Jump to content
News Ticker
  • I am now accepting the following payment methods: Card Payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal
  • Latest News

    Recommended Posts

    Posted

    Hi

    I would just like to show you all a few scans of my new small FJ group that pitched up on my doorstep today. The poor guy was transferred from LW Flak to FJ in 1944, only to be wounded to the head and lose an eye. This is my first soldbuch so I am interested in your comments.

    Posted (edited)

    He served with Fallsch.Pz.Jag,Abt.5 of the 5.Fallsch.Jag.Div and then Fallsch.Pz.Jag.Abt 3 of the 3.Fallsch.Jag.Div in 1944 all active in Normandy.

    Edited by devonrex2003
    • 4 weeks later...
    Posted (edited)

    Hi

    I would just like to show you all a few scans of my new small FJ group that pitched up on my doorstep today. The poor guy was transferred from LW Flak to FJ in 1944, only to be wounded to the head and lose an eye. This is my first soldbuch so I am interested in your comments.

    What a great 5. Fallschirmj?ger-Division soldbuch and document group! The soldbuch photo was obviously taken after Horn's wound: look at his left eye and the obvious damage to his adjacent hairline.

    Prior to transferring to the paras, Otto Horn?s last Flak unit was 4./leichte Flak-Abteilung 731, formed from 2./ leichte Flak-Abteilung 726 in the summer of 1943 and part of Flak-Regiment 85, under 5. Flak-Brigade, headquartered in the Breton city of Rennes. 5. Flak-Brigade?s HQ moved to N?mes in February 1944 and then to Orange in March 1944. FR85 was based in Tarascon.

    Fallschirm-Panzerj?ger-Abt 5 was formed in Reims in March 1944 and Obergefreiter Horn arrived there on 20.4.1944. Just under a month later, he was sent to Fallschirmschule 1. Whoever filled in the entry did not specify which Schulerkompanie Horn joined but it was probably 5. Schulerkompanie, based at Dreux. The Parachute Training Companies of Parachute Training School 1 were based at several airfields around France, including Orange, which may be where Horn first met the Fallschirmj?ger. On the other hand, he may just have been told to volunteer!

    IPB ImageIPB ImageIPB Image

    As you can see from the above documents, Obergefreiter Walter Barth was another former NCO recruited from the Flak for 5. FD. Note that, like your man Horn, Barth wears a cloth FSA (Fallschirmsch?tzenabzeichen) in the photo on his Parachute Licence. Note, too, the special award document for the cloth version of the Parachutist Badge. Barth passed his jump course at Dreux and was posted to Fallschirm-Sanit?ts-Abt 5, which was of course part of 5. Fallschirmj?ger-Division.

    Horn arrived back at Fallschirm-Panzerj?ger-Abt 5 on 13.6.1944. The unit was destroyed along with most of 5. FJD in Normandy. Horn was obviously severely wounded, evacuated and ended up in hospital in Prague, where the medical officer filling out his Wound Badge documents appears to have been rather confused. He places Horn in I./Fallschirmj?ger-Rgt 15, which is feasible as Horn could have been attached to FJR15 during the Normandy fighting. FJR15 fought with 17. SS-Panzer-Grenadier-Division and was effectively destroyed in August 1944.

    There again, perhaps Horn found himself retreating with surviving elements of FJR15. Any chance of seeing some more pages of the soldbuch? Administratively, he ended up with a depot unit, probably on light duties with a bit of instruction of recruits thrown in but he was clearly in a bad way, as the document from G?tersloh, issued in September 1945, shows as he was back in hospital again as a result of epilepsy brought on by his head wound.

    Again, wonderful group! And I love the total mess the medical officer makes of Horn?s unit! One sees this kind of thing from time to time, particularly in the case of Wound Badge documents filled out by doctors who were really civilians in uniform and did not know or care much about military bureaucracy.

    PK

    Edited by PKeating
    Posted

    Devonrex!

    That is definately a one of a kind grouping! :love: Wow. I noticed that both the gold and silver wound badges have the same date. I wonder if he actually received both badges? I think that the loss of an eye was grounds for a WB in silver.

    Very nice!

    Posted (edited)

    Many thanks for the comments guys, this is my first soldbuch so I am just finding my way around and not sure which bits would be of interest? But just let me know if there are specific pages you would like to see.

    Edited by devonrex2003
    Posted

    If anybody could tell me anymore about the pages I am posting please feel free to chip in with your info and comments :P

    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now
    ×
    ×
    • Create New...

    Important Information

    We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.