Oct 1942 - KIA North Africa Highest rank reached: Major Chef 5./Grenz-Infanterie-Regiment 125 Chef 10./Infanterie Regiment 125 Stab I/Pz.Grenadier-Rgt 125 Image: Wehrpass

Oberst Friedrich Rabsilber Born: 9th Jul 1879 Died: 13th Jun 1949 Highest rank reached: Generalmajor Wehrbezirkskommando Osnabrück

Hauptmann Hinrich Warrelmann. Born: 26th April 1904 Died: 9th October 1980 Highest rank reached: Generalmajor Chef 12.(MG)/Infanterie Rgt 37 Kdr II/Infanterie Rgt 37 Kdr MG Btl 2 Lehrgruppenkommandeur an der Offiziersschule Myslowitz (Prag) Kdr Grenadier Rgt 502 Führer 179.Infanterie Division Führer 272. Volksgrenadier Division Kdr 183.Volksgrenadier Division RK - 16th Apr 1944 / EL - 19th Aug 1944 DKiG - 28th Feb 1942 Ehrenblattspange - 27th Feb 1944 Image: Wehrpass

Leutnant Günther Hummel. 2./Pz.Aufkl.Abt Großdeutschland DKiG - 20th Aug 1943 Image: GD Wehrpass