Feldwebel Martin Herrnbrodt

[JohanH]

Hello!

 

Is there any way to find any information about Feldwebel Martin Herrnbrodt, born April 6th 1913?

 

A google search turns up a person with the same name who received the Iron cross 1st class and was apparently a member of the Luftwaffe. But I don´t know if it is the same person. 

The one I am looking for got the Finnish Medal of Liberty 2nd class on July 7th 1942. 

[hucks216]

The only way to obtain information about him, assuming he didn't win any high awards, is to request a copy of his service record from Bundesarchiv:

 

https://www.bundesarchiv.de/EN/Content/Artikel/Artikel-ausserhalb-der-Navigation/Hinweise-milit-Unterlagen-persbez/benutzen-hinweise-militaerische-unterlagen-persbezogen-en.html

[JohanH]

On 27/03/2024 at 18:50, hucks216 said:

The only way to obtain information about him, assuming he didn't win any high awards, is to request a copy of his service record from Bundesarchiv:

 

https://www.bundesarchiv.de/EN/Content/Artikel/Artikel-ausserhalb-der-Navigation/Hinweise-milit-Unterlagen-persbez/benutzen-hinweise-militaerische-unterlagen-persbezogen-en.html

Thank you for a very quick response. 

 

Do you have any idea of how much it costs to get a persons service record?

Would it be best to find a researcher to do it or to let the archive personnel do it?

[hucks216]

A researcher will charge anything up to €70 for the first hour regardless of whether the file has 1 page or 100.

If you apply via the link, sometimes Bundesarchiv will do it for free or sometimes they charge but I don't know how much and sometimes they don't reply and will send you any file out of the blue.

[JohanH]

Thanks!

 

I will try to send them a request!

 

The Swedish archive is also like that. Sometimes they don't reply at all, sometimes they send the information free and sometimes they want a charge. One time they wanted me to pay 0,3 € for a copy fee.

 

 

[JohanH]

Today I got a few documents from the Bundesarchiv for free. 

 

Does this mean he was stationed at a Flight-school in Pütnitz between 1939 and 1944?

 

Can someone help me to understand this document?

My german is too basic to understand much more than he was born in Kiel and served as a Feldwebel. 

 

 

[GreyC]

Hi,

the BuArch list has a probable typo and other mistakes in it.

He was with the flight school company at the Flugzeugführerschule Pütnitz likely from 1939-42. Due to his long stay there he might have been part of the teaching staff, but that´s just a guess.

From 1942-1945 (typo!) he was with 4th Seenotgruppe according to the BuArch. I think the original card below is to be believed which states he was with 4./II. Senootgruppe which was stationed in Wilhelmshaven first and was moved to the island of Norderney in 1944 and then moved to List/Sylt in March 1945. In April 1945 (if I can decipher it correctly) according to the card he was transferred to Seenotstaffel 80. Which basically is the same unit as before as it only changed its name.

When is unclear to me. The card says he transferred 4/45, but the name change seems to have taken place in 8/44.

The term 4./II. Seenotgruppe means 4th Staffel in the II. Seenotgruppe. The guy at the BuArch probably confused "Staffel" and "Gruppe" and got it wrong (indicative for that is that he wrote 4. Seenotgruppe, not IV. Seenotgruppe, as it should have been written. Staffeln were written with arabic numerals: 4. Seenotstaffel). Another good reason to believe the BuArch got it wrong is that there simply was no IV. Seenotgruppe ;-). Another mistake is in the name of the school in connection with the date given.

The school was only called FFS C 17 from 1. Januar 1941 on till Oct 1941, however the name appears in the BuArch list already as of 1940. So all in all sloppy work by the BuArch! 

He seems to have been a "ladies man", as the card indicates he was treated for a VD at Wilhelmshaven and Bremen.

That got me thinking. If, as the BuArch cclaims, he was with the FFS C17 in Pütnitz at least until 1942, why was he at a hospital in Wilhelmshaven for a treatment that could have been administered at hospitals much closer to Pütnitz than WHV. For example somewere in Mecklenburg or Vorpommern or even in Kiel. Now remember the 4th Seenotstaffel he was assigned to after Pütnitz was stationed in Wilhelmshaven until approx. 1944. So if he had already been with this Staffel, the hospital in Wilhelmshaven would make much more sense to me. And given the unreliability of the BuArch it could well be the case. Just a thought...

He handed in his last will August 1941.

The Fieldpost number given on the card (L 13783) is indeed that of the 4th Seenotstaffel.

For further reading:

Karl Born: Rettung zwischen den Fronten. E.S. Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg/Berlin/Bonn

 

GreyC

Edited June 4 by GreyC

[JohanH]

Amazing!

Thank you very much! I would never had been able to get all that information on my own. 

 

So he was a Feldwebel in the Luftwaffe and stationed at first a flight school and then a sea rescue team who rescued downed pilots?

 

I wonder why he got the Finnish medal, perhaps he rescued the pilot of a downed Finnish aircraft?

 

[GreyC]

Just now, JohanH said:

So he was a Feldwebel in the Luftwaffe and stationed at first a flight school and then a sea rescue team who rescued downed pilots?

Yes

1 minute ago, JohanH said:

I wonder why he got the Finnish medal, perhaps he rescued the pilot of a downed Finnish aircraft?

 

Well possible.

GreyC