Missing a document builds an all different story!

[Ian Jewison]

Here's a Soldbuch I bought not so long a ago to Gefreiter Anton Bollen. The main reason for my buying it was because he served on Guernsey in the Channel Islands from 1941 until late 1943.

However, if this was the Soldbuch on it's own it would have built a different story.

Key dates/timeline shows the following units. Duplicated units between time periods are omitted just to show:

7.2.1941 - 3 Kp. Pi.Ers.Btl. 253
5.9.41 - Stabskp. Pi.Ers.Btl. 253
21.11.41 - 4 Kp. MG Btl. 16
20.12.43 - III Btl. Gren.Rgt. 857
8.2.44 - Frontleitstelle 8 (Rouen)
24.2.44 - Frontleitstelle 6
14.3.44 - 3 KriegsLazarett 684
22.3.44 - 1 Kriegslazarett 608
5.5.44 - Reserve Lazarett Lötzen
9.5.44 - Reserve Lazarett Bad Lausick
26.11.44 - Reserve Lazarett VI Leipzig
24.2.45 - Reserve Lazarett Bad Lausick

1941-1943 he served with 4 Kp. MG. Btl. 16, an independent Army Troops units under 319 Inf.Div. in the Channel Islands. 1-3 Kp. were stationed on Jersey with 4 Kp. on Guernsey.
Autumn/winter 1943 he transferred to 11 Kp. Gren.Rgt. 857 of 347 Inf.Div. in Holland (Ijmuiden).

[Ian Jewison]

Page 12-13 indicates he was wounded by grenade splinters 14.3.1944 and was pretty much hospitalised for the rest of the war.

So, what happened in Ijmuiden in March 1944 to warrant this injury?

Internet searchs pretty much only showed an air raid on the Schnellboot pens in Ijmuiden but this was the 26th of the month!!!

[Ian Jewison]

The time line shows clearly he received a clothing issue on 8.2.1944 from Frontleitstelle 8 which at the time was in Rouen, France.

However the next date he was with Frontleitstelle 6 on 24.2.44....can not find much about this but earlier in the war was in Orscha.

However, with the wound badge citation his unit is reported as:

FP Nr. 18560 B - 1 Kp. Regimentsgruppe 482

This was part of Divisionsgruppe 262, Korps-Abteilung D fighting around Witebsk/Smolensk at the time!

The awarding unit was:

FP Nr. 45232 - 1. Kriegslazarett Kriegslazarett-Abteilung 608

This unit is recorded on page 12!

So according to the Soldbuch he was with a unit stationed in Holland and wounded ......to being transferred to the east attached to the remnants of 262 Inf.Div.!!!!

Obviously he was not with this unit for much more than a month so the entry was not made in his Soldbuch. How one document can change the whole outlook of this group! How many others do we have in our collections with a similar story?


/Ian

[Ian Jewison]

The whole group......

[InfanterieSammler]

Very interesting Ian!

A recent story I can share relates to my of my RKT groups. The group came with all the award documents including a DK Prelim, but no Formal DK Urkunde. I was told by the dealer, that this was all the family had, so I had resigned myself to never owning the DK formal for this soldier.

Eventually, I was able to establish correspondence with the son and we talked for a couple of years. He sold me a few photos and I even visited him one year while in Germany. While doing some research on the group one day, I remembered this document informing the soldier that the "Urkunde" for the DK had been mailed to him. Now knowing that he was actually issued a Formal, I emailed the son and asked him - "Have you ever seen your father's Formal DK Urkunde"? The next day I received an email, "Of course, I still have it here." I was stunned! The son had decided to keep a few items after all. He even hid this from me while I visited him the previous year. I was surprised for sure, but happy to know that the document still existed. So this one little document lead to a major discovery for me...

JD

[InfanterieSammler]

Two years later, I became the proud owner of this.

JD

[JeremyJ]

..

Ian

Nice group and interesting story to go along!

Thanks for showing.
Jeremy

[Luft 76]

Autumn/winter 1943 he transferred to 11 Kp. Gren.Rgt. 857 of 347 Inf.Div. in Holland (Ijmuiden).

Hello

Sorry, but Gren. Regt. 857 was part of 346.ID, not 347. That error is on "Lexiquon der Wh". So, it is logic that this man received some things in Frontleitstelle 8 of Rouen, because 346.ID stationned not far away from this town, in "département de Seine Inférieure" (upper Normandy). The division arrived there early 44 and stayed until the DDay. That man was probably wounded during an air attack (31b). I must look if the KriegsLaz. 3/684 was not in the area.
But it is very strange that he received some things few days later in Russia. And his unit was not there ! Probably on error of year... Very common, as you certainly know. But there is still the problem of the Verwundete Besitzeugnis, with FP 18560...
Can you show the pages with the two Frontleitstelle entries ?

[Ian Jewison]

Thanks for the info,

So that still puts him in the west according to the Soldbuch entry. However as mentioned Frontleitstelle 6 was in the east as was the unit on the Wound Badge document.
Also the issuing unit 1. Kriegslazarett Kriegslazarett-Abteilung 608 from what I can find which is also in the Soldbuch appears to have been under Heeresgruppe Nord at the time.

I don't think there is a problem with this....just the unit was never put in the Soldbuch due him being there for 4-5 weeks only.

Will scan the entries in a short while.

/Ian

[Luft 76]

I don't think there is a problem with this....just the unit was never put in the Soldbuch due him being there for 4-5 weeks only.

/Ian

Probably the best explanation, indeed. My word problem was not pejorativ, in fact. For us, foreigners, a real discution in english but about german items is not always easy, because of the vocabulary !

[Ian Jewison]

My word problem was not pejorativ, in fact. For us, foreigners, a real discution in english but about german items is not always easy, because of the vocabulary !

I often can think of the word in German but not what the word is in English......I know its not easy

Here are the scans you were after.....just noticed something I did not before on the FP Nr. on page 20.

Firstly page 6-7 showing kit issues from FP Nr. 21535 T on 8.2.1944.

Secondly page 20-21 showing:
1. Same FP Nr. as above receiving Ffr 228.- Wehrsold on 11.2.1944.
2. RM 15.- Wehrsold on 24.2.1944 from Frontleitstelle 6.
3. What I did not notice was this FP Nr., which is the same unit as the FP Nr. in 1. Just he was there on 1.12.1941 also.

FP Nr.47311
(1.10.1940-27.2.1941) Frontsammelstelle H Sens,
(28.2.1941-29.7.1941) Frontsammelstelle H Rouen,
(30.7.1941-28.2.1942) Frontsammelstelle 8,
(8.9.1942-11.3.1943) gestrichen, wurde Fp.Nr. 21535 T,

Sammel-Feldpostnummer 21535 (Rouen)
(1.5.1942-19.10.1942) Frontsammelstelle 8,
(10.1.1943-26.9.1943) Frontleitstelle 8,
(18.5.1944-19.12.1944) 14.11.1944 gestrichen., wurde Fp.Nr. 66482.

/Ian

[Luft 76]

Thanks.
New development indeed. With a little surprise because 346.ID was only formed from end of september 42, and in Britany (Coëtquidan training camp). So, he cannot have received money in Rouen with that unit and that time. In these conditions, it was probably with his first reserve unit or MG Batl. 16, during a transfer.
In any case, it's very surprising that he was sent in Russia in early 44, to a heavily scattered unit (remants of 262.ID), and in a time where his former division, 346.ID, was "waiting" for allied landing in Normandy.

[Ian Jewison]

From the time line I present at the beginning of this thread you can already see he was with MG Btl. 16.

December 1941 he had been with his unit for a short period of time if he was already taking leave. What is interesting on 11.12.1941 (my mistake I noted 1.12.1941 in previous thread) he passed through Rouen. Either late home from leave or perhaps on his way back for a course? I would imagine the latter otherwise he would have ended up in jail!!!

His home leave started 24.11.1941 until 9.12.1941 and as you know the port for entry/departure for the Channel Islands was St. Malo.

FP Nr. 38200
(2.1.1940-27.4.1940) 4. Kompanie MG-Sperr-Bataillon,
(28.4.1940-19.9.1940) 4. Kompanie MG-Bataillon 16.

/Ian