I hope you will allow me to indulge myself as I discuss my grandfather's service during the 1930s and 1940s. I was lucky enough to get to know him when I summered in Germany as a teen and continued to visit him as I got older. He passed away some 5 years ago and left me a legacy of hundreds of pre-war and war photos. Now I have so many questions that I wish I would have asked. But I got to know him, I loved him, and that is all that matters.
Opa was born in 1915 and lived in a town near Kirchheim unter Teck, near Stuttgart. He was in the NSFK, and always lamented that he later failed the Luftwaffe eye exam. This kept him on the ground and he always wanted to fly. He was also a Mann in the NSKK, southwestern district, where he learned to drive. The photos of him, a smirking young Mann, bear a remarkable resemblance to my brother.
Opa eventually ended up in the Luftwaffe manning the Entfernungsmesser on an 88 battery. He was in Czechoslovakia in early 39, Dunkirk in 1940, and then spent most of the rest of the war in Antwerp. He was on a Siebel-Fahre with four 88s as the Germans prepared for Sea Lion and he spent most of 1941 freezing in the channel on that barge. I have some fabulous photos of these ships leaden for battle, 88s caked with ice.
After the Battle of Britain he was sent to radar school and became a radar operator. Oh how he cursed the chaff that the bombers would toss during the early days of radar! He was then assigned to various 88 batteries to support them with early warning capabilities during the war.
He met my grandmother in Lille, France while on leave. She had been in the DRK, but when he met her she was an Army switch-board operator. It is something else to see your loving grandmother in a German Heer uniform, even if she was just in signals! The story goes that in 43 she was going to be shipped to the Eastern front because of urgent need. So they got married and she got pregnant, moved back to Greunberg, Schlesian, and my mom was born in December of 44. As an aside, they escaped from the Russians in a cattle-car in 1945.
My last war photos of Opa are in 1944, he was a Wachtmeister, ended up as an Oberwachtmeister. He was in Calais during D-Day, one of many... Tells of eating "snow bunnies" which were really cats, but they liked to think of them as connies. He never forgot the winter, always said it would never be as cold as January 1945.
What was left of his unit surrendered to a combined UK/Canadian/Anders Army group on 8 May 1945. He was lucky. He was transfered to a US POW camp in Wilhelmshaven where the POWs loaded ships with German tanks, planes, and assorted prisoner items and sunk them at sea. I wonder how much rusted militaria is sitting there!
Opa made it home and decided to become a dentalkeramiker, and lived his life in Kirchheim unter Teck. My one wish is that he would have lived just two more years to see his great-granddaughter.
I have one remaining treasure. He kept a diary. I have daily reports from 1939-1945. Saddly, his handwriting is atrocious and I can only make out maybe 10%. Some days are sparse, "Air Raid 1400," others have a wealth of detail. My mom does a decent job of translating his scrawl but has no interest. Hopefully I can change her mind.
This is why I recently began colecting militaria.
Marc
PS - Yes, I am scanning all the photos. 1200 dpi.
Opa was born in 1915 and lived in a town near Kirchheim unter Teck, near Stuttgart. He was in the NSFK, and always lamented that he later failed the Luftwaffe eye exam. This kept him on the ground and he always wanted to fly. He was also a Mann in the NSKK, southwestern district, where he learned to drive. The photos of him, a smirking young Mann, bear a remarkable resemblance to my brother.
Opa eventually ended up in the Luftwaffe manning the Entfernungsmesser on an 88 battery. He was in Czechoslovakia in early 39, Dunkirk in 1940, and then spent most of the rest of the war in Antwerp. He was on a Siebel-Fahre with four 88s as the Germans prepared for Sea Lion and he spent most of 1941 freezing in the channel on that barge. I have some fabulous photos of these ships leaden for battle, 88s caked with ice.
After the Battle of Britain he was sent to radar school and became a radar operator. Oh how he cursed the chaff that the bombers would toss during the early days of radar! He was then assigned to various 88 batteries to support them with early warning capabilities during the war.
He met my grandmother in Lille, France while on leave. She had been in the DRK, but when he met her she was an Army switch-board operator. It is something else to see your loving grandmother in a German Heer uniform, even if she was just in signals! The story goes that in 43 she was going to be shipped to the Eastern front because of urgent need. So they got married and she got pregnant, moved back to Greunberg, Schlesian, and my mom was born in December of 44. As an aside, they escaped from the Russians in a cattle-car in 1945.
My last war photos of Opa are in 1944, he was a Wachtmeister, ended up as an Oberwachtmeister. He was in Calais during D-Day, one of many... Tells of eating "snow bunnies" which were really cats, but they liked to think of them as connies. He never forgot the winter, always said it would never be as cold as January 1945.
What was left of his unit surrendered to a combined UK/Canadian/Anders Army group on 8 May 1945. He was lucky. He was transfered to a US POW camp in Wilhelmshaven where the POWs loaded ships with German tanks, planes, and assorted prisoner items and sunk them at sea. I wonder how much rusted militaria is sitting there!
Opa made it home and decided to become a dentalkeramiker, and lived his life in Kirchheim unter Teck. My one wish is that he would have lived just two more years to see his great-granddaughter.
I have one remaining treasure. He kept a diary. I have daily reports from 1939-1945. Saddly, his handwriting is atrocious and I can only make out maybe 10%. Some days are sparse, "Air Raid 1400," others have a wealth of detail. My mom does a decent job of translating his scrawl but has no interest. Hopefully I can change her mind.
This is why I recently began colecting militaria.
Marc
PS - Yes, I am scanning all the photos. 1200 dpi.
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