German attic-found time capsule

[Mr. Dynamite]

Just incredible the stuff that is still tucked away over there. This was destined for the landfill, but was saved from that fate. Everything belonged to 2 brothers, most of it to the one who was a Panzergrenadier and a few items to the other who was in the Luftwaffe. Both survived the war, but both have now passed on. Now after all these years this is all that has survived to show for their time in the war. Sobering to see this little group and realize that it is all that represents almost a decade of personal struggle for these soldiers. No other stories or experiences recorded, or anyone who even wanted to still own what they had set aside as a reminder of that time.

Add any details that you see from your knowledge, or if anyone wants to see further pictures of anything just ask. I dont have much knowledge with these items, so all pointers are appreciated! If any one could clarify, what was his final group/division? Every one in the list is crossed out, so I am unsure.



































































Notice the aircraft recorded! This is the last page of the first log book



Pages of missions











Notebooks from officer's school















































I have been told these soldiers are Romanian


The recipient of these awards


Notice the badges on him in this picture

[rajko84]

Very cool find

[Priedel78]

Incredible Find! Love it !

[Lutfen]

Excellent! Well done.

Regards,
Michael

[Andrew Arthy]

Hi,

Really nice stuff!

Is it possible that your Oblt. Rehfus is the same as 'Hans Rehfus' listed in the deZeng & Stankey 'Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries'? Some of his documents can also be seen here: http://gmic.co.uk/topic/4139-hauptmann-hans-rehfus/.

Hans Rehfus was an Oblt. and Beobachter on 3 August 1942 when he was awarded the Ehrenpokal. He was promoted to Hauptmann on 1 December 1942, and around 19 January 1943 became Staffelkapitaen of 3./K.G. 6. He was posted missing in action off Sicily on 25 July 1943. Looks like he might have previously been with I./K.G. 257, K.G. 28, and K.G. 77.

If possible, I'd be really interested in seeing some more of the Flugbuch pages, and especially pages with missions on them (marked with red numbers). Thanks.

Cheers,
Andrew A.

[ROBB]

Great discovery ! Rob

[Mr. Dynamite]

Hi,

Really nice stuff!

Is it possible that your Oblt. Rehfus is the same as 'Hans Rehfus' listed in the deZeng & Stankey 'Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries'? Some of his documents can also be seen here: http://gmic.co.uk/topic/4139-hauptmann-hans-rehfus/.

Hans Rehfus was an Oblt. and Beobachter on 3 August 1942 when he was awarded the Ehrenpokal. He was promoted to Hauptmann on 1 December 1942, and around 19 January 1943 became Staffelkapitaen of 3./K.G. 6. He was posted missing in action off Sicily on 25 July 1943. Looks like he might have previously been with I./K.G. 257, K.G. 28, and K.G. 77.

If possible, I'd be really interested in seeing some more of the Flugbuch pages, and especially pages with missions on them (marked with red numbers). Thanks.

Cheers,
Andrew A.

Going by memory I believe the brother in the Luftwaffe was named Hans. Let me check this evening, and when I am able I will post up what I find.

[Mr. Dynamite]

Just some cell phone shots, but I believe they do the trick well enough. Book one is the bottom book, book 2 is at the top. I am not really sure why, but the time frame of both log books overlap, and both end in 1942, one in October and the other in November. So, unfortunately these books would not record the hauptmann promotion of 1Dec 1942. it looks like they might fit with being the same person, but then again there may have been another "Hans Rehfus" who was a Beobachter... Let me know what your take is on these pictures, if you think this is the same man, and any other insight you have from them. The link you shared has a picture of that Hans Rehfus, so if nothing else I can ask the fellow who sent me these items if it is the same man as he knew him personally in his later years.

[Mr. Dynamite]

Oh, and I should also add, feel free to post any of these pictures on the site you linked to if it will help solve this mystery!

[Andrew Arthy]

Hi,

Thanks, those shots are great! I did a bit of digging on his units and career, and came up with the following:

I'd say it is almost certain that your man is the same as the man here: http://gmic.co.uk/topic/4139-hauptmann-hans-rehfus/. Note that your man was at Frankfurt/Oder in mid-1939, and the Hans Rehfus at the GMIC link got his pilot's badge at Frankfurt/Oder on 1 October 1939 with 4./Fliegerausbildungsregiment 41.

The Feldpostnummer next to the date 30 September 1940 is 08154, so that means the I. Gruppe of Kampfgeschwader 27, and it is signed by Erich Lorenz of 2./K.G. 27. The Brodowski he flew with on 10 September 1940 was Heinz Brodowski of 2./K.G. 27. So clearly your man was with 2./K.G. 27 during the Battle of Britain, where he flew his first missions.

It seems he then moved on to Kampfgruppe 100 (later re-designated Kampfgeschwader 100), taking part in the war against Russia in the summer of 1941. Note his missions to Moscow in August 1941.

The stamp dated 25 July 1942 has Feldpostnummer 35600, which is 1. Staffel, Kampfgeschwader 100. The "Jeckstat" he flew a lot of missions with in the summer of 1942 was future Ritterkreuz winner Erich Jeckstat. Schellong who he flew at least two missions with in May 1942 was future Ritterkreuz winner Hans Schellong.

He seems to have kept one Flugbuch for his pilot training and the flights where he was pilot, and the other for when he was an observer. However, the Sweden flights remain a bit of a mystery to me!

Hope I'm not asking too much, but it would be great to see the rest of the operational flights if possible, thanks.

Hope the above is of some use and interest.

Cheers,
Andrew A.

[Mr. Dynamite]

Thank you for that information! Wow, if I may ask what resource do you go to study unit history that indepth? I would like to study out the other brother's time in the war as well, but I don't even know where to start.

I can absolutely go through and take more pictures of the log books. I skipped randomly through looking for pages that appeared to be of interest, but I can go more in depth for a through study.

I will also try to reach out to the author of the thread through the link you provided and see if I can gather his thoughts.

[Andrew Arthy]

Hi,

Happy to help. My knowledge of the German army is very limited, but hopefully someone else can step in and assist you with information on the other brother.

Regarding my sources, the excellent work of Larry deZeng and Doug Stankey on Luftwaffe officers can be found here: http://www.ww2.dk/lwoffz.html. And for basic information on Luftwaffe flying units, Michael Holm's website (http://www.ww2.dk/air.html) is invaluable. In addition, I have a lot of files from the British National Archives and German Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv related to German air operations in the Second World War.

I look forward to seeing some more logbook pages, and thanks again for sharing.

Cheers,
Andrew A.
Air War Publications - www.airwarpublications.com/earticles

[Frank Nick]

That's such a great find! I just wanted to say that I enjoyed your thread.


Frank

[ENGLISH BOB]

Super find

thanks for posting

Bob

[brooksbz]

I really like the K24 Soldbuch!!!