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    #1

    Armoured Train Soldbuch

    Here is a soldbuch to a unit that isn't often seen, namely an armoured train - Panzerzug - unit, in this case PZ 64.

    Otto Lohleit begane the war with a heavy artillery unit (s.Art.Abt 506) which saw fighting at the fortress of Modlin. During this fighting Lohleit received splinter injuries which saw his admittance into the Lazarett system where he was to remain until early October 1939, before being re-admitted in early 1940.
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    #2
    After serving with a few replacement & training units he was assigned to the armoured trains, starting with a Panzerzug Ersatz Abteilung at Rembertow before being posted to Panzerzug 64. PZ 64 was established in October 1942 and was ready for action in June 1943 where it was sent to the Croatia & Serbia region, an area it was to spend most of its war. Rembertow, near Warsaw, was home to the training camp for armoured train units and consisted of barracks and firing ranges for the trains.
    The earliest date in the soldbuch with regards to Panzerzug 64 is in fact October 1942 - entry on the uniform issue page (not shown here) - so Lohleit was with Pz 64 from the very start of its life.
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      #3
      In Wolfgang Sawodny's superb book German Armoured Trains 1904-1945 (ISBN: 978-0-7643-3523-5). the actions of PZ 64 are known through the entries in a war diary written by a crew member of one of the trains Panhard armoured cars.

      During his time with PZ 64 Lohleit saw plenty of action and incidents, including on the 31st August 1943 a prisoner excahnge in which 22 German soldiers were exchanged for 60 partisans. The train was also used in Unternehmen Margarethe (the invasion of Hungary in March 1944) as part of Kampfgruppe Brauner, a component of XXII Gebirgs-Armee-Korps. On 15th May 1944, Lohleit won the EK II and in the weeks prior to this PZ 64 had been involved in fighting against partisan occupied areas & villages near Morovic so it is likely that Lohleit won his EK for actions taken during these fights.
      As can be seen, Otto Lohleit also won the General Assault Badge in January 1945.

      Taken from the above mentioned book: "On September 1st 1944 the crew of PZ 64 suffered considerable losses in a low-flying air attack on the Ruma railroad station, but the combat train was only slightly damaged." And again: "On 27 November the armoured train took part with its artillery & AA guns in the fighting around Fuenfkirchen, which lasted until the end of the month; then until 4th December there was withdrawal fighting around Szentloerensz & Szigetvar. From there the train moved on to Barcs the next day, but did not cross the Drava in the direction of Croatia, but was transferred northward again the next day to the Somogyszob region. East of there the Russian advance could be held and the front stabilized. PZ 64 was used for artillery support, mostly in Otvoskonyi, with an advanced observer in Beleg. This activity lasted until February 15th 1945."

      Also shown here is the leave pages which includes a stamp (bottom right as you view the page) showing the FpNr for Panzerzug 64.
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        #4
        The middle & bottom signatures seen on the first image here belong to Werner Sieg who was the commanding officer of Panzerzug 64 from its entry into service until the wars end. I find it interesting that someone with a rank of Oberleutnant was entrusted with the command of such a large unit.

        Towards the end of 1944 and for 1945 PZ 64 saw combat against both partisan & Red Army forces in the South East of Europe and in the final weeks of the war tried to transfer to Austria, reaching Pernegg via Graz on the 8th May 1945 having hit a mine on the 8th April and coming under Russian artillery fire numerous times.

        At midnight on the 8th May 1945 Sieg disbanded the unit. Lohleit survived the war and was taken prisoner as shown by the post war documents , shown here and in the following post.
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          #5
          Post war record of injuries and time spent in Lazaretts and his post war Kennkarte...
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            #6
            And finally 4 pictures of PZ 64 taken from the above mentioned book, which really does seem to be the bible when it comes to the topic (the images are of a better quality in the book then shown here).
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              #7
              On 4th August 1943 PZ 64 captured a Croatian armoured train and on 18th September 1943 PZ 64 hit a mine throwing several cars off the tracks, but these were only slightly damaged
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                #8
                I really like this, and am very interested in this subject, excellent, Steve

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                  #9
                  A very good friend of mine by the name of Henner Lindlar has quite a few Panzerzug Soldbücher in his (simply amazing!) collection, most if not all with portrait photos wearing field gray wraps. Some of these can be seen in this thread: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=347572


                  Rob

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                    #10
                    Great piece here Kevin.....there is indeed something unique and fascinating about these Eisenbahnpanzerzug ID's....one of the very few "sales regrets" I have is selling to a friend of mine a few years back a superb WW 1 Armored Train Soldbuch from a Prussian 'Guards' unit...


                    "Hundestaffel"

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                      #11
                      Interesting unit with great information!
                      Jeff

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                        #12
                        Very interesting Kev!

                        Shame about not having a photo but that is made up by the unit and the fact that he had both an EK and a Sturmabzeichen!

                        Not often seen especially with combat awards!

                        I remember seeing this on the dealers update but you managed to grab it before he even uploaded a photo

                        /Ian
                        Photos/images copyright © Ian Jewison collection

                        Collecting interests: Cavalry units, 1 Kavallerie/24 Panzer Division, Stukageschwader 1

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by Ian Jewison View Post
                          I remember seeing this on the dealers update but you managed to grab it before he even uploaded a photo

                          /Ian
                          Cheers for the comments guys. I bought this when I was going through a train phase, having also bought Wehrpasses to someone assigned to a Lazarettzug and another to a Zugwach Abt around the same time!

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                            #14
                            Not my field of interest but it is a very interesting piece.

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                              #15
                              Yesterday´s find in a former POW camp...

                              @hucks:
                              In post #2, second pic, the unit stamp reads Pz.Zg.Ers.Abt., right?
                              Are you sure this is "Rembertow" in the following column?
                              Maybe you have a close-up of that part?

                              Cheers,
                              taube.
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                              Last edited by taube; 05-07-2012, 05:51 AM.

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