Battered Kroatien Gebirgs Brig. Soldbuch

[Lee Luke]

Hi

A very tattered soldbuch to a veteran of the 6 Gebirgs Division and then transferred to the Kroatien Gebirgs Brigade in late 1944. Four awards and a lot entries. Missing page 6-7. He only was given a chance to go home 4 times , one a year, last one ending Dec. 8 , 1944.

[Lee Luke]

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[Rose Heppler]

Very nice booklet, I have a soft spot for Mountain troopers

[Jochen1000]

Geb.

Interesting soldbuch Lee! I see there is a stamp of Res. Pi. Btl. 86 on page 15. The reason for this is that the 187. Reservedivision (of which is was part of) was in charge of raising and training the 1. and 4. Croat. Gebirgs Brigaden from mid 1943 on.

Res. Pi. Btl. 86 was heavily involved in that process (as a reserve unit training new troops was their main reason of being anyway). They constantly organized training courses for German and Croatian troops to teach them in the use of weapons, tactics an so on. The unit seems to have had a high percentage of relatively experienced soldiers who were no longer able to do frontline duties but who were still able to fight. Res. Pi. Btl. 86 was also involved in anti partisan operations constantly.

What surprises me is that your guy was obviously left behind when his own unit (187.) left Kroatia by the end of 1944. I would not have expected that.

It seems that he was attached to the 4. Kroat. Geb. Brigade. - below a few scans of how the unit looked in August 1943.

[Jochen1000]

Geb.

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[JUNGCO]

Lee,
Now that's my kind of Soldbuch. All beat up and need of research.
Jeff

[Lee Luke]

Thanks for the responses.

Jeff, I like them beat up also, but an attached cover is a plus.

Michael, thanks for the info. I knew about the Res. Btl being involved with anti-partisan ops but that Kroat. Training function. I have found info about the Kampfgruppe he was with but not much about the kr geb brig.