12th SS Soldbuch Bussmann grouping

[Hundestaffel]

Bill:

One of my favorite parts of this grouping is the letter where Bussmann writes home to his parents specifically asking his mother to purchase him a black cap and as many ("HJ") Cufftitles as possible....great stuff indeed......note also his mother obviously must have been a little taken back at the skull on the front of his cap !!!


That letter is dated "12.II.44" and reads as follows:


Now I have another favour to ask you. I urgently need a black field cap, about size 57/58. Should you just get a NSKK-cap, that's O.K. too. Only there should be no buttons in the front. Well, Mom, I am sure you remember the cap that I had when I was on leave. That's the one it should be.

Also could you please take a look around if you could find sleeve bands. Get as many as possible; if it is a dozen, that's fine. Just write me what they cost so I can collect the money from the comrades. It appears that the only place where these sleeve bands are still available is Braunschweig. Several comrades tried in vain during their leave to get some.


"Hundestaffel"

[Luft 76]

SS is not my field but it's a very nice grouping. As said, letters seem to be phantastic.

[Hundestaffel]

It would be great if a few people out there could bring some of those SS Officer signatures to light....I clearly see nice HJ "Beck" signature.....


"Hundestaffel"

[christof]

A fantastic group ! Congratulation to the owner.

[Bill Hughes]

It would be great if a few people out there could bring some of those SS Officer signatures to light....I clearly see nice HJ "Beck" signature.....


"Hundestaffel"

I have some more information and questions on the signatures myself. I have to leave the safety of the bunker for a few hours and will pick this up when I get back

[Hundestaffel]

The bottom of page 31 exhibits a nice SS Obersturmfuhrer (Helmut) Gaede signature....


"Hundestaffel"

[Nico C]

Magnificient grouping

[SJP]

VERY Nice ..
_________________________________
Cheers Steve

[Rene Chavez]

Wow awesome group thanks for sharing!

Rene Chavez
Http://axis101.bizland.com

[Bill Hughes]

It would be great if a few people out there could bring some of those SS Officer signatures to light....I clearly see nice HJ "Beck" signature.....


"Hundestaffel"

Yes Herr Hundestaffel you are correct as you know! It is indeed the signature of Wilhelm Beck who was awarded the Knights Cross as the CO of the 2nd company SS Pz Rgt1 of the LSAHMarch 28 1943 in Russia.

Beck was later killed ( 10th June 1944) during a fighter bomber attack on the HQ of Panzergruppe West, where he was serving as a liason officer from the 1.SS-Panzerkorps

[Bill Hughes]

The bottom of page 31 exhibits a nice SS Obersturmfuhrer (Helmut) Gaede signature....


"Hundestaffel"

Yes it is Gaede who was company co of the 2nd company

[Bill Hughes]

Can anyone identify these two signatures?

Thanks
Bill

[Hundestaffel]

Here are a few more select lines from Bussmann's various letters back home...


Yesterday morning I was at the dentist!!! Now I am the happy owner of more then seven filled teeth! Three were filled for the first time, two he had to refill. And everything within three quarters of an hour! The drilling nearly caused me to go down on my knees. But I am happy that my teeth are fixed.

I also want to have my picture taken, but at the moment there is no furlough. Going to the photographer will be the first thing I'll do as soon as we are able to get out.

I hardly get around to write letters because we have very little free time. Everything points to battle. However I do not believe that it will be on the Eastern front. We will wait for the invasion, so we can receive the Tommy accordingly.

We just got permission to go on guard duty wearing only pants and shirts! One cannot stand the heat in the black suit.

To both of you greetings from the invasion front. I am fine. We had two days rest, because a repair had to be done. Well, rest is not the right word, for we had lots of work to do. Tomorrow we go back to the front. I never thought that the Tommy would be able to hold positions here for that long. The battles are relentlessly hard. But one of these days we will throw them out.

We got back yesterday and are behind the first lines to rest for a day. We had to stay in our vehicles for six days and nights and could not get out. We opted for safety because we could expect artillery fire at any time. We couldn't even go to the bathroom during the day, we had to do everything at night. That's what happened one day : We exited through the hatch furthest toward the back. But as soon as we were out, all hell broke loose. Thank God we made it back safely.

I could not finish the letter because we were taken from our rest position behind the frontlines to another attack (southeast from here). It was a very tough battle, but I was successful. Today we celebrated a bit and I am a little tired from the wine and champagne, plus all the hardships. I will tell you the reason for the little celebration right away. Today is the most beautiful day of my life as a soldier. Some comrades and I received today at noon the EK II, handed out by the Regiment's Commander. I hope I can bring it home in good health. It was hard and we had to suffer a lot.

P.S. I am falling asleep while writing. Please excuse the bad handwriting.


"Hundestaffel"

[Eric JB]

Very nice grouping and I really like those letters !

Thanks for showing that group here on WAF.

yours friendly

Eric-Jan

[Hundestaffel]

What is also really nice about Bussmann's Soldbuch are the (handwritten) entries for the issuance of the "Lederkomb." ["Lederkombination" - leather jacket and pants] and also a "Tarnjacke" [the SS dot pattern camouflage Panzer wrap-around] which Bussmann is actually pictured wearing in the photo of himself and his crew in front of their Panther.


"Hundestaffel"