Hello,
Recently I picked up this Soldbuch, I think I was luckily one of the first persons who saw it. Despite he arrived after D-Day it is a nice unit, but I am always willing to a (partly) trade for special D-Day Soldbucher(21 P.D. or FJR 6). He served a long time as a policeman so maybe he was send to the division to control the "little boys" in the division.
The Soldbuch is complete, only the photo missed.
Werner Renz was born on 28.09.1913 in Hemsbach, in the south of Germany. He was married with Elfriede Zwischenberg and he lived in München. In his normal life he was a policeman. As a policeman he was directly involved with the “Einmarsch” of Austria and later Sudetenland. His Soldbuch was opened on 30.04.1940. His first unit was “(Ersatz) / Polizei Regiment 1 der SS Polizei Division” based in Hohenstadt(March). He started his military career as Unteroffizier and was promoted on 01.10.1940 to Feldwebel. In 1941 he was transferred to “Kommandeur der Ersatz Einheiten der SS Polizei Division” and was on 01.11.1941 promoted to Oberfeldwebel. He stayed in this unit till early 1942 when he was transferred to “Der Befehlshaber der Waffen SS in den Niederlanden” based in Apeldoorn. Now he also get an official SS rank: SS-Hauptscharführer ( in the Wehrmacht Oberfeldwebel) , a kind of a platoon/squad leader. In the early 1943 the 12 SS. Panzer Division Hitlerjugend was raised. The division would be manned by soldiers of 16/17/18 years old trained by hardened, experienced SS veterans of the east front. It was trained from 1943 till April 1944 in Belgium. Werner Renz wasn’t with the division when they were trained but in that time he was still in Holland. In 1943 he was 2 months in SS Lazarett Dachau with skin problems. In January and February 1944 he was again 20 days in SS Lazarett Dachau. Short after this he was prepared finally to join a “feld-unit”. You can see he was poorly equipped, he had no Helmet, Feldmütze, Gloves/handschuhe, Kochgeschirr etc. etc. But on 04.03.1944 you can see he was equipped very well, he get a Stahlhelm, Feldmütze, Schnürschuhe, Schnürstiefel, Gloves, a Zeltbahn with accessories and many more. He was ready to go and shortly afterwards he was send to the rest of the 12 SS. Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. The division was send to Normandy in May 1944 in the area of Evreux – Bernay – Chambois – Thun, prepared to counterattack an Allied invasion. He joined the 2 (Fu)./ SS Panzer Nachrichten Abteilung 12. In the following replies I will tell more about the fights in Normandy , Ardennes and Hungary.
He get the:
- Medaille zür erinnerung a.d. 13.03.1938
- Medaille zür erinnerung a.d. 01.10.1938
- Polizei - Dienstauszeichung III Stufe für 8 jahrige Dienst Zeit
- KVK 2e klasse mit schwertern
Recently I picked up this Soldbuch, I think I was luckily one of the first persons who saw it. Despite he arrived after D-Day it is a nice unit, but I am always willing to a (partly) trade for special D-Day Soldbucher(21 P.D. or FJR 6). He served a long time as a policeman so maybe he was send to the division to control the "little boys" in the division.
The Soldbuch is complete, only the photo missed.
Werner Renz was born on 28.09.1913 in Hemsbach, in the south of Germany. He was married with Elfriede Zwischenberg and he lived in München. In his normal life he was a policeman. As a policeman he was directly involved with the “Einmarsch” of Austria and later Sudetenland. His Soldbuch was opened on 30.04.1940. His first unit was “(Ersatz) / Polizei Regiment 1 der SS Polizei Division” based in Hohenstadt(March). He started his military career as Unteroffizier and was promoted on 01.10.1940 to Feldwebel. In 1941 he was transferred to “Kommandeur der Ersatz Einheiten der SS Polizei Division” and was on 01.11.1941 promoted to Oberfeldwebel. He stayed in this unit till early 1942 when he was transferred to “Der Befehlshaber der Waffen SS in den Niederlanden” based in Apeldoorn. Now he also get an official SS rank: SS-Hauptscharführer ( in the Wehrmacht Oberfeldwebel) , a kind of a platoon/squad leader. In the early 1943 the 12 SS. Panzer Division Hitlerjugend was raised. The division would be manned by soldiers of 16/17/18 years old trained by hardened, experienced SS veterans of the east front. It was trained from 1943 till April 1944 in Belgium. Werner Renz wasn’t with the division when they were trained but in that time he was still in Holland. In 1943 he was 2 months in SS Lazarett Dachau with skin problems. In January and February 1944 he was again 20 days in SS Lazarett Dachau. Short after this he was prepared finally to join a “feld-unit”. You can see he was poorly equipped, he had no Helmet, Feldmütze, Gloves/handschuhe, Kochgeschirr etc. etc. But on 04.03.1944 you can see he was equipped very well, he get a Stahlhelm, Feldmütze, Schnürschuhe, Schnürstiefel, Gloves, a Zeltbahn with accessories and many more. He was ready to go and shortly afterwards he was send to the rest of the 12 SS. Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. The division was send to Normandy in May 1944 in the area of Evreux – Bernay – Chambois – Thun, prepared to counterattack an Allied invasion. He joined the 2 (Fu)./ SS Panzer Nachrichten Abteilung 12. In the following replies I will tell more about the fights in Normandy , Ardennes and Hungary.
He get the:
- Medaille zür erinnerung a.d. 13.03.1938
- Medaille zür erinnerung a.d. 01.10.1938
- Polizei - Dienstauszeichung III Stufe für 8 jahrige Dienst Zeit
- KVK 2e klasse mit schwertern
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