Hermann Goring Division memoirs?

[PaulW]

Hermann Lohmann pics

Just adding some of the Hermann Lohmann pictures from the above site in case they disappear at some point.

Both are of Hermann Lohmann and labelled "Utrecht 1943".

As you can see he is wearing the un-piped white collar patches with standard Luftwaffe red piped boards as per post April 43 regulations. The HG cuff-band is clearly worn.

(BTW Josh - You're right $70 is outrageous for a paperback, however the last time I looked $70 was very cheap for this book, last time I looked it was $300....)

[PaulW]

More pics

Here you can see Hermann Lohmann on the left in tropical dress (dated 1943), and also some of his comrades in a 1944 dated picture. Looks like the collar patches have been removed from the fliegerbluse here as per January 1944 regulations applying to front-line troops (they still wore white collar patches after this date away from the front line as can be seen in many wartime pictures.) Of course they were never worn on the tropical dress.

[PaulW]

Late war picture

This picture is labelled "Passfoto von Hermann Lohmann 2 Nov 1944".

It appears to show him wearing the late-war field-grey (brownish) 4 pocket tunic issued to Hermann Goring troops. He refers to it in his memoirs and states that it came with a HG cuffband, though of course it cannot be seen in this photo. No doubt the shoulder boards are piped red for artillery, perhaps standard blue-grey?

[PaulW]

"Against the Odds. Survival on the Russian Front 1944 - 45" - John Stieber - Review

Spoiler - please do not read if you intend to read this soon!


Against the Odds. Survival on the Russian Front 1944 - 45 - by (Helmut) John Stieber - a review.

I have just finished reading this remarkable book, to my knowledge the only English language account of a Hermann Goring Division enlisted man. Mr Stieber's story is an unusual one, of Austrian descent he and his family moved around before WW2, residing in Czechoslovakia, England and Ireland. He was at school in Germany when war broke out and after some time as a Flak helper, and later the RAD, he was called up for military service.

He managed to join the Hermann Goring Division by choice as he felt that if he joined an elite unit he would be less likely to be used as cannon fodder and would receive the best training and supplies. However he also admitted that pride played a part and he simply wanted to be in an elite unit as his father had served in an elite Austrian unit in WW1! His service covered the last year of the war from May 1944 until the very last day of the war. When he joined there was still a semblance of order in the Wehrmacht training establishments etc (unlike perhaps only a few months later) and he was sent to the HG's training and replacement base in Utrecht, Holland. As his training progressed he moved onto other establishments in Holland (Amersfoort, then Apeldoorn and finally Alkmaar, though he never mentions Hilversum) as each establishment specialised in different training. He remarked that in the barracks there was plenty of spit and polish, and that sheets had to be folded each morning with edges crisp like razor blades! Training was thorough, long and arduous and he remarked that despite the late stage of the war and the bombing of German industry the stores held every imaginable item in abundance! The training even included periods of classroom theory, included 'correct moral behaviour' and among other things zero tolerance for looting etc. There was a great emphasis on treating the local Dutch population with respect etc. I had a feeling that these were the last days of 'normality' for units like the HG, at least where they were based in Holland etc
When his training finished (July 1944) it coincided with a theatre change for the Hermann Goring Division. After a long period in North Africa, Sicily and then Italy the Division was moving to the Eastern Front. Stieber and the latest intake of fresh troops were sent straight to the Eastern Front, just as the rest of the Division was arriving from Italy. He served as an ammunition loader on a mobile 20mm Flak gun, and later a mobile 37mm Flak gun. Eventually he served in a supply unit, which might sound like an 'easy number', but in fact was probably his most hazardous job as his unit had to supply elements of the Division that were often temporarily cut off and effectively behind Soviet lines due to the fluidity of the Eastern Front in the last months of the war.
On more than one occasion Stieber was cut off behind enemy lines and had to make his way back. On the first occasion he was alone and it took him 5 days (with only a small piece of bread - he was literally starving) to get back to German lines. For a very young man, barely out of school, this was clearly a highly traumatic time for him - with starvation or ruthless partisans never far away. On another occasion when he was cut off he came across a number of HG troops who had been murdered by Soviet troops. Clearly surrender was not always an option even to regular Soviet troops, never mind partisans. The account of his escape from captivity at the end of the war shows that he was a resourceful and determined individual despite his young age.

He was never captured and never served as a POW - had he not made his move when he did he would certainly have been captured by the Soviets (his unit, the HG Panzer Division 1 of the HG Korps was soon cut off in a pocket) and spent several years in Soviet POW captivity, or possibly not have survived captivity at all. Had that happened perhaps his luck would finally have run out and there would have been no memoir at all.

This is a fantastic read for anyone interested in the HG, or the Wehrmacht in general, the late war Eastern front or even just a story of survival against the odds to quote the book title! Also, Stieber's first language was always English (though fluent in German) so that the book is not a translation from German. In other words, nothing is 'lost in translation' in his account. The only downside is that it is a rare book and not cheap, there may not have been a huge number printed? I paid enough for my copy but nothing like the ridiculous prices on Amazon at the moment (£190!!!). It's worth looking out for though if you can find one for a sensible price.


After I finished reading the book I searched for Herr Stieber online (I even thought of writing him a letter to thank him for writing such an important and fascinating memoir), sadly he died on Sunday 11th July 2010 in Ireland of a short illness.

http://www.rip.ie/showdn.php?dn=1097...erstown/Dublin

Other points of interest for the German uniform (HG/ Luftwaffe) enthusiast:-

1) The order for the HG to remove their white collar tabs in January 1944 applied only to troops in the field. There is a photo of Stieber with his white collar tabs (and possibly a cuff-band just at the very bottom of the photo) in what is obviously May 44 onwards, probably during his time in Holland. He is also wearing a dark painted buckle, and an M43 cap (2 buttons, with seperate eagle and bevo roundel).

2) There is no mention of the 4 pocket field-grey (brownish) tunic (though it is clearly mentioned in the Hermann Lohmann account above). To reinforce this he refers at least twice to the "blue-grey" uniforms of he and his compatriots, the last time at the very end of the war.

3) A short time after the end of the war he bundles his uniform up and throws it behind a bush (Arrrggghhh!!! ) before changing into civilian clothes.

[PaulW]

Back cover

Back cover picture - the same picture as the front but a wider shot. Looking at the book in hand I'm quite sure I can see a HG cuff-title, it seems clearer than in the picture I've posted. Also, despite later being allocated to the Flak, he is clearly wearing white piped shoulder boards whilst he was training in Holland (1st May - 25th July 1944).

I would not be surprised if he was issued red piped boards on arrival on the Eastern Front as he decribes the HG's supply system as being quite efficent. At one point after being cut off and making his way back to German lines (having lost various kit and being in a mess) he describes having an almost complete re-issue from the stores.

[Willi Z.]

Thanks for this thread. I found the part concerning his time in captivity to be amazing. Maybe someone should contact Schiffer Publishing as they reprint books which are tough to get and out of print.

[PaulW]

Here it is, reprinted again (2nd Edition) and cheap, at least for now!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1523347368/ref=cm_cd_asin_lnk

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Against-Odd...+Russian+Front

Regards, Paul

[PaulW]

Another (online) Hermann Goring memoir

Hi, I can add this fascinating account (in German), just found online:-

https://www.dhm.de/lemo/zeitzeugen/f...arinhall.html#

For English this "Google Translate" link might (?) work:-

https://translate.google.co.uk/trans...%23&edit-text=

It relates to the service of Friedrich Gerlach who served from August 1942 until the end of the war. After his training in Holland, he served with a small HG cavalry unit that patrolled Hermann Goring's Carinhall estate located north-east of Berlin in the Schorfheide forest near the town of Friedrichswalde.

The pictures are from the link above, Christmas 1943 above, Christmas 1944 below.

[PaulW]

The top picture is dated 27-12-44, the lower picture is February 1945. In the last picture, Gerlach is the Gefreiter second from the right.

For those interested in uniforms, you can see that they are all wearing the white collar patches, clearly indicating again (IMHO) that the removal of the collar patches order of January 1944 did not apply to HG soldiers away from the front line.

Regards, Paul

[book lover]

John Stieber's memoir is one of the best German memoirs out there!
Too bad it was only reprinted in soft cover!It deserves a hard cover edition.
I hate soft covers

[PaulW]

The History of the FallschirmPanzerKorps - Franz Kurowski

"The History of the Fallschirm-PanzerKorps Hermann Goring" (Soldiers of the Reichsmarschall) - by Franz Kurowski

Although this book is not specifically a memoir, it does contain a number of personal accounts from Hermann Goring veterans of all ranks, some of which are excellent. Overall, the book is my favourite book on the HG (I think I have them all!), with extraordinary detail on a variety of aspects of this unit from it's earliest days to the bitter end. In addition to the personal accounts, it has orders of battle from various points in the unit's history, detailed accounts of battles, information on the most obscure sub-units, maps and some excellent photos too. I suspect that it might be considered as 'the Bible' on the subject, at least in the English language?

Also, there is often speculation that the HG had 'passed it's best' after the bulk of the early HG men were captured in Tunisia, however this book helps to remind the reader that the 'esprit de corps' and Elite status of the unit was maintained by the surviving hard-core, enthusiastic new recruits and ongoing excellent training. The reader is reminded that whilst many German units had more or less dissolved in the weeks prior to the end of the war, the HG was still an effective fighting unit on the last day of the war and was still in contact with the enemy, and had delivered (along with other units) one of the last victories the Wehrmacht achieved, at Bautzen in April 1945.

[PaulW]

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