Heer Wrappers worn by Veterinarians

[Naxos]

June 1944 in a small Ukrainian village a group of Veterinarians leaving a quarantine horse-barn.

from left to right: Unterveterin?r K?rttner, Divisionsveterin?r Dr. Sch?nian, an unknown Kriegsveterin?r and Stabsveterin?r Dr. Wilner

[Guest Rick Research]

:Cat-Scratch:

WEIRD!!!!!!

This is a really REALLY bizarre photo and the only time I have ever seen veterinarians dressed like Sturmgesch?tz crew members!

:cheers:

[Bear]

Fantastic Photo!

It looks like Stabsveterin?r Dr. Wilner has an EKI, which possibly means he did a little more that his vet duties.

thanks,

barry

[Guest Rick Research]

Wolf Keilig's 1958 mini directory of army generals and Beamten of that level shows a horrifying number of veterinary generals killed or died after the war in Russian captivity.

Seeing them outfitted as combatant officers (I suppose Red Cross protection was not extended to ANIMAL doctors in those days before DEMENTEDLY suicidal unilateral perversion of the Hague Convention's guarantees) explains the first. I have always wondered if the latter category-- POW deaths--was a result of being overworked in that field in the decade after the war.

Schoenian--that spelling, without the Umlaut-- shows on the October 1937 Stellenliste as an Unterveterin?r with II./ Art Rgt 27, 27. Inf Div, VII. AK. In January 1939 he had leaped to Oberveterin?r 01.09.38 #8 on the staff of Wehrbezirk Kommando Dillingen, VIIth Army Corps. Suggesting he was a Bavarian himself.

[Bear]

The French lost an estimated 50,000 horse during the Russian Campaign of 1812. When Napoleon returned to France one of his biggest problems was finding horses to replace all those lost. I imagine that the Germans by 1944 must not have had many horses left(Just a Guess). Maybe the vets were placed in combat positions to fill in the officer ranks.

Some info on horses in WWII

http://warandgame.wordpress.com/2008/02/26...n-army-in-wwii/

Consider the vaunted Wehrmacht, whose pride was the mechanized might of the panzers. When Hitler invaded Russia on June 22, 1941, the German Army had over 750,000 ?hippotrain? (horse-drawn) guns and other vehicles, in contrast to only about 600,000 motor vehicles, including some 3,500 armored fighting vehicles. Aside from the operational limitations that the use of horses and mules imposed on the German Army, they also proved an enormous logistical burden. On average, to feed three horses doing useful work hauling howitzers and such required the services of two more horses to haul their weekly rations of feed and fodder. And since horses and mules are not as sturdy as cars and trucks, during the war on the Eastern front the German Army lost an average of 1,000 horses a day. About 75 percent of these losses were due to combat, 17 percent to heart failure brought on by overwork, and the balance, 8 percent, to diseases, exposure, and starvation. Replacing horses was a major problem. Nevertheless, since the Germans had an inadequate supply of motor vehicles, they continued to rely on horseflesh through the entire war. The total number of horses used by the German armed forces during the war is unknown, but losses appear to have totaled about 2.7 million, nearly double the 1.4 million that were lost in World War I. This includes animals killed for food: Unlike wrecked trucks, dead horses could be eaten, and this was done regularly by Germans and Russians alike.

Edited May 8, 2009 by Bear

[Naxos]

Schoenian--that spelling, without the Umlaut-- shows on the October 1937 Stellenliste as an Unterveterin?r with II./ Art Rgt 27, 27. Inf Div, VII. AK. In January 1939 he had leaped to Oberveterin?r 01.09.38 #8 on the staff of Wehrbezirk Kommando Dillingen, VIIth Army Corps. Suggesting he was a Bavarian himself.

That's him, the Rossarzt

Thanks

[Naxos]

The French lost an estimated 50,000 horse during the Russian Campaign of 1812. When Napoleon returned to France one of his biggest problems was finding horses to replace all those lost. I imagine that the Germans by 1944 must not have had many horses left(Just a Guess). Maybe the vets were placed in combat positions to fill in the officer ranks.

Some info on horses in WWII

http://warandgame.wordpress.com/2008/02/26...n-army-in-wwii/

Consider the vaunted Wehrmacht, whose pride was the mechanized might of the panzers. When Hitler invaded Russia on June 22, 1941, the German Army had over 750,000 ?hippotrain? (horse-drawn) guns and other vehicles, in contrast to only about 600,000 motor vehicles, including some 3,500 armored fighting vehicles. Aside from the operational limitations that the use of horses and mules imposed on the German Army, they also proved an enormous logistical burden. On average, to feed three horses doing useful work hauling howitzers and such required the services of two more horses to haul their weekly rations of feed and fodder. And since horses and mules are not as sturdy as cars and trucks, during the war on the Eastern front the German Army lost an average of 1,000 horses a day. About 75 percent of these losses were due to combat, 17 percent to heart failure brought on by overwork, and the balance, 8 percent, to diseases, exposure, and starvation. Replacing horses was a major problem. Nevertheless, since the Germans had an inadequate supply of motor vehicles, they continued to rely on horseflesh through the entire war. The total number of horses used by the German armed forces during the war is unknown, but losses appear to have totaled about 2.7 million, nearly double the 1.4 million that were lost in World War I. This includes animals killed for food: Unlike wrecked trucks, dead horses could be eaten, and this was done regularly by Germans and Russians alike.

Bear,

during the second World War the Wehrmacht employed about 2.75 million horses and 1.7 million of them became casualties.

Some years ago in Toronto I met a German cavalry veteran, he had tears in his eyes when he said:

"They carried us until they could go no more and when we were starving they fed us"

[Bear]

One tends to forgot the price that animals pay in war.

The Exploits of Baron de Marbot

p. 104/5

Tudela, Spain 1808

During this affair I had a lively quarrel with Labedoyere over the following matter. He had just bought a young and ill broken horse, which at the sound of the cannon reared up and absolutely refused to go on. Labedoyere leaped off in a rage, drew his sword, and hamstrung the poor beast, who fell bleeding on the grass, dragging himself along by his forefeet. I could not contain my indignation, and expressed it to him in strong terms; but Labedoyere took it very ill, and we should have come to blows had we not been in the presence of the enemy. The report of this incident got about in the staff and Marshal Lannes, very angry, declared that he would not have Labedoyere any more among his Aides-de-Camp. The latter, in despair, had seized his pistols to blow out his brains, when our friend de Viry suggested to him that it would be more honourable to seek death in the ranks of the enemy than to inflict it upon himself.

Edited May 9, 2009 by Bear

[Paul R]

That is a great photograph. I would love to see an original tunic with period applied veterinary insignia!

[Glenn J]

An article in the 1979 edition of the Deutsches Soldatenjahrbuch gives some interesting statistics regarding the Wehrmacht veterinary branch:

During the course of the war the active and reserve component of the corps of veterinary officers numbered some 8150 officers. Of these some 1296 (16%) did not survive the war! The article gives a sum of 2,750000 horses deployed during the war and a similar figure to that posted by Naxos of the upper limit of horse fatalities - 1,750000, about 63 %

Regards

Glenn

[bob wirtz]

That is a great photograph. I would love to see an original tunic with period applied veterinary insignia!

I've put photos of my friends SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer of Veterinar tunic from the Deutschland Regiment. Funny thing is that it has an EK2 in the buttonhole but no badge loops. It has ARMY shoulder boards with the gilt metal pip and snake cipher. This was probably a walk out dress tunic and sitting in the closet back home waiting for his return on furlough. Obviously with the EK2, he did something combat-related. Otherwise he would have received the War Merit Cross with Swords. Wearing StuG jackets --- probably just available at the time.

Bob

[bob wirtz]

Here I am standing alongside of my friends SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer of Veterinarian tunic from the Deutschland Regiment. It is in marvelous condition and 100% authentic... no missing or replaced insignia.

Bob

[DonC]

Very nice tunic! It's funny, but of the few legit WSS officer's tunics I have had the opportuntiy to handle, two of the three were Medical and the other was a Veterinary Untersturmführer.

Don

[bob wirtz]

I think that many of the legitimate Waffen-SS officer tunics that are around today were, for the most part, walk out dress, which were left in closets back home and were found by GIs and taken as war booty. Unless the family started cutting off insignia later on, then these were probably in their 100% original condition. I've seen some with other waffenfarben as well.

Bob