Obgfr. Hengvoß

[Eric JB]

Bart,

Most booklets in collectors hands and on the market do not look so bloody.

Most booklets do show a "clean" war, and all we know is that a soldier survived the war, or was WIA, MIA or KIA, but basicly all those booklets do look the same, from mint to used ones with heavy wear.

Such a bloody booklet brings us closer to that war.

Indeed a sad story, and receiving such an envelope, with a bloodsoaked contents : a bloodstained Soldbuch, bloodstained photos and halve a dogtag must be very hard for the parents.

Thanks for showing.

yours friendly

Eric-Jan

[HouweTrouwe]

Nice grouping! Such a sad story.

In my opinion the blood stains are from his life ending wound. I feel like they would have issued him a new book with that much staining on it. Also it appears that the promotions on pages 1 and 3 were already written before the blood stained it. And those promotions were after his 1944 wounding.

It's indeed a sad, poignant story. I'm also thinking this way, I checked your fact and indeed it is true (I didn't gave it much attention but now I did) that the blood does cover up his last promotion writting, which was written in his soldbuch months after his last wound.

Btw, his last wound was severe enough to have Hans end up in a Kriegslazarett.

[HouweTrouwe]

Bart,

Most booklets in collectors hands and on the market do not look so bloody.

Most booklets do show a "clean" war, and all we know is that a soldier survived the war, or was WIA, MIA or KIA, but basicly all those booklets do look the same, from mint to used ones with heavy wear.

Such a bloody booklet brings us closer to that war.

Indeed a sad story, and receiving such an envelope, with a bloodsoaked contents : a bloodstained Soldbuch, bloodstained photos and halve a dogtag must be very hard for the parents.

Thanks for showing.

yours friendly

Eric-Jan

Eric-Jan,

100 % True . Thanks for the reply, Kd.! I'm actually glad that the family wanted to know what happened to their son and/ or held his belongings in remembrance.

[Napalm]

Thks HT for showing such a sad reminder of a young man who went away and never came back, Its a shame that his relatives didn't cherish it enough to hold onto to it but at least now its in your hands and for that alone I'm sure he would be grateful...

[bsmith56]

Sometimes I think these books are better off in the hands of collectors then the family... Not a knock on the families, but a lot of times they just have no interest in preserving old documents from their relatives and just see it as junk. Especially if they don't know a lot about soldier. Better off in the hands of trusted collectors (curators)!

[HouweTrouwe]

Sometimes I think these books are better off in the hands of collectors then the family... Not a knock on the families, but a lot of times they just have no interest in preserving old documents from their relatives and just see it as junk. Especially if they don't know a lot about soldier. Better off in the hands of trusted collectors (curators)!

I think it got in the dealers hand when Joachim Hengvoss died. The father of Hans, he is also submitted in Hans his Soldbuch. Don't know how exactly it came in the dealers hand, could be that any other related family got it and sold it or that no-one of the family was interested in it. Keeping it in remembrance since now.

[71GrenadierDivi]

Sometimes I think these books are better off in the hands of collectors then the family... Not a knock on the families, but a lot of times they just have no interest in preserving old documents from their relatives and just see it as junk. Especially if they don't know a lot about soldier. Better off in the hands of trusted collectors (curators)!

[Lionel H.]

Hi Houwe ! I really appreciate this Group, for all reasons cited before, and two others :
1) The VGR.1226 is a rare, late unit. Mr. G. Tessin himself, the greatest Specialist from the German Army ever; was not sure how it was created !! but his suppositions are confirmed by your Soldbuch : From Gren.Ers.u.Ausb.Btl.520 aus Rendsburg, himself collection Recruits from G.E.B.26 (Schleswig) and 376 (Rendsburg). The Depot unit was located in Neumünster. This Rgt from the 190.I.D. (which tactical emblem were the Town-Arms from Neumünster) suffered heavy casualties in Holland and then the Ruhrkessel (D).
2) The greatest Point is the "bag" in which all parts of the Group were sent 1948 to his Next-of-Kin. It means that, in spite of the critical Situation in Germany at the Date where this Soldier lost his Life, his Comrades took carefully all his "Nachlasssachen", transmitted it to their Commanding Officers. Then, all was sent to Berlin to the "WASt" (Wehrmacht Auskunfte Stelle für die Benachrichtingung der nächsten Angehörigen von Gefallenen det deutschen Wehrmacht). In Spite of "Ground 0" after May8th 1945, all Researches were made (for him and many thousand other Soldiers...) efficiently... which allows to sent the Nachlasssachen to his Family. It quite difficult to imagine the Feelings of this Family, 3 Years after the Death, receiving documents soiled with Blood from their Son....
Thanks for sharing. Lionel.

[12thPanzer]

Hi Houwe ! I really appreciate this Group, for all reasons cited before, and two others :
1) The VGR.1226 is a rare, late unit. Mr. G. Tessin himself, the greatest Specialist from the German Army ever; was not sure how it was created !! but his suppositions are confirmed by your Soldbuch : From Gren.Ers.u.Ausb.Btl.520 aus Rendsburg, himself collection Recruits from G.E.B.26 (Schleswig) and 376 (Rendsburg). The Depot unit was located in Neumünster. This Rgt from the 190.I.D. (which tactical emblem were the Town-Arms from Neumünster) suffered heavy casualties in Holland and then the Ruhrkessel (D).
2) The greatest Point is the "bag" in which all parts of the Group were sent 1948 to his Next-of-Kin. It means that, in spite of the critical Situation in Germany at the Date where this Soldier lost his Life, his Comrades took carefully all his "Nachlasssachen", transmitted it to their Commanding Officers. Then, all was sent to Berlin to the "WASt" (Wehrmacht Auskunfte Stelle für die Benachrichtingung der nächsten Angehörigen von Gefallenen det deutschen Wehrmacht). In Spite of "Ground 0" after May8th 1945, all Researches were made (for him and many thousand other Soldiers...) efficiently... which allows to sent the Nachlasssachen to his Family. It quite difficult to imagine the Feelings of this Family, 3 Years after the Death, receiving documents soiled with Blood from their Son....
Thanks for sharing. Lionel.

Very interesting facts.
i was also thinking that it must have been a hard decision for hans comrades whether to send the blood stained book to the parents or not. A reason why i think they specifically sent it to the fatheer so he could decide what to do with it.
Thank u for sharing this bart. A sad but chilling truth of the items we collect and preserve in rememberance

[HouweTrouwe]

Due my growing 12 SS HJ collection and research work I had to do this away. I am really sad doing this away, I really mean it . Luckily this is going to a good home, where it also will be kept in good remembrance. Thanks for that new owner!

Thanks 708 V G D !