Heer Wehrmacht research question

[RedMaestro]

Though I am very familiar with researching Soviet soldiers and their awards, I am completely clueless about researching their Wehrmacht enemies. So to those far more knowledgeable I ask this (perhaps basic) question: If I have the unit and rank of a Wehrmacht officer and the date on which he was KIA, would it be possible to find his name and other information about him?

Thanks,

Alex

[hucks216]

'Needle and haystack' sprint to mind I'm afraid. There are organisations such as WASt that provide details on KIA/MIA German soldiers (although usually only to next of kin) but they would need the name and probably date of birth. Volksbund provide an online database for those KIA/MIA but again, you need at least a surname to obtain details of where & when he was born & killed. Maybe there is something in one of the archives in Germany & USA for his unit that can provide some sort of clue but that could be very time consuming and could have no end result for your efforts.

[Global Research]

I have been researching 6 Wehmacht soldiers from WWII for the last 6 months. I have found the Bundesarchiv extremely helpful. WASt like the otherposter stated usually deals with families, but with the last name and a writtenauthorization from the family I have found them extremely helpful. Wish I couldhelp more. The Bundesarchiv should have a list of the unit and its officers itmay then only a slight possibility through the process of elimination you couldget several names and move on from there.

Donald (Don) Mounts

www.getglobalresearch.com

[RedMaestro]

Thanks for the advice, gentlemen! I asked because a fellow forum member and Soviet collector recently researched a Soviet award, and the citation mentioned the unit and ranks of several Wehrmacht officers the recipient killed in an ambush. Such detail is uncommon (usually citations read something like "Comrade X killed Y Hitlerites"), so I thought it might be possible to complete the story from a German perspective. Unfortunately this project looks too complicated, time-consuming, and potentially fruitless for me to pursue. Perhaps a project for another day.

Thanks again,

Alex