hucks216

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

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