hucks216

1938

Hauptmann Karl-Friedrich Müller

Born: 12 May 1920

12./LG-1

1./LG-1

Staffelkapitän 10./LG-1

DKiG: 06 Sep 1943

Ehrenpokal: 12 Oct 1942

Major Eugen Bilharz

Born: 06 Aug 1886

Died: 08 Dec 1963

Highest rank reached: Generalmajor

Feldzeugkommando III

Feldzeugkommando II

Kdr Feldkommandantur 996

(Thanks to Dave Danner for identifying the signature)

Thanks for that Dave. I don't think I would of got that in a million years, especially with just the signature to go on.

Can anyone help me in identifying this signature please - dated for April 1933 with the rank of Major and Kommandeur of II/Inf.Rgt 14.

Hauptmann Joachim Helbig

Born: 10 Sep 1915

Died: 05 Oct 1985

Highest rank reached: Oberst

II(K)/LG-1

4./LG-1

Staffelkapitän 4./LG-1

Kdr I/LG-1

Stab General der Kampfflieger

General der Kampfflieger und Inspektor RLM (provisional)

Kommodore LG-1

RK: 24 Nov 1940 

EL: 16 Jan 1942

Schw: 28 Sep 1942

Hauptmann Iro Ilk

Born: 18 Oct 1919

Died: 25 Sep 1944 - KIA

Highest rank reached: Major

LKS 10

3./LG-1

2./LG-1

Staffelkapitän 2./LG-1

Staffelkapitän 10./LG-1

JG-300

Kdr III/JG-300

Stab I/JG-300

Stab III/JG-300

Kills - 9 or 10 (incl 5 night)

RK: 21 Oct 1942

DKiG: 02 Apr 1942

Ehrenpokal: 23 Aug 1943

Information Source: Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries by Larry deZeng & Douglas Stankey

Based purely on the initials (I'm no good at recognising faces) it could be Hans-Georg Borck who won the RK on 23rd November 1943 in 3./Pz.Pi.Btl 209 of 11.Pz.Division. He won the DKiG with the same unit in March 1943.

The Waffenfarbe in the photo does look black which would fit with a Pionier unit.

Hauptmann Ernst-Wilhelm Ihrig

Born: 27 Jul 1915

Died: MIA 30 Nov 1942 on mission to Rzhev Salient

II/KG-3

Staffelkapitän 3./KG-3

Kdr II/KG-3

RK: 14 Aug 1941

It is surprisingly easy to find if you use the Kobylisy Metro station to visit the asassination spot. Even though it is in a different direction it is worth taking an extra 45 minutes out of your day to visit the spot, you are in the area anyway if you visit the Heydrich spot. If snyone wants easy directions if they plan to visit just drop me a line and I'd be happy to help.

Once a year (or sometimes twice) I head to Prague and while this tends to be just a convenient meeting up point before a few of us head elsewhere for a few days (Poland, Germany or Austria), at least one day is spent seeking out spots with relevance to WW-2. Some of these spots are well known and fairly easy to find (the Anthropoid related crypt or Gestapo HQ for example) while others are off the tourist trails and probably rarely visited. 

One location that fits the latter description of being rarely visited is the Kobylisy shooting range, or execution grounds to use its other name. The Metro station at Kobylisy is actually the closest one to the spot where Reinhard Heydrich was assassinated so people who use that station leave it and head there but if they headed in a different direction the execution ground is just a 15-20 minute walk away, and very easy to find.

Originally the shooting ranges date back to the times of the Austro-Hungarian Empire being set up in 1889 and after the fall of that empire they were subsequently used by the Czechoslovakian Army before the war.

In bygone years it used to be located outside the city but now it is within the city limits and is now hidden away and overlooked by Soviet built apartment blocks. 

The Germans decided to use the shooting ranges as an execution ground and as such over 550 people were murdered there - the youngest name found on the memorial plates was just 15 and the last execution took place on 7th May 1945. According to some literature, there used to be a stables on the ground and this would be where those awaiting their turn were kept before being marched out to be shot. The stables is no longer there but the location still resembles a shooting range with one end open and high banks on the other three sides to stop the bullets and ricochets. At the far end of the range is a black & white memorial mosaic which represents bodies. You can see that area in the distance in the image above and below.

On one of the ranges a tree now grows but on the other there is a memorial statue and a large cross.

Facing the statue is a long memorial panel listing the names of those who were executed on the grounds. Among the many names listed are such people as Alois Elias who was the Prime Minister and was the only European Premier executed in this way. Another name is Lt-Colonel Josef Masin who was one of the 'Three Kings' resistance group.  Also listed is Bishop Gorazd and the Church officials who took responsibility for hiding the SOE agents in the crypt of the Cathedral in Prague ( see my previous thread: Anthropoid - Prague 2017 ) and who were executed on 4th September 1942.

On one occasion 5 members of one family was executed there and again, these are linked to the death of Heydrich. As I am sure you know, one of the reprisals for Heydrich's killing was the total destruction of the village of Lidice. The Germans didn't just wipe the village out in terms of destroying the buildings but they also made every effort to kill all the occupants. Those not present at the village when it was destroyed were hunted down and one family that had been arrested before the destruction of Lidice were executed at Kobylisy and in total 26 people from Lidice who hadn't been there on the day were executed at the shooting range.

As mentioned, it is a site that is tucked out of the way but one that is fairly easy to find with just a minimum of prior planning and I would say that it is worth going to see.

Major Pius Hodapp

Born: 01 Jul 1907

Died: 20 Nov 1942 - KIA at Rzhev

Kp-Chef 10/Inf.Rgt 35

Inf.Rgt 195

Kdr II/Inf.Rgt 195

DKiG: 14 Feb 1942

That would make more sense.

Is there any chance of a higher resolution scan of just the cuff title area?

Can't say I've seen one like that - is it ST, SG or GG and then -P.....?

You see all sorts of notes, letters and documents from time to time, it's nothing unusual and just depends on what has been part of the group and has been put together either by the family or a previous collector.

His name looks like Heinrich Coutier. The initial on the front cover of the Wehrpass will confirm if his surname starts with a C or G but it looks like a C to me.

Einsatz Osten, Nordabschnitt

Einsatz Kampfraum Aachen (Rgt Trier)

Last 6 sections of page 12:

1) Gren.Ers.u.A.Btl 120 (Grenadier-Ersatz und Ausbildungs-Bataillon 120)

2) Alarm-Regiment Tried

3) abbreviations as per #1

4) Marsch-Kompanie and then abbreviations as per #1

5) 6./Grenadier-Regiment von H____

(Stellungs-Kampfgruppe XII/1)

6) 6./Grenadier-Regiment 73

As for his name, can you also show his signature on page 2, his parents names on page 3 and his signature on page 1. It can all help.

Not sure if this is of much help but it is his Kartei as held at NARA and has a couple of evaluations on it. No idea about the recordings though:

Major Hans-Detlev Chrapkowski

Born: 29 Oct 1911

Kp-Chef 2./Sturm.Pi.Btl 43

Kdr Pi.Btl Grossdeutschland

DKiG: 28 May 1944

5 hours ago, turtle said:

The issue of captured firearms of all kind to german soldiers durig WWII is a really interesting topic, in my opinion!

 

Please feel free to start a separate thread on the topic - it will be interesting to see the scale and scope of foreign weapons issued.

Thanks for the extra additions to this thread - Oflag IIC seems to have a fair bit of information on the internet including a list of 6,000 Polish PoW's and information on a prisoner Olympics in 1944.

Good point, you do tend to see a wide variety of foreign weapons. The naval guard in my original post was issued a Bulgarian rifle (possibly a Mannlicher M1895):

General der Panzertruppe Rudolf Schmidt

Born: 12 May 1886

Died: 07 Apr 1957

Highest rank reached: Generaloberst

Kdr 1.Pz.Division

Kdr XXXIX.Armeekorps

Fhr 2.Armee

Kdr 2.Pz.Armee

Openly critical of the direction of the war in 1943 and whose brother was convicted of treason, Schmidt was sentenced to a mental institution. Captured by the Russians in 1947 he spent 8 years in Soviet PoW camps.

RK: 03 Jun 1940  EL: 10 Jul 1941

Generaloberst Nikolaus von Falkenhorst

Born: 17 Jan 1885

Died: 18 Jun 1968

Kdr XXI.Armeekorps

Kdr Armee Norwegen

Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Norwegen

RK: 30 Apr 1940

DKiS: 20 Jan 1945

Oberstleutnant Heinrich Dorn

Born: 11 Aug 1897

Died: 15 Jul 1956

Highest rank reached: Oberst

Kdr Grenadier-Rgt 7

RK: 16 Nov 1944