K.I.A. Wehrpass to 2nd Company, 335th Infantry Regiment, 205th Division in Russia

[dpast32]

KIA to Heer 335 Infantry Regiment, 205th Division in Russia

• Quote

Good Morning Gentleman, I'm attempting to research & document & Fatal Casualty from the 2nd COMPANY, 335TH INFANTRY REGIMENT, 205 INFANTRY DIVISION. HE WAS KIA ON 15 JUNE 1942, NEAR NOWO-NIWY RUSSIA. ( Below is an overall description from where I obtained his Documents. ) If anyone can tell me 'anything' regarding the actual operations going on with Gefreiter Franz Riepertinger's Company / Regiment on or about the date he was killed. I've added all 14 Pages of his Wehrpass, along with 2 Copies of his 'Casualty Card'. [ 1 of which was so kindly provided by our own 'hucks216'. ] I was also advised that his Casualty Card notes that he was killed due to suffering an G.S.W. to Head. ANY comments as to the actions of his 335th Infantry Regiment, on or just prior to 15 June 1942 will be very much appreciated !  And as always, any & all replies will be very much appreciated ! THANK YOU 

 

             ....Best regards,  Dom Pastore Jr. / 'dpast32'

RE:  Item Description:

  Gefreiter Franz Riepertinger in July 1939. After his 6 month RAD service, Riepertinger started his military service with 9/Inf Rgt 689, part of the 337th Inf. Div. serving at the west Demarcation Line. Later Riepertinger served with 2/Inf. Rgt 335, part of the 205th Inf. Div. on the French Coast until February 1942 when it was sent to Witebsk, & March 1942 to Welish.

Gefr. RIEPERTINGER was KIA on 15 JUNE 1942 near NOWO-NIWY [ or NIVY ] RUSSIA. Riepertinger earned the Iron Cross 2nd Class & the Eastern 'Ost Front' Medal

 

 

 

 

 

@ >>> END OF DOCUMENTS

 

  As always, any & all replies will be very much appreciated ! THANK YOU
           Best regards, Dom Pastore Jr. / 'dpast32'

RE:  Item Description:

  Gefreiter Franz Riepertinger in July 1939. After his 6 month RAD service, Riepertinger started his military service with 9/Inf Rgt 689, part of the 337th Inf. Div. serving at the west Demarcation Line. Later Riepertinger served with 2/Inf. Rgt 335, part of the 205th Inf. Div. on the French Coast until February 1942 when it was sent to Witebsk, & March 1942 to Welish.

Gefr. RIEPERTINGER was KIA on 15 JUNE 1942 near NOWO-NIWY [ or NIVY ] RUSSIA. Riepertinger earned the Iron Cross 2nd Class & the Eastern 'Ost Front' Medal

 

 

Edited May 7, 2022 by dpast32

[hucks216]

The first image is the 02-June-1942 Lage Ost map showing 205.ID's location. The second image is a 1943 dated Russian map of the area that 205.ID was situated in with Surash in the bottom left and Welish in the top right (the main hub for the various roadways) and the river Dwina following the main transport road/track between the two main locations and which bisected 205.ID's positions.

 

 

 

 

 

And just down from Welish is a place called Niwy although whether this is the place he was killed is far from certain as a few places have the word 'Niwy' in their name. You will need to find the location of the regiment itself to see where they were.

 

 

Edited May 8, 2022 by hucks216

[hucks216]

And this is the area as it looks today with Welish (Velizh) to the top right (Ssurash (now Suraz) is just off the map in a SW direction.

 

 

Edited May 8, 2022 by hucks216

[dpast32]

And, I THANK YOU AGAIN My Friend !! Your very kind Replies are definitely much appreciated ! At least now, between the various Maps you provided for me, I now have an quite precise location of the area in question. As you're already aware, trying to determine where anything was, or is in Russia these days is an ordeal to say the least ! I've been attempting to find any topic related publications relative to both the location, the units, & of course the time frame, yet haven't had much luck so far ? I have come across numerous Books dealing with the Russian '1941 Winter Offensive', but unfortunately for me, the period of early to mid June 1942 appears to be at the very extreme edge of the action[s]. One particular fact I have learned was that his Regiment / Division 'may' have e assigned as part of the overall Army Security Forces, protecting, & thereby keeping open the Smolensk ~ Moscow Highway. That of course would have been an extremely important tactical task, as that Highway was deeply involved in the overall resupply efforts of army group Center. I am however only at the beginning of my hunt, so it appears as if this may indeed be a long, involved hunt ! THANKS AGAIN 'hucks216', & hopefully I may be able to report back here with some success, although it just might take a little while ! Take care,

 

                       Best,      Dom P.  

[hucks216]

NARA has a copy of the division's war diary for that period. They are cataloged under T-315 Rolls 1588, 1589 & 1590.

[dpast32]

25 minutes ago, hucks216 said:

NARA has a copy of the division's war diary for that period. They are cataloged under T-315 Rolls 1588, 1589 & 1590.

 THANKS My Friend !  Now that is an extremely interesting fact ! It appears now that I'll be able to research & document the relevant action[s] as far as I wish to take it ? ( Too bad they haven't made them available online yet ? ) From what little I've gathered so far, it appears that the 335th / 205th only had recently arrived in Theater, sometime around early February of 1942, primarily in response to both the ever increasing number of German casualties, along with the Soviet's consistent, intensive offensive actions in & around that, & of course other portions of the Front Lines. From what I see, this young Landser was living probably quite comfortably somewhere along the French Coast, & suddenly being transferred into what was becoming an ever increasing 'cauldron' of death for both bsides engaged within that particular area. As I might have said earlier, I usually 'try' to stick with German, & related Axis Polizei Documents & similar items. But, when I happened across this particular Wehrpass, I thought that it was basically an 'exemplar' of all the Axis, & even Soviet Soldiers who 'gave their all' for their respective Countries & beliefs. This Soldier's story can in a way, be demonstrative of all their stories, & that is exactly what appealed to me. Of course, if I become across any particularly interesting with his saga I will notify you, & otherwise keep you updated, if you wish of course ? THANKS !

 

                       Best,    Dom P.

[hucks216]

On the same day that Riepertinger was killed, 5.Kompanie in Inf.Rgt 335 lost a man at Nowo-Niwy and was buried in the unit cemetery at Beljajewo. He is now thought to be buried at the war cemetery at Duchowschtschina (which is to the east of Welish/Velizh) as an unknown soldier.

 

Riepertinger's body is probably in the same field grave that he was placed in and lost to time.

 

 

Edited May 8, 2022 by hucks216

[hucks216]

These are the basic details of what the NARA rolls cover for 205.ID for this period:

 

 

 

[dpast32]

And yet again, you have my deepest THANKS here ! I would have been checking back here a bit earlier, except for my coming across an online Pub. which appears to have been 'tailor made' for my particular project here !! After a fair amount of searching, I happened across the following noted Title.  "The Red Army's Forgotten 15-Month Campaign against Army Group Center, 1942–1943" - By S. Gerasimova, 2016. ( Amazon.com, Kindle E-Book, $5.00 USD ) It pretty much is centered around all the skirmishes, battles, offensives, & counter-offensives which transpired during my period of interest !! I initially was somewhat concerned that I'd have some trouble trying to locate any specific reference to the May - June 1942 period, but locating the above Title has definitely solved that issue. I still can't believe I picked it up for just $5.00 USD !! 

 

                     Best,   Dom

ADDENDUM:  Please be advised that upon my receiving this Pub., it appears as if the Title has been changed to; 

"The Rzhev Slaughterhouse: The Red Army's Forgotten 15-month Campaign against Army Group Center, 1942-1943"  [ Kindle Edition - By Svetlana Gerasimova, & Stuart Britton ]

Edited May 8, 2022 by dpast32

[dpast32]

I just performed a cursory search on both of the 2 Grave locations you noted, yet I didn't get a hit on either. I did also search Ancestry.com for German records, as e have access to the World Feature, but again, no luck ?  Any suggestions ?

 

              Best,    Dom

[hucks216]

That's a good book but considering how long the Rzhev campaign went on for and the size of the area it covered, it doesn't cover every unit. There is a new book about the campaign out later this year:

 

Meat Grinder: The Battles For The Rzhev Salient 1942-43 by Prit Buttar.

 

 

Beljajewo would have been his unit cemetery so won't exist now. Duchowschtschina is the modern war cemetery and is listed on his Volksbund entry.

Edited May 8, 2022 by hucks216

[dpast32]

Yes, I did a brief search on the whole Volksbund Website, but no luck. As you said earlier, his Grave is probably now long gone, or just maybe he ended up being buried in Germany somewhere ? I also briefly searched the German 'Find A Grave', along with Ancestry.com, but same findings, nothing ! I see that the Author you mentioned has written a few studies of the 'War In The East', in fact, I'm also reading the Baltics Campaign Title. THANKS Buddy, I truly do appreciate all your very kind assistance.

[hucks216]

His body won't have been shipped back to Germany. Volksbund states that it hasn't been transferred to a war cemetery so it's most probably still in a long lost field grave.

 

Here's the Volksbund link for the modern war cemetery where the other soldier is thought to be buried.

 

https://kriegsgraeberstaetten.volksbund.de/friedhof/duchowschtschina

[dpast32]

THANKS AGAIN !! I guess it really does help to be familiar with this particular subject. I suspect that Riepertinger wasn't & isn't the only one to have become lost within the Russian heartland. We certainly only imagine how many Burial Fields were simply plowed over, or just left to grow over in the years after the War. I've viewed Soviet troops smashing down rows of German Graves as they surged forward towards Berlin. I'll let you know if, & what else I do turn up. I'm just getting started on this one !! 

 

                  Best,      Dom

 

                    

[dpast32]

Hey hucks, if & when you have a minute, would you be so kind as point out where exactly is the reference to his suffering the GSW to Head ? I assume it's towards the very bottom of his Casualty Card, indicated by letter abbreviations, just after the 'gefallen' notation ? Could you please advise as the full wording that was indicated ? Also, IIRC, this particular notation was also on another of his Documents, possibly his other, 2nd Casualty Card ? ( I've noted 2 such Cards. The 1st prefixed G-A, with the 2nd being G-C. ) No hurry on the information, whenever you happen to have a chance. THANKS

 

                 Dom

Edited May 9, 2022 by dpast32

[hucks216]

The part that relates to how he died is at the bottom of the casualty card - IG K (Infanterie Geschoss - Kopf).

 

According to Lexikon, there are two books about this division:

Fritz Kammerer: Pilzdivision im Einsatz/205. Infanterie-Division Oberrhein-Frankreich-Rußland, Selbstverlag, Müllheim 1969

Walter Gruber/Emil Geier/Otto Wößner: Die 205. Infanterie-Division. Bildbericht vom Schicksal einer deutschen Infanterie-Division 1936 - 1945, Hrsg. vom Kameradenhilfswerk d. ehem. 205. Inf.Div. e.V., Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, Friedberg 1981

[dpast32]

THANKS 'Hucks216', For some reason I never saw this particular Reply until just now !! As always, I appreciate it very much !!

 

        Best,    Dom P.