Fellow paper collectors,
I managed to get my hands on this great, yet sad Soldbuch which came with an additional revealing document!
The Soldbuch belonged to an 18 year old Panzergrenadier of Divisions Begleit Kompanie 9. Panzer-Division, who, according to the death certificate from 1950, "died at the end of February 1945" near Glesch/Kreis Bergheim west of Cologne. The Volksbund's homepage mentions February 28 as his exact date of death.
It is particularly exciting for me as I live in that area and was able to locate Rudolfs grave... he is buried in the cemetery of the community Glesch, just a few hundred meters away from the place where he lost his young life senselessly during the last days of the war. He rests beside 20 other soldiers, who probably all died during the fightings at the river Erft, which flows directly past Glesch.
I visited his grave a few days ago, laid down a flower from my garden and took a photo.
The former owner of the Soldbuch also kindly provided me with the war diary of the 36th Armored Infantry Regiment of the 3rd US Armored Division, which was deployed at Glesch/Paffendorf. The fightings in this area are described to the minute. According to this, the regiment had built a bridgehead on the east bank of the Erft by February 28th, which was attacked by German infantry in battalion strength with tank support on that day. I think it is quite conceivable that Rudolf Mauch fell during this counterattack, even though the report of the 36th US AIR rather mentions the bridgehead at Paffendorf as the target of the German counterattack; Paffendorf and Glesch, however, are only 700-800 meters apart.
Rudolf Mauch had not earned any awards during his short service, and the Soldbuch doesn´t hold many entries. However, such papers or rather the history behind them fascinate me; Who was Rudolf Mauch? Was he a convinced National Socialist, who passionately went into battle, or a pure "duty soldier", secretly maybe even a pacifist? How did the war shape his young character, and how was he killed? Did he have to suffer? When was he found and buried, and who took the Soldbuch?
Questions which unfortunately will never be answered, but which are nevertheless very interesting for me! And who knows what I may come across during my future researches...
In addition to the pictures of the Soldbuch, I have added Google maps to give you an idea of the area. I also attached a picture of Rudolf's grave and a screenshot of the Volksbund homepage, and the Combat Report of the 36th US AIR for those who would like to read a bit.
If anyone has further information regarding these papers, please let me know!
Best,
Matthias
I managed to get my hands on this great, yet sad Soldbuch which came with an additional revealing document!
The Soldbuch belonged to an 18 year old Panzergrenadier of Divisions Begleit Kompanie 9. Panzer-Division, who, according to the death certificate from 1950, "died at the end of February 1945" near Glesch/Kreis Bergheim west of Cologne. The Volksbund's homepage mentions February 28 as his exact date of death.
It is particularly exciting for me as I live in that area and was able to locate Rudolfs grave... he is buried in the cemetery of the community Glesch, just a few hundred meters away from the place where he lost his young life senselessly during the last days of the war. He rests beside 20 other soldiers, who probably all died during the fightings at the river Erft, which flows directly past Glesch.
I visited his grave a few days ago, laid down a flower from my garden and took a photo.
The former owner of the Soldbuch also kindly provided me with the war diary of the 36th Armored Infantry Regiment of the 3rd US Armored Division, which was deployed at Glesch/Paffendorf. The fightings in this area are described to the minute. According to this, the regiment had built a bridgehead on the east bank of the Erft by February 28th, which was attacked by German infantry in battalion strength with tank support on that day. I think it is quite conceivable that Rudolf Mauch fell during this counterattack, even though the report of the 36th US AIR rather mentions the bridgehead at Paffendorf as the target of the German counterattack; Paffendorf and Glesch, however, are only 700-800 meters apart.
Rudolf Mauch had not earned any awards during his short service, and the Soldbuch doesn´t hold many entries. However, such papers or rather the history behind them fascinate me; Who was Rudolf Mauch? Was he a convinced National Socialist, who passionately went into battle, or a pure "duty soldier", secretly maybe even a pacifist? How did the war shape his young character, and how was he killed? Did he have to suffer? When was he found and buried, and who took the Soldbuch?
Questions which unfortunately will never be answered, but which are nevertheless very interesting for me! And who knows what I may come across during my future researches...
In addition to the pictures of the Soldbuch, I have added Google maps to give you an idea of the area. I also attached a picture of Rudolf's grave and a screenshot of the Volksbund homepage, and the Combat Report of the 36th US AIR for those who would like to read a bit.
If anyone has further information regarding these papers, please let me know!
Best,
Matthias
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