Lets see your Panzer crew member Soldbuchs

[cpt1992]

19th Pz Division Signals Crewmember

Unfortunately I didn't download a few of the fotos from this soldbuch that I thought I had. I previewed the post but apparently didn't submit.

Rob: On page 3 he is listed as being in the 2. /Pz NA 19 with the date of 14./8. 44 which puts him in about the right timeframe you mentioned.
I am sort of confused regarding the stamp on the foto. I can't find him working in the Werkstattkomp 1/19. The signature on the foto matches the one in the book. Thoughts?

Good catch on the 920th KIA StuG foto. The soldbuch is a "replacement" and I suspect it probably came from his original soldbuch.

I have an AK panzer commander soldbuch but the individual before he was captured took a razor and removed alot of the unit information.By studying page 4 you would never know he was a crewmember as I believe his unit is listed as a signals unit. It came however with a fotoalbum and you can follow his career from Pz ABw to Signals to Pz Crewmember. I may post it later as there would be alot to discus. He did win the IC1 and PAB.

[Panzer Rob]

Very nice everybody!!!Keep it going!!

JA WOHL !!!



Here are some shots of a little group of mine to a Panzer-Artillery Officer who served first in the 13.Panzer Division and then Panzer-Division “Feldherrnhalle-2”


Ernst Reinhardt was born on 29.April 1919 and by the age of 18 had enlisted in the German Wehrmacht. He was placed in the Artillerie and by 1938 was serving in Artillerie-Regiment 13 of the 13. Infanterie-Division.

Reinhardt participated in the annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938, the invasion of Poland in 1939, the invasion of France and the western countries in 1940 and - after a short stay in Romania during the winter of 1940/41 the invasion of the Soviet Union in June of 1941. In just under 6 years he rose from the rank of Gefreiter to Leutnant and served the entire war with the same unit, miraculously without ever receiving one combat related wound. All in all, Reinhardt was awarded the Czech Annexation medal on 25.Okt.1938, the Romanian Faithful Service Cross on 27.May 1941, the KVK.II mit schwr. On 14.Feb.1942, the Eastern Front Medal on 03.Aug.1942 and the Iron Cross second class on 10.December 1943.

What’s interesting about this group is that it includes two Soldbücher – both his original and second issue books.

Reinhardt’s original Soldbuch was issued on 18.August 1939 through the Stab of Art.Rgt.13, 13.Infanterie-Division(mot.) with whom he participated in the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and then France in 1940. On 11.October 1940, the 13.I.D. was re-designated 13.Panzer-Division and Art.Rgt.13 became Pz.Art.Rgt.13. Reinhardt served in the 7. and then 4.Batteries from October 1940 through late August of 1944 when he was transferred briefly to Sicherungs-Regimentsstab 93 (for what reason I do not know!) However, this transfer helped Reinhardt avoid participating in the Battle of Budapest during the winter of 1944/1945 which may have very well saved his life, as very few members of the 13.Panzer-Division (or 'anyone' for that matter) managed to survive the battle, siege and subsequent break out.

As of mid-January 1945 Reinhardt was on his way to Neutra, Slovakia (northwest of Budapest) to rejoin what was left of the 13.Panzer-Division. Because Reinhardt’s Zweitschrift Soldbuch was issued in the field through the III./Panzer-Art.-Rgt.13 on 10.March 1945, this tells me that he was part of the second wave of personnel from the remnants of the shattered 13.Panzer.Division that were used to form Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment Feldherrnhalle 2, which took place on 21.April 1945 (the first wave, the II.Bn/Pz.Art.Rgt.13 was sent to Panzer-Division "Feldherrnhalle 2" just a few weeks earlier on 14.Feb.1945.) No doubt the majority of Reinhardt's comrades were killed in and around Budapest and it must have been a very sad and painful reunion when he rejoined what was left of his once powerful and proud division.

On 01.May 1945 Reinhardt was promoted to Leutnant while serving with Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment “Feldherrnhalle 2” which was outfitted with a mix of towed and self-propelled artillery pieces, including the Wespe and Hummel, although how many –if any- Hummels or Wespes the Regiment had at its disposal at this time I do not know. It was with Pz.Art.Rgt. “FHH-2” that Reinhardt witnessed his last few days of combat in Slovakia and the upper Danube, and – thanks to the very clever Hauptman von Lettow-Vorbeck and Generalmajor Dr. Franz Bäke - managed to avoid capture by the Soviets:

“On May 8th, 1945, after receiving the order to capitulate at Budweis in Bohemia, the G-1 of the division, Oberst Schoeneich, contacted the CO of an American division that had reached the area (identity unknown), Major General Butler, to surrender the division to him rather than Soviet forces only a few miles away. When it became obvious that Gen. Butler (whether under orders or acting on his own initiative) was about to hand the men of the division over to the Russians, Hptm. von Lettow-Vorbeck, adjutant to Gen. Baeke, who spoke English, used a brilliant ruse to fool the American general. With Gen. Baeke sitting in his jeep unbeknownst to the Americans, the captain told Gen. Butler that the HQ of the division which Gen. Butler was anxious to see was some miles away to the east, whereupon the general and his retinue promptly roared off in that direction. The German officers and all the men with them went off in the opposite direction to go into U.S. captivity some miles further west, thus avoiding long years of imprisonment in Soviet death camps in Siberia.”

Inside the rear flap of his Zweitschrift Soldbuch I found a small document issued in Kaltenbrunn on 20.May 1945 permitting Reinhardt to travel to Unseburg, Germany. The reason: homeward journey. Reinhardt was one of the lucky ones traveling with Generalmajor Bäke and the others that day.



One of many little details worth pointing out: notice that the Romanian Faithful Service cross entered in Reinhardt's first issue Soldbuch (Serviciu Credincios Kreuz 2.Kl) was not included on the awards page when his Zweitschrift Soldbuch was issued, as by this time I am sure any Romanian medals/awards would have been rescinded. Same can be said for the photos – he’s wearing the ribbon on his ribbon bar in the earlier photo, but not in the second.

Reinhardt's pre-war Führerschein was issued on 20.January 1938 qualifying him to drive class III and II vehicles. It is hand-signed by Regimental commander Oberst Otto-Thile von Kalm, and while hard to see from these pictures, in the photo attached to the Führerschein you can clearly make out the embroidered ‘13’ on Reinhardt’s shoulder straps.

This group also consists of Reinhardt’s Erkennungsmarke and about a half-dozen photographs. The original “complete” grouping also included Reinhardt’s photo album, but that was split off when the grouping was offered publicly and sold individually. Thanks to Ian Jewison I now know its current whereabouts!)

I must thank my good friend Keith Williams at HMS Brinmaric for helping me acquire this portion of the group. I am very happy to have it in my collection.

Rob








First issue Soldbuch:






























Second-issue Soldbuch:

[JUNGCO]

Rob,
Always the best! How can anyone compete with you guys.
Jeff

[Panzer Rob]

Rob,
Always the best! How can anyone compete with you guys.
Jeff

Jeff- Thanks so much for the kind words! Coming from you that is a true complement!

Yes, there have been some incredible pieces posted here... My favorite so far is Jim's (or PzV's) s.Pz.Abt.510 "PAB 25" Soldbuch to Herr Weller with the 4 allied tank kills in 1945. I'd kill to have that one in my collection



Hopefully we'll see even more Panzer, Panzerjäger, StuG, Aufkl. etc. vehicle crew member IDs posted


Rob

[Daniele C]

Rob,

This one as well is a killer piece with both of his soldbuch!IT s strange the fact that you werent able to get his wehrpass as well?maybe the family decided to hold on to it and give away the soldbuchs?Try contact them

My favourite for the moment even tho lots of SBs are very impressive,is Thomas RK Panzer...

[cpt1992]

Normandy 1344th StuGesch. Abt soldbuch

Replacement soldbuch for a StuG soldier from the 344th Infantry Division
1344th SturmGesch. Abt. The 344th was based in France along the channel coast in 1944.

[cpt1992]

Normandy 1344th StuGesch. Abt soldbuch

Units of assignment

[cpt1992]

Normandy 1344th StuGesch. Abt soldbuch

A note on page 8 confirms that a tank ran over his man-hole (foxhole) on 28 June 1944.

An MP 40 was also issued to this soldier.

[cpt1992]

Normandy 1344th StuGesch. Abt soldbuch

Soldier ended the war fighting in "Einheit Vath". Information not available in reference sources.

[Daniele C]

Erich,

This one is my favourite !!!!Super!!!!

[F L Clemens]

A note on page 8 confirms that a tank ran over his man-hole (foxhole) on 28 June 1944. ...

Just for those who might misunderstand - this was a training event, not a recognition for a combat action. Letting yourself be overrolled was usually the first step in anti-tank training. The trainee would then be expected to jump out of the foxhole and attack the tank from the rear with a bundled or shaped charge. In addition to be a training event, it was also considered to be a Mutprobe or test of courage just like jumping off a tower.

[F L Clemens]

Awards

The signature for the EKI looks like that of Oberst Hans Christern while he was commander of PR35 in 4.PD.

[F L Clemens]

Originally Posted by rbminis
I was just wondering if anyone would have any idea what would have become of Soldbuchs that were taken from German POWs by Americans. I can not believe that after they were processed, that they would have just been thrown in the trash.
Again, really enjoy this thread,
Ralph Boos.

Anybody have any ideas on this, please?

The quick and dirty answer to this question is that anything and everything you could imagine happened to them - trashed, returned to prisoner, burned, kept as souvenirs, used to light cigars, toilet paper, etc.

Remember the Soldbuch was never intended to be a permanent document by the Germans and by no means were they seen as a "hot item" by the GIs in general. Soldbuchs weren't even sexy to modern collectors until the 90's really.

We are lucky for those that survived.

[Ian Jewison]

A note on page 8 confirms that a tank ran over his man-hole (foxhole) on 28 June 1944. ...

Just for those who might misunderstand - this was a training event, not a recognition for a combat action. Letting yourself be overrolled was usually the first step in anti-tank training. The trainee would then be expected to jump out of the foxhole and attack the tank from the rear with a bundled or shaped charge. In addition to be a training event, it was also considered to be a Mutprobe or test of courage just like jumping off a tower.

Something common for this unit...here is the entry to a member of Stab, Panzerjäger Abteilung 344

/Ian

[christof]

An other nice group from a Stabsfeldwebel of the 2./Pz. Jäg. Abt. 238


By judex232