hucks216

Hauptmann Helmuth Wegelein. Highest rank reached: Oberst Chef 14./Infanterie-Regiment 17 Kdr III/Grenadier Regiment 17 Kdr Grenadier Rgt 17 Ehrenblattspange - 17th Oct 1943 DKiG - 1st Jun 1944 Image: Wehrpass

Oberst Hugo Gustav Adolf Ribstein Born: 18th Feb 1891 Died: 26th Dec 1941 - died due to an illness at home in Halberstadt Highest rank reached: Generalmajor Kdr III/Infanterie-Regiment 11 Kdr Infanterie-Regiment 12 Kdr 81.Infanterie-Division

Oberleutnant Franz Müntefering. Staffelkapitän 7./NJG-1 Image: LW Soldbuch - entry dated 1st June 1940

Oberleutnant Hans-Joachim Witzleb Born: 15 Sep 1919 Died: 03 Jan 1973 I/NJG 3 4./NJG 1 III/NJG 1 7./NJG 1 Staffelkapitän 7./NJG 1 7./NJG 1 6 Aerial Victories

SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Uhden. Born: 24th March 1919 Died: 1st April 1945 - KIA 10./LSSAH Chef 11./SS-Pol.Inf.Rgt 3 SS-Pz.Rgt 5 Kdr SS-Pz.Ers.Abt Image: SS Soldbuch

SS-Obersturmführer Herbert Valtin. Born: 29th May 1915 Died: 20th December 1941 - KIA at Nikolajewka Highest rank reached: SS-Hauptsturmführer. OO SS-Totenkopf-Infanterie-Regiment 3 Chef 2./SS-Infanterie Regment 10 Image: SS Soldbuch

SS-Hauptsturmführer Otto Spanka. Born: 19th October 1912 Died: 29th July 1942 Chef 7./SS-Totenkopf-Infanterie-Regiment 2 Kdr III/SS-Infanterie Rgt (mot.) 9 DKiG - 28th Feb 1942. Image: SS Soldbuch

SS-Obersturmführer Josef Lindthaler. Born: 9th August 1910 Highest rank reached: At least SS-Hauptsturmführer. IVa SS-Infanterie Rgt (mot.) 9 HWL Danzig Image: SS Soldbuch

Ha.S.Flo could well mean Hafenschutz Flotille which were harbour defence units of which there were very many... http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/HafeschutzFlottillen/Gliederung.htm I can't make out a location on the back of the card but I think Pfingsten is a Public Holiday in Germany.

I think such things as cellphones and emails have been a great invention but I would be interested to see as a social experiment how people would cope today if they were withdrawn and it was back to the reliance of snailmail and suchlike for an extended period of time, especially those who have no or little experience of life without such modern methods of communication. I remember, not so long ago really - in the last 20 years anyway - when we used to deploy on 7 month operations (I'm ex-Royal Navy) and the only contact with those at home was postal mail. Periods between mail drops could be anything from a few days to 3 weeks (and sometimes even more if the mail to the ship was directed to the wrong destination, i.e. ship is in Dakar, Senegal while the incoming mail was sent to Dakha, Pakistan!) But now those on deployments start griping if the email connection is offline for more then 24 hours and if the ship ever goes to within 10 miles of a coastline then numerous people suddenly appear on the upperdeck with mobile phone in hand.

He did have some very nice pieces, as did Hermann Historica on his last auction (every bit of the Gordon Gollob paperwork sold including all his high-end formal citations). I particularly liked the prelim citations for Teddy Suhren's Oakleaves and Oakleaves & Swords awards on Thies's auction. I know how you feel when hoping to sneak something through although I had a bit of luck on the last Hermann Historica post-auction sales when I managed to pick up a Großdeutschland wehrpass, soldbuch, dogtag and grave photo to a soldier who was not only an original member of GD but was also in one of the 3 main units (Infanterie-Lehr-Rgt) used to form GD and it looks like he was one of the soldiers involved in Operation NIWI on 10th May 1940. I only had a single image to go on so had to take a chance on it being all ok and I had a niggle in the back of my mind thinking "Well, if it is all ok then why hasn't it sold?" but thankfully it was. He was KIA in late 1943 (still with GD) and I managed to get it all for the equivalent of £305 which I thought was abit of a bargain as GD SB+WP combinations aren't seen too often.

I wish! I was waiting for it to be listed in the post-auction sales so I could pick it up for a bargain 300 Euros!! It was Andreas Thies who had it listed on his latest auction. Judging from the images in the catalogue the SB didn't seem to have many entries but if the money was available I can't imagine many turning it down. I have no idea what it sold for - if it did in fact sell. I would of imagined that somewhere like the museum at Münster would of gone for something like this considering as I think it is them that have his tunics on display.

I have been able to identify two signatures in the Soldbuch, those belonging to Paul Engber who was KIA in March 1945 at Pfaffenheck (which is near Koblenz and is the present day location of the 6 SS-Gebirgsjäger Division 'Nord' Memorial Site) and Martin Braune. Neither won any high end awards but I always enjoy identifying the signatures in Wehrpasse & Soldbucher, especially if it turns up a winner of the Ehrenblattspange, DKiG, RK or higher or a name of note.

Being with 'Nord' he spent most of the war in the far north of the Russian Front but along with the rest of the division he would of taken part in its transfer to Germany (via Denmark) in December 1944 and its participation in Operation Nordwind which was the last major German offensive on the Western Front. After the failure of this offensive 'Nord' continued to face American troops around Trier & Koblenz and during these actions, SS-Rottenführer Heinrich Dannenberg received bullet wounds and was sent to a Lazarett. It may well be that he was entitled to the Wound Badge after this but it was never entered in the SB for whatever reason.

Unit Pages...

A recent addition to the collection is this Soldbuch to a soldier who joined the SS in 1941 and served with 6 SS-Nord Division for the remaining 4 years of the war, serving the entire time in that division's Flak-Abteilung (and 3./SS-Panzerjäger Abt 6 which the 3./SS-Flak-Abt 6 evolved into during the latter stages of the war), and finishing the war with the rank of SS-Rottenführer. He didn't win many awards (just 2 are entered) but one of them was the Heeres-Flak-Abzeichen which is a scarce entry to see in SS-Soldbucher. The photo in the SB was removed (a not uncommon occurrence) but there is a small portrait photo that came with the SB that 'could' be Dannenberg. It fits the vacated photo area very nicely so it is possible that the original photo in the SB was a duplicate of the one shown.

Eastry is in Kent, not Norfolk. Beil's aircraft was escorting a large raid (250 aircraft) that was approaching Dover at 1pm when it was engaged by 5 RAF squadrons. Before ZG-2, Lorenz Beil was an original pilot of 3./ZG-52

SS-Hauptsturmführer Martin Braune. Born: 6th Mar 1910 Died: 28th Apr 1967 Highest rank reached: SS-Sturmbannführer SS-Krad-Erk.Zug/SS-Kav.Rgt 1 Chef 3./SS-Flak.Abt 6 Chef 2./SS-Flak.Abt 6 Kdr Flak.Abt 17 Image: Soldbuch

SS-Obersturmführer Paul Engber. Born: 23rd Dec 1915 Died: 15th Mar 1945 at Pfaffenheck. Highest rank reached: SS-Hauptsturmführer 2./SS-Flak.Abt 2 Chef 2./SS-Flak.Abt 6 Chef 3./SS-Pz.Jäg.Abt 6 Image: Soldbuch

Hauptmann Kurt Gierga. Born: 3rd Mar 1909 Died: 25th Jun 1961 Highest rank reached: Major Chef 1./Pz.Rgt 5 Chef 5./Pz.Rgt 5 Kdr s.Pz.Abt 509 Ritterkreuz - 30th Jun 1941 DKiG - 2nd Mar 1944 Image: Wehrpass

Here is a brief description of the events on September 2nd - I'd say that ZG-2 were on escort duties.. This day saw an acceleration of the Luftwaffe’s attempt at wiping out the RAF’s strength, particularly that of 11 Group, the airfields of which were under continuous attack. Early that morning several groups of 30 plus aircraft were forming up behind Calais. These groups turned into one large formation of 100 aircraft, split roughly between fighters and bombers. They were soon flying across the Channel where they split up into small groups again going for individual targets. These turned out to be Eastchurch, Rochford, North Weald and Biggin Hill. 11 Group succeeded in getting 5 squadrons into position where they could intercept. Some attacks were from high flying aircraft while others were from low flying aircraft, the latter being very difficult to detect. Early in the afternoon a group of some 250 aircraft crossed the south coast and then broke up into smaller groups. Amongst the targets which were attacked was Debden which was very heavily damaged. In the mid afternoon a third group formed up over Calais, mounting to 250 aircraft. Once again being half bombers and half fighters. They then crossed the Channel and spread widely over Kent. Raids were sent yet again to Biggin Hill, Kenley and Brooklands. Damage was also caused to Eastchurch and Hornchurch. But at Hornchurch the interception by 11 Group squadrons was so successful that only some six bombs fell within the perimeter of the airfield. Maidstone was heavily bombed. Industrial targets were also hit namely the Vickers factory at Brooklands and the Short Brothers factory at Rochester. Finally, a little after 5 pm the fourth raid of the day developed. This raid concentrated on Eastchurch and Detling. Eastchurch received two attacks where severe damage was done where some 5 aircraft were destroyed on the ground together with considerable damage being done to the airfield’s communications. Eastchurch was made unusable. That day Fighter Command had lost 25 aircraft to the Luftwaffe’s 35. 8 RAF pilots had been killed. (Source: http://battleofbritainblog.com/category/september-1940/page/3/ )

6./ZG-2 stands for 6 Staffel (or Squadron to use the English equivalent) of Zestoerergeschwader 2. I have a book about the Me-110 and its units in 1940 so will have a look in there to see if it can shed anymore light of what ZG-2 were up to on that day when I return home tomorrow. As for empty/full, it is hard to say without more details. An empty fuel tank can be more dangerous then a full one as an empty (or nearly empty) one contains more fuel vapour which is very volatile, but I'm sure there are plenty of things on an armed aircraft that can cause an explosion.

Finally, his Lazarett pages and also his awards - KvK II & I Kl mit Schwertern & the Ost Medal.

Personal details & Units. He served with Verpflegungsamt 4 up until at least 16th Oct 1942 (verified by a slip of paper in the SB for the issue of a pistol with that units FpNr) but obviously managed to leave that unit before it was destroyed at Stalingrad.

A fairly recent addition to my collection is this soldbuch to Stabszahlmeister Alfred Lehmann...