I am trying to get information on a Wehrpass taken from a KIA soldier in Normandy in June 1944. this wehrpass has been in the posession of a 508th PIR trooper since that time. I have been doing a lot of research on this but I have several questions.
First, under what circumstances would an individual soldier be carrying his OWN wehrpass? It is my understanding that the Wehrpass would have been exchanged for a Soldbuch once the individual went into active servce, and should have been kept at the company level.
Next mystery is the identity of the soldier. I don't seem to be able to post pictures here yet, unfortunately, but I will tell you what I can decipher. The name is Gottfried Wagner. Branch of service is Waffen SS. On Page 1 under Beschriftung und Nummer is a stamp which reads Stammkompanie SS Gren. Ers. Btl followed by "Ost" (in quotes). Birthday is 24.11.26 Birthplace is listed as Titel and Staatsangehorigkeit I beieve says Hungarian (Ungarisch, sorry, no umlauts on my keyboard).
On Page 12 under the units served in are 3 entires. First is the Stammkompanie mentioned above but with 31 rather than "Ost".
Next is a partial stamp, either a 3 or an 8 followed by / SS - San. Ers. Btl., which I take to mean a medical Battalion. The last entry is hand written and I cannot make out the first two abbreviations nor the last two, but "8 SS" is legible. Page 21 also refers to the 8 SS. It is entirely handwritten and while some of this may be wrong, this is what I can make out, more or less:
Teiluehuer aus Lautatslehgaug (?) des Feldlasanettes d 8 SS Kav div v. 10.5.44 - 14.6.44
Page 22 shows a promotion to SS Stummann dated 20.6.1944.
There are no wounds, etc. listed. The wehrpass is a late style, and the photo shows Gottfried Wagner in uniform, NOT civilian clothes. My friend who took the Wehrpass off the body does not remember the exact date or location, but it would have been somewhere in the La Haye Du Puits area Southwest of Ste. Mre. Eglise, and obviously would have been sometime after Gottfried's promotion on 20th June.
So what I am left with is a SS Stummann carrying his Wehrpass rather than his Soldbuch, which I think indicates he was in the 8th SS "Florian Geyer" division, which to my knowledge was never anywhere near Normandy, but served in the Romania and Hungary area, where Gottfried was from.
If he had been transferred from the 8th SS to Normandy, wouldn't that be indicated somewhere in the Wehrpass? Could it be he was carrying his own Wehrpass because he had just been transferred, and that was the easiest way to get it from one company to the next? And what SS divisions could have been in action that far west in Normandy? Most information that I can find talks about SS units in action further East in Normandy against the British.
Thanks in advance for any and all help with this, and if anyone can tell me how to post images I can supply them.
George
First, under what circumstances would an individual soldier be carrying his OWN wehrpass? It is my understanding that the Wehrpass would have been exchanged for a Soldbuch once the individual went into active servce, and should have been kept at the company level.
Next mystery is the identity of the soldier. I don't seem to be able to post pictures here yet, unfortunately, but I will tell you what I can decipher. The name is Gottfried Wagner. Branch of service is Waffen SS. On Page 1 under Beschriftung und Nummer is a stamp which reads Stammkompanie SS Gren. Ers. Btl followed by "Ost" (in quotes). Birthday is 24.11.26 Birthplace is listed as Titel and Staatsangehorigkeit I beieve says Hungarian (Ungarisch, sorry, no umlauts on my keyboard).
On Page 12 under the units served in are 3 entires. First is the Stammkompanie mentioned above but with 31 rather than "Ost".
Next is a partial stamp, either a 3 or an 8 followed by / SS - San. Ers. Btl., which I take to mean a medical Battalion. The last entry is hand written and I cannot make out the first two abbreviations nor the last two, but "8 SS" is legible. Page 21 also refers to the 8 SS. It is entirely handwritten and while some of this may be wrong, this is what I can make out, more or less:
Teiluehuer aus Lautatslehgaug (?) des Feldlasanettes d 8 SS Kav div v. 10.5.44 - 14.6.44
Page 22 shows a promotion to SS Stummann dated 20.6.1944.
There are no wounds, etc. listed. The wehrpass is a late style, and the photo shows Gottfried Wagner in uniform, NOT civilian clothes. My friend who took the Wehrpass off the body does not remember the exact date or location, but it would have been somewhere in the La Haye Du Puits area Southwest of Ste. Mre. Eglise, and obviously would have been sometime after Gottfried's promotion on 20th June.
So what I am left with is a SS Stummann carrying his Wehrpass rather than his Soldbuch, which I think indicates he was in the 8th SS "Florian Geyer" division, which to my knowledge was never anywhere near Normandy, but served in the Romania and Hungary area, where Gottfried was from.
If he had been transferred from the 8th SS to Normandy, wouldn't that be indicated somewhere in the Wehrpass? Could it be he was carrying his own Wehrpass because he had just been transferred, and that was the easiest way to get it from one company to the next? And what SS divisions could have been in action that far west in Normandy? Most information that I can find talks about SS units in action further East in Normandy against the British.
Thanks in advance for any and all help with this, and if anyone can tell me how to post images I can supply them.
George
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