StuG.Brigade 280 Soldbuch, document and photo grouping - wounded Battle of Arnhem

[Panzer Rob]

Hello guys,

I would like to share with you one of my favorite groupings in my military identification document collection, and with today being the eve of the 68th anniversary of Operation Market Garden I figured this would be an appropriate time to post it. It’s an absolutely fantastic grouping to a decorated Sturmartillerie NCO by the name of Hermann Wehner, a StuG.III crewmember who, while serving in Sturmgeschütz-Brigade 280, was wounded in action on 19.September 1944 during the Battle of Arnhem. The grouping consists of Wehner’s original issue Soldbuch, his Erkennungsmarke, several of his award documents, photographs and other paperwork.

I acquired the grouping back in January of this year and have only recently found time to perform some research and put together a presentation, although with the wealth of information available both in print and on the web dealing with Wehner’s unit and its history, gathering info was not quite as time consuming nor challenging as can sometimes be the case with these research projects. Right off the bat I would like to give major credit to Scott Revell, owner of the outstanding Defending Arnhem© website (http://www.defendingarnhem.com/ (and previous owner of the Wehner grouping) as much of the information available on StuG.Brigade 280 and its combat actions in Arnhem during Market Garden was gathered directly from Scott’s website. Also of great value was It Never Snows in September by Robert Kershaw, and Concord Publications German Armored Units at Arnhem September 1944 by Marcel Zwarts. These sources, along with additional information by Martin Block as well as the late Ron Klages found on the Axis History website proved invaluable in regards to assembling this research project.


Hermann Wehner’s Soldbuch was issued on 6.September 1939 via Art.Ers.Abt.152, an artillery training Abteilung established in Gießen on 26.August 1939. Wehner’s original Erkennungsmarke (with #256) was issued through the unit’s 2.(leichte) Kompanie but was later replaced with a new tag - #658 – and is the very same tag which to this day is still a part of the Wehner grouping. The authorizing signature on page 2 of the Soldbuch is that of a Hauptmann Hummel, commander of the Leichte Batterie, Art.Ers.Abt.152.

Wehner’s first field troop assignment was with the 9.Batterie/Art.Rgt.9 of the 9.Infanterie-Division. The 9.Batterie was equipped with 10,5cm le.FH.18 towed artillery pieces. The first dated entry in Wehner’s Soldbuch while he was with Art.Rgt.9 is his promotion to Gefreiter (dated 1.Oct.1940) so I cannot determine whether or not Wehner participated in Operation Fall Gelb with the 9.I.D. He did however partake in the invasion of the Soviet Union. For Operation Barbarossa the 9.Infanterie-Division was under command of the XXXXIV Armee-korps, 6 Armee, Heeresgruppe Süd and took part in the fighting at Mosastyr, battled through the Stalin Line and then the drive towards - and subsequent capture of - Kiev.

On 1.October 1941 Hermann Wehner was promoted to Obergefreiter. Shortly thereafter, while fighting around Poltava along the northern bank of the Dnieper river, Wehner was wounded by a Soviet bullet which went through his left upper ankle. On 17.Oct.1941 Wehner was admitted to Reserve Lazarett Bad Schmiedeberg I and would spend the next 6 months recovering from his wound. Wehner received the Iron Cross 2nd class on 29.October and black wound badge on 10.December 1941.

During his recovery period, Wehner was assigned to schw.Art.Ers.Abt.251 which was stationed in the Hindenburg Kaserne in Siegen, Germany. On page 15 of Wehner’s Soldbuch there is an entry dated 23.Feb. 1943 indicating that Wehner attended training courses at Artillerieschule II in Jüterbog (notice the “Adolf Hitler Lager” stamp on this entry). On 22.May 1942 Wehner was admitted to Reserve Lazarett I in Siegen with a case of Diphtheria and, after recovering, was released exactly one month later. At this point Wehner was transferred to 1.Batterie/le.Art.Ers.Abt.9, also based in Siegen.

One of the studio portraits in the grouping was taken around this time frame and shows a rather drawn looking Wehner wearing a standard issue service tunic with his EKII ribbon and black wound badge. Also shown is an image of a 10,5cm leFH.18 (the type of artillery piece Wehner would have crewed while serving in the 9./Art.Rgt.9), as well as Wehner’s award documents for the black wound badge and the EKII. The EKII document is hand signed by Knights Cross recipient Generalleutnant Siegmund Freiherr von Schleinitz (RK 14.Aug.1943) who appears in the last photo (photo ©www.axishistory.com)

First up, Hermann Wehner's studio portrait and a Bundesarchive photo of a leFH.18
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[Panzer Rob]

Wehner's black wound badge document:

[Panzer Rob]

Wehner's EKII award document, hand signed by Knights Cross recipient Generalleutnant Siegmund Freiherr von Schleinitz (RK 14.Aug.1943):

[Panzer Rob]

In April of 1943 Wehner was transferred to the Sturmartillerie and assigned to Marsch-Btl./Sturmgeschütz-Ersatz-Abt.200 which at that time was based in Schweinfurt. An interesting detail worth mentioning, on 15.July 1943 the Sturmartillerieschule was formed in Zinna (near Jüterbog) from Artillerieschule II – Jüterbog, the same school Wehner had attended just a few months prior.

On 12.September 1943 Wehner was issued field gear through Marsch-Btl./Stu.Gesch.Ers.Abt.200 and was transferred to the newly formed Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 280, and independent Sturmgeschütz unit consisting of a Stabsbatterie and three assault gun batteries of Sturmgeschutz III. Wehner was placed in the 3.Batterie where he would serve as a crewmember in a StuG.III.

Here is some info on StuG.Abt.280 (credit Ron Klages):

“Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 280 was established on 1.August 1943 in Burg, Germany in Wehrkreis XI with three batteries. On 14 February 1944 it was renamed as Sturmgeschütz-Brigade 280. It was known as the "Sword Brigade.

After initial forming in Schweinfurt the unit continued it's combat training and final preparation for combat at Tours in France. While in Tours it was under the temporary command of Hauptmann Heinzle. Many of the members had come from Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 191. The adjutant was Oberleutnant Rossbach, the unit doctor was Dr. Hirtschiz, the shop supervisor was Oberinspektor Gerster and the paymaster was Oberzahlmeister Wachsmuth. On 14 October 1943 the new unit commander arrived, Hauptmann Kurt Kühme.”

On 3.November1943 Wehner was issued a pistol (the make and model is not listed) and two days later, of 5.November he and the rest of StuG.Brigade 280 with 31 StuG.III was activated and deployed to the eastern front where it would quickly be committed to combat:

“On 5 November 1943 the unit departed from Tours, France across Germany to Berditschew Ukraine just to the west and south of Kiev. The unit immediately went into action to defend the road to ****omir. Here they broke through a Soviet encirclement of 1200 Waffen SS trainees 1.5 kilometers south of Sh*tomir and freed they trapped troops.

Next they relocated to the area of Gorodischtsche and from here they attacked toward Kiev and were involved in the actions to push the Soviets back to the Dnjepr River. By Christmas they were in Dorogun and on New Years eve they were nearly overrun by the advancing Soviet forces but in the wild night fighting they were able to stop the enemy literally at the doorsteps of the command headquarters.”

For his participation in the abovementioned battles as a crew member of one of 3./StuG.Brgd.280’s Sturmgeschütz III assault guns, Hermann Wehner was awarded the Allgemeines Sturmabzeichen on 24.December1943. Over the next four months Wehner would participate in the following additional engagements:

“From 12 January 1944 to 1 May 1944 the unit was engaged in constant defensive fighting in the area of Schepetowka to the west of Kiev in the Ukraine. On 8 April 1944, while attached to the 9. SS Panzer-Division, the unit advanced in a relief attack on Tarnopol. By 14 April the Germans had managed to break the Soviet ring around Tarnopol. As a result of these engagements the brigade was nearly decimated and they were pulled back to regroup at Jaroslaw , west of Lemburg.”

On 1.February 1944 Wehner was promoted to Unteroffizier (his Stellengruppe info for this promotion was entered on page 15 and the entry was hand signed by the unit’s paymaster, Oberzahlmeister Wachsmuth). On 14 February 1944 Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 280 was renamed as Sturmgeschütz-Brigade 280.


After regrouping at Jaroslaw, the remnants of StuG.Brgd.280 was pulled from the front lines and sent to Denmark to be reformed and reequipped.

It must have been around this time that Wehner’s portrait photo was taken and applied to the inside front cover of his Soldbuch, and what a photo it is; Wehner is wearing a field gray wrap with litzen style collar tabs and Unteroffizier rank shoulder straps and you can clearly see his GAB and black wound badge on his lower left chest. The photo is rather large and details are quite sharp. Wehner’s face appears tired and dirty and he looks much older than in the earlier portrait photo taken only a few years earlier, this no doubt due to the hellish conditions he experienced fighting on the eastern front.

Here are some scans of Wehner’s Soldbuch - including his portrait photo and units pages - as well as his Erkennungsmarke:

[Panzer Rob]

Wehner's Erkennungsmarke:

[Panzer Rob]

Wehner's Soldbuch - pages 2/3:

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Wehner's Soldbuch - pages 4/5:

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Wehner's Soldbuch - pages 16/17:

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Here are some additional scans of Wehner’s Soldbuch including his gear and weapons issue pages, security check, and page 18 with the signature of StuG.Brig.280s Stabzahlmeister Oberzahlmeister Wachsmuth.<style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:JA;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --> </style>

[Panzer Rob]

The entry for Wehner's pistol:

[Panzer Rob]

More gear and equipment issue entries:

[Panzer Rob]

Page 15 of Wehner's Soldbuch:

[Panzer Rob]

Page 18 showing the signature of Stabzahlmeister Oberzahlmeister Wachsmuth:

[Panzer Rob]

And here are Wehner’s award entries in his Soldbuch for the EKII, black wound badge and GAB:

[Panzer Rob]

And here's a large scan of the portrait photo inside the front cover of Wehner's Soldbuch