Heer 11th Div SS Soldiers Service.

[Henry 24th]

Ok everybody, Lets put this forum to the test and see if, as collectors and researchers we can fill in a few pieces of an historical puzzle. I know certain facts about this mans life and military career. There are questions on the medals he earned, on the uniform he wore, where and against whom he saw action and ultimately where and to whom he surrendered. This is why I would like to have all you collector/researchers involved. Lets have fun.

The first fact I know is that he was assigned to the:

1st Battalion, Panzer Grenadier Regt.23 "Norge", of the

11th Freiwilligen Panzer Grenadier Division "Nordland"

on August 20 1944.

Yes his war was short but colourful - August 20th 1944 to 20th April 1945 (7 months).

And so begins the questions. Check out the great, though tiny photo below. If he was with a grenadier regiment and did earn the Infantry Assault badge, should he not have green piping to his shoulder straps, and which badge would he have earned, the bronze or silver? In the photo the piping appears white (infantry), so I an guessing that his Inf. Sturm Abz. WAS silver? Correct?

The next fact I can write is that he earned some medals in those 7 short months.

EK2 Dec 1944

Nahkampfspange March 1945

Inf Sturm Abz. March 1945

Even though he had a head wound from a training accident there is no mention or evidence of a wound badge ever being issued.

He also earned a few HJ awards but sadly these no longer exist nor do the documents for his war medals. The Inf assault badge is missing as well. What is left I will photograph and post next time. More about his engagement as well. Soviet researchers, get ready, questions for you coming up.

[Henry 24th]

If you look at the photo below where he is standing with his mother, is that a metal cap skull he is wearing on his overseas cap? It certainly does not look cloth.

Penciled on the back is the date 2nd of June 1944, he had not made it to the war yet, transfered from Laurnburg to laibach.

[Simon Orchard]

If he was in 'Norge' when he qualified for his sturmabzeichen then by rights it should have been the panzerkampfabzeichen in Bronze but i can well imagine him getting an IAB of one type or another instead.

You've got a lot of information about this man already, where's it come from?

[Henry 24th]

If he was in 'Norge' when he qualified for his sturmabzeichen then by rights it should have been the panzerkampfabzeichen in Bronze but i can well imagine him getting an IAB of one type or another instead.

You've got a lot of information about this man already, where's it come from?

Hello Simon.

Thank you for the info. Most of the information I have on this man comes from his "interrogation" papers from the US Army. The papers are in both English and german and were filled out by him while in a US POW camp. There are a few other papers with various bits of useful information on them as well that he added to sometime after the war. Some stories (that need to be varified) come from my father, and all the photos come from various family albums as came well as with these papers I mentioned.

He was my uncle and unfortunately, passed away in the 1970's, well before I had any interest.

Does anyone know the date when the 1 Battalions of both 23rd and 24th Regts (Norge and Danmark respectively) were sent back to Wiking (5th SS Div)?

The reason I ask is that the 11th SS Div. ended up smashed in Berlin. My uncle ended up surrendering to the Americans near Vienna.

Any information is appreciated.

[prorege1]

I checked the book by Oluf Krabbe (Danish veteran from the East Front) - it states some core personnel left from the Narva front on 20 June 1944 to Btl I/Danmark, it was the intention they should have returned to Div Nordland/Regiment 24 Danmark after the intended date the Btl I/Danmark would be ready for front duty, this was planned for 15 October 1944, but was delayed. As a result the core personnel never returned to Regiment 24 Danmark because Regiment 24 Danmark in the meantime had been transferred from the Narva front to Kurland. The books states the formation of the Btl I/Norge was arranged simultaneously, so the core personnel for Btl I/Norge probably also left Narva 20 June 1944.

Only by end November 1944, outside Warzawa, two newly formed grenadier batallions I/Rgt 24 Danmark and I/Rgt 23 Norge were added to Div Wiking including the above-mentioned core personnel from div Nordland.

Hope this assists.

[Henry 24th]

My sincerest apologies on the long delay in reply...

Progege1 - you are a Hero of the People!

The information provided was indeed helpful. It would appear that while in 'Festung Modlin' or 'Nassen Dreieck", the orders to transfer from 'Nordland' to 'Wiking" occured. Still tracking down the exact date. In the past month or so I was able to find a little more as well on the events of my uncle. Again I will add the information and questions as we go along.

Off to war.

These are notes translated from his Soldatenzeit.

Aug 20 1944. In Training with SS panzer grenadier Regiment 23 "Norge", SS Ostuf. Raedke, SS Ostubaf. Vogt, Uscha. Muller, Klein, Gerges, SS Uscha. Fisahn, Birger, Olsen.

Nov 24 1944. On stand-by in Hammerstein

Nov 25 1944. After a good trip, arrive in Bugmunde (Poland), two days in Fort Modlin

Nov 27 1944. Starting for Stara-Olschiwitza. Polish district in the wet triangle (Bug-Weichel) Bunker construction at nighttime with Fisahn and Olsen

Dec 20 1944. For my valour in close combat, I was the first in my unit to be recommended for the EK2 (Spotters, Assault troops, elimination of strong points, snipers)

Dec 26 1944. Massive tank assault by the Russians. Many wounded, dead. Peculiar incident

Dec 28 1944. Relieved by the Army, one day rest in Okunin

Dec 29 1944. New Years Eve in the train. Choir singing

Jan 02 1945. Unload at Comorn/ Hungary

Apr 20 1945. Capitulation.

As you can see, there are a lot of holes in his record. The biggest being Jan 02 1945 to April 20 1945 when he surrendered. Much happened over January, February and March and this is what I am trying to find out. In January 1945 he was involved in the 3 seperate relief attempts on Budapest...this is where the bestowal of the IAB and nahkampfspange came from. More later.

HFJ