Soldbuch Normandy KIA Story..1

[Adrian]

A very simple but moving tale of an 'ordinary' (if that term ever applies) soldier and very well researched.
Is Gefr Christmann one of the KIA pictured?

[Lynton Battrick]

Great research!!

Another fantastic piece of research! I take it you got this Soldbuch from the veteran or family of the veteran?

[Eric JB]

Hi Daniele,

Well done again my friend, you know how to tell a soldier's history with some nice research to it !

yours friendly

Eric-Jan

[Daniele C]

Thank you very much Guys!To see other people,not necessarely collectors,Enjoying my storys is the thing that makes me happy and willing to research these soldbuchs

This Soldbuch comes from a Friend of mine Steve K. member of this Forum who got it from the Ohio Veteran i mentioned above!

Unfortunately I dont HAve at least not yet a picture of Gefreiter Christmann nor the Ohio Vet who Killed Christmann.

I hope WASt will help me


Daniele

[mbberlin]

Very interesting and touching story.

One of millions of poor guys who had to die for "nothing".

[clevischi]

Really nice apresentation. Thank you for so nice history.

[SiPo]

Thank you Daniele C.

[Robert T.]

A very nice presentation,

Thank you !!!
________________
Robert

[Paul Giva]

Very moving, Daniele. Thank you for sharing it with us.

[240stevek]

NICE THREAD DANIELE!!!

I am very glad I traded the book to you.
A girlfriend who is into the occult said there is "More than 1 bitter Spirt" still with the book.
To me it was just a very unique souvenir from the Battle for Normandy.

Steve

[Daniele C]

Thanks again Guys!

Steve,Thanks to let me know now i have an haunted house
Thanks again to have traded it with me

Other Similar Stories i posted so far in the WAF:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...normandy+story

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...normandy+story

Daniele

[Panzer Rob]

As the new owner of this Soldbuch, I just have to say that it is a very, very sobering piece of History. Daniele did an amazing job presenting it here, and when I read through the thread when it was first posted, I thought to myself, "If he ever sells that Soldbuch, I'm going for it."

Well, as luck would have it, he decided to sell and I managed to add it to my collection. It will complement my other "D-Day/Normandy invasion" Soldbücher and just I want to thank Daniele for the hassle-free transaction, and for helping me add yet another KIA-Normandy Soldbuch to my collection.

It is now a goal of mine to attempt to track down a photo of Herr Christmann, and I'd like to see if maybe there's one contained in his files at WASt. If anyone can help recommend a way to contact them to see if it is possible to get copies of Christmann's records, I'd like to hear from you. I've been told that unless you are close/immediate family they won't even talk to you... Any recommendations or advice?

As for the "bitter spirits" Steve mentioned, well... So far I haven't sensed anything but we'll see what happens

Rob

[Ysto]

Hi Daniele,

Very sad story wich resumed perfectly horror of the war.

Ysto

[Panzer Rob]

Until I had this Soldbuch in hand, I wondered why the last leave entry was entered on page 24 with the bottom area on page 23 - where the bullet hole is - left blank.

I thought that perhaps the bullet hole in the Soldbuch was from a very lucky "miss" from Christmann's combat time on the eastern front; why else would there be a entry on page 24 without anything listed at the bottom of page 23? If the bullet hole was already there, the clerk would have naturally turned the page and used the other side of the page that was undamaged.

Well... Inside the rear flap of the Soldbuch I found this small strip of paper:

[Panzer Rob]

As you can see, it was originally pasted onto page 23, as evidenced by the imprint left from the ink on page 22: