Late war casualty Soldbuch

[Diaspora]

Hello all.

Wanted to show you all my latest WWII casualty-Soldbuch. Its always had a special place in my collection, I think it has a lot of character! Just look at his picture, to me thats really the face of a man tired of war.

Nothing fancy, a man who was out of luck a small week before the collapse of the Third Reich

[Diaspora]

He seems to come from Roman in Pommern. A Farmhand?

And he is missing a small piece of his right "pinkie"

[Diaspora]

Wounded by handgrenade 5 times, the last time (16.03.1945) claiming his life on 29th of April 1945.

I have never seen death-entries like this in Soldbücher...does this mean I should be concerned?

[Diaspora]

The awards.

The last 2 entries look bad at first sight, or at least the bad writing made me think this, but the stamps seem to concur with the hospital-stays the soldier had?

[Ian Jewison]

Bruno Gutbrod rests in the War Cemetry Bad Harzburg. Grave location: Row 4 Grave 93

Name: Gutbrod
Vorname: Bruno
Dienstgrad: Obergefreiter
Geburtsdatum: 27.11.1910
Geburtsort: Roman
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 29.04.1945
Todes-/Vermisstenort: Unlisted

/Ian

[Diaspora]

Ian: Thank you very much for the info!

I tried the volksbund, but couldnt find him. I read his name as Gutbrodt.

Does the award entries seem legit?

[Ian Jewison]

Ian: Thank you very much for the info!

I tried the volksbund, but couldnt find him. I read his name as Gutbrodt.

Does the award entries seem legit?

The spelling does seem to look like Gutbrodt, especially on page 1!

Yes awards look ok.

I was trying to work out if he has actually left hospital or died of wounds sustained January 1944.

/Ian

[Diaspora]

I feel kind of stupid, not noticing the hospital admittion dates

The only gap in the hospitalization seems to be 2th to 16th of March 1945.

The -21- entry is "trachoma" according to Emily Caldwell Stewart. What is this?

Thanks again

[Ian Jewison]

I only answered that a couple of hours ago in another thread..uncanny!

Anyway, 21 Trachom is a Fehlernummer or defect number. These are normally entered against medical check ups rather than found on the hospital page, however occasionally they are!

21 as an illness is diarrhea and gastroenteritis....the sh1ts!

/Ian

[Ian Jewison]

Sorry 21 as a defect is a bacterial infection of the eye.....

/Ian

[Diaspora]

Hehe, one way or another. Not pleasant.

I would love to know wether he was admitted to the hospital after 14 days "recovered" from his old wounds, or if he actually got well and was hit again 14 days later. I guess there's no way to know for sure.

Still, I think its a nice piece of "common man history".
Thanks for the help

[Ian Jewison]

The only gap in the hospitalization seems to be 2th to 16th of March 1945.

If you notice on the previous hospital entry 14.12.44-2.3.45, it says Verl.Laz.Zug in the right column which means he was transferred by hospital train so I suspect he was still convalescing in hospital and died of wounds or complications suffered early 1944.
The EK II entry was awarded whilst in hospital, almost a year later!

/Ian

[Diaspora]

Hm, that sounds reasonable. Never noticed that

[Eric JB]

Ian is right about that.

Being wounded in Febr.1944, he went from hospital to hospital, with the same injuries obtained in Febr.1944.

He could have died from the same Febr.1944 wound or complications to that wound later in April 1945.

The Ostrow / Warschau Lazarett shows that he was surgical patient.
The Kolberg Lazarett shows that he was a patient with nerve(s) / mental problems.

So was he hit in his head (brain) or somewhere in his spinal column ?

Best regards

Eric-Jan

[Diaspora]

Hello EJ, and thank you for the info!

His injuries must have been severe, him beeing hospitalized for such a long period of time. Brain or Spinal-damage seems to make sence