Heer Death Card

[dante]

Death Card.....welcome any help on researching him, thanks, Paul

[dante]

Death Card.....welcome any help on researching him, thanks, Paul

2

[PKeating]

Can't find the name "Hatheier" anywhere. Not listed in the German War Graves files. Nor does a Google search turn up such a name. Anyone got a German telephone directory to see if this name exists?

PK

[dante]

Can't find the name "Hatheier" anywhere. Not listed in the German War Graves files. Nor does a Google search turn up such a name. Anyone got a German telephone directory to see if this name exists?

PK

Cheers PK, nice to see an ex 10 para helping an ex 10 para

[PKeating]

Sent you an e-mail! Just confirmed that Hatheier does indeed exist. I must have been groggily typing it when I checked.

PK

[PKeating]

And...here he is:

Nachname: Hatheier

Vorname: Josef

Dienstgrad: Gefreiter

Geburtsdatum: 16.05.1924

Geburtsort: Altheim

Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 13.09.1944

Todes-/Vermisstenort: Praga-Warschau

Josef Hatheier konnte im Rahmen unserer Umbettungsarbeiten nicht geborgen werden.

Die vorgesehene ?berf?hrung zum Sammelfriedhof in Warszawa-Nord (Polen) war somit leider nicht m?glich.

Sein Name wird im Gedenkbuch des Friedhofes verzeichnet.

Now you know his DoB, PoB and where he died. It would appear that he was a casualty of the Warsaw Uprising, which lasted from 1.8.1944 to 2.10.1944. There was fierce fighting in Warsaw's Praga district, referred to as Area VI by the Polish Home Army (AK). There are several references to the fighting in the Warsaw suburb of Praga in this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Uprising OK, so it's Wikipedia, but it's a starting point. Praga was where the Soviet Army stopped and waited for the Uprising to be suppressed by the Germans. The Reds reached Praga on 10.9.1944. If Gefreiter Hatheier was KIA on 13.9.1944, as opposed to being wounded earlier and dying on that day, he may have been killed facing Russians or Poles serving in the Soviet Army. By 13.9.1944, the Soviets were in possession of Praga.

He is wearing a Croatian medal. The German force retreating westwards ahead of the Soviet advance through the Praga district was IV. SS-Panzerkorps, which was raised in France in 1943 and served in the Balkans prior to being transferred to the Eastern Front. Josef Hatheier might have been with one of the Heer units attached to this formation. IV. SS-PK's September 1944 ORBAT shows 73. Infanterie-Division: http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliede...onen/73ID-R.htm 73. ID fought in southern Russia and the Crimea and was almost destroyed in Sevastopol in May 1944. It was reformed in Hungary. I'm not saying that Josef Hatheier was with one of 73. ID's infantry or, by 1944, grenadier regiments. I'm just indulging in some conjecture. He might have been with one of the Heer units established in the Praga district before the Soviet onslaught. He wears no other decorations in the photograph, which postdates 1941 and the establishment of Croatia. The lack of a Winter War ribbon suggests that he joined the army after that first winter campaign, which tallies with his DoB. RAD service at 18, followed by military service, would have seen him completing basic training and being transferred to a combat unit at the age of 19, in 1943. He may have received the Croatian award for the Crimea. But as I said, this is just conjecture. You could try some sleuthing work with the German telephone book, searching for Hatheiers around Altheim. There is also an Altheim in Austria.

Good luck.

PK

[dante]

And...here he is:

Now you know his DoB, PoB and where he died. It would appear that he was a casualty of the Warsaw Uprising, which lasted from 1.8.1944 to 2.10.1944. There was fierce fighting in Warsaw's Praga district, referred to as Area VI by the Polish Home Army (AK). There are several references to the fighting in the Warsaw suburb of Praga in this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Uprising OK, so it's Wikipedia, but it's a starting point. Praga was where the Soviet Army stopped and waited for the Uprising to be suppressed by the Germans. The Reds reached Praga on 10.9.1944. If Gefreiter Hatheier was KIA on 13.9.1944, as opposed to being wounded earlier and dying on that day, he may have been killed facing Russians or Poles serving in the Soviet Army. By 13.9.1944, the Soviets were in possession of Praga.

He is wearing a Croatian medal. The German force retreating westwards ahead of the Soviet advance through the Praga district was IV. SS-Panzerkorps, which was raised in France in 1943 and served in the Balkans prior to being transferred to the Eastern Front. Josef Hatheier might have been with one of the Heer units attached to this formation. IV. SS-PK's September 1944 ORBAT shows 73. Infanterie-Division: http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliede...onen/73ID-R.htm 73. ID fought in southern Russia and the Crimea and was almost destroyed in Sevastopol in May 1944. It was reformed in Hungary. I'm not saying that Josef Hatheier was with one of 73. ID's infantry or, by 1944, grenadier regiments. I'm just indulging in some conjecture. He might have been with one of the Heer units established in the Praga district before the Soviet onslaught. He wears no other decorations in the photograph, which postdates 1941 and the establishment of Croatia. The lack of a Winter War ribbon suggests that he joined the army after that first winter campaign, which tallies with his DoB. RAD service at 18, followed by military service, would have seen him completing basic training and being transferred to a combat unit at the age of 19, in 1943. He may have received the Croatian award for the Crimea. But as I said, this is just conjecture. You could try some sleuthing work with the German telephone book, searching for Hatheiers around Altheim. There is also an Altheim in Austria.

Good luck.

PK

PK, outstanding work, many thanks, Paul