Soldbuch TANK KILLER / Panzerknacker 559.V.G.D. Westfront 1945 !

[Lionel H.]

Hi Guys. Happy to see your Interest for this great Book. And yes, I will do my best to meet him quickly, problem is the Weather now, I would prefer to raise in Summertime, but there is a Risk it will be too late....

Yes Jason I dared to ask, It seems he gave (Gift) the SB for Years to a militaria Collector of his Area...... He was quite surprised that a french called him and said "I have your Soldbook now".....and spoke about his "Tank-Kill" so many Years after the War.... But I think he was then glad to see my Interest for it.....Now it is urgent for me to discover the R.T.B. (Régiments-Tagebuch) and to see what is wrtiien there about this Tank Destruction. The SB clarly mentionned ""Verleihung gemäss R.T.B. 2.45 (Gren.Rgt.1127", then it appears it is sure that this Act is mentioned. Probably will the Vet dicover this Document too !! That would be a great Intreduction to our future Meeting !!

The surprise was also quite enormous for me as I learned he was still living, believe me !!
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[Luis22]

No wonder he can not hear panzerfaust are really loud..!!
Fantastic historic record you have there..you should try posting a picture of this gentleman now days..

[JUNGCO]

Lionel
Good luck on your journey!
Jeff

[Angel Farré]

Very nice book and more with the luck of finding the original owner, I hope you can meet him soon and record all his experiences during the war.

Nice to see the leave for detroying the tank, interesting I have a similar book,but my soldier was given 20 days of leave.

Can wait to hear more from this.

Angel

[Lionel H.]

Yes Angel, 20 days, perhaps it was more usual in 42-43, but there, 1945, I just wonder he got so many time Holydays, his Unit was probably very weakened after "Nordwind", and "motivated" Soldiers were probably needed in first front Lines. However, getting 2 Weeks Holydays at this Time of the War was probably a great Award, much more important that the Decoration on the right Arm.

[Angel Farré]

Lionel my soldier was a Gefreiter in Breslau in 1.945 and received 20 days travel free, you can check the Soldbuch in the following link.

Angel

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=432297

[Lionel H.]

Yes.... that's quite wondering, it seems that this "special Holydays" were given until the end of th War, one more Proof that destroyed a tank "single-handed" was considered as a rare act of Bravery until the End.... Interesting indeed, tks for the Link Angel.

[Edward]

Nice Soldbuch Lionel. Will be interesting to learn further information from the veteran.

Here is some information regarding the area in which the veteran was fighting. I am particularly interested from the Allied standpoint of what occurred. It may even be possible to find out which unit the Sherman tank belonged to if the veteran can roughly recall the location.

Here is some information which may help on that end.

"Report Concerning the Participation of the 559th Volks-Grenadier Division in Operation 'NORDWIND,'" by Generalmajor (Brigadier General) Kurt Freiherr von der Mühlen. (Freiherr = Baron). MS B-429, 1947. The 559th VGD was the outfit that hit the 399th from Reyersviller all the way to Lemberg -- the account tells the other side of the bitter fighting around Bitche in the first days of 1945.

Attached armored units to the 100th Division 1945;

Co A, 23d Tk Bn (12th Armd Div) 1 Jan 45-7 Jan 45

Co B, 749th Tk Bn 8 Jan 45-18 Jan 45

781st Tk Bn 23 Feb 45-23 Apr 45

As you probably already know the 559th ID was attached to the XC Armee Korps during Nordwind. The 100th ID was in the Bitche area.

German_counter_in_Alsace_Lorraine_crop (Copy).jpg

[Ralph Arndt]

[jmark]

Yes Jason I dared to ask, It seems he gave (Gift) the SB for Years to a militaria Collector of his Area...... He was quite surprised that a french called him and said "I have your Soldbook now".

Hi Lionel,

Thanks for letting us know.

An interview with the veteran would be a fantastic historical accompaniment to this Soldbuch, particularly if you can get more details about the tank kill. I'd love to be able to interview the original owners of many of my Soldbuchs, just to get some nagging questions answered.

Good work!
Jason

[Sonnenwende]

This is indeed a very interesting thread to follow.

Lionell, any chance to see the MP44/StG entrence in the Soldbuch?, unfortunately most of the scans you posted are not possible to view for others. Is there any mentioning of the magazine pouches, perhaps elsewhere (Bekleidung)?

Regards
Sonnenwende

[Lionel H.]

Hi Guys !! First, I re-sent the Pics of the Pages that some People didn't see, I mean the first one were too Heavy, these will be better. Once more, note a SS-Hstuf signed Gerhard's Promotion to Sergent... <p><img src="http://cdn04.trixum.de/upload2/X/u/XuJ4LhVriDnx138572409024P1683.jpg"></p>
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[Lionel H.]

For Sonnenwende : just a very simple mention for M.P.44. I didn't see anything concerning the Pouches..... Here are my Pouches, even if it has nothing to do with our subject, just for the fun !! These where found in 1993 in Forbach, in France not far from the german Border, and have perhaps been lost during "Nordwind" !!
The rare "S" general Government Belt buckle was worn by members of the V.G.R. 748 in my Area nov.44, this one is a Gift from a Vet of the 100th Century Div. who liberated my Village.... <p><img src="http://cdn04.trixum.de/upload2/g/l/glz7uXCIYopm138572483755P1683.jpg"></p>

[Lionel H.]

For Edward : I will be very interested too to know where the Tankkill took place, at which exavt date, and which tank it was.... as I told before, the Vet didn't remember the exact Location, he just said "it was a Sherman Tank with a Panzerfaust in Elsass". I think that the most precise Infos concerning the Tank will be found in the "Regimentskriegstagebuch" from G.R.1127.... I wrote to the BA in Freiburg yesterday to ask if this document is obtainable there.... If they answer "yes", I will drive to Freiburg, it is not so far for me...
As I collected the 17.SS.Pz.Gren.Div."GvB" for years, I have some other cool documents and relics concerning Nordwind and very few Items that US-Vétérans from the 100th sent me for many Years !!
Thanks for the Informations you gave about the US tanks Units who could be concerned !

[Edward]

You are very welcome Lionel. Thank you as well for the information.

I agree that the G.R. 1127 TB will go a long way in helping. Will be interesting to learn what is found from it.

It's interesting that you mentioned the GvB Div. I knew one US veteran many years ago who served with the 70th Div in the Elsaß. He immigrated to the US from Switzerland. He still remembered the sounds of the MP's used by the GvB soldiers they were facing echoing around the heavily wooded hillside areas that they were in. A native Swiss-German speaker he was later re-assigned from his Rifle Company to the Battalion G-2 where he interrogated a lot of the POW's that were brought in. Like many veterans of WWII he had a lot of interesting stories.