Who sees what I see?

[5thFallschirm.]

Dear reader / viewer,

Myself and some others noticed something at the next two pictures.
I also wanted to show this here on the forum, and see if you guys see the same thing.

To avoid a biased view, I do not say what we've noticed. Hopefully you understand that. I will wait a few comments and then post my idea / information.


Best Regards,

Nick

[starikurac]

He is the man second from right ;-)

[Eric JB]

Hi Nick,

We talked in length about it.

Great to see it shown here on WAF too.

Best regards

Eric-Jan

[Lionel H.]

Salut Nick. If you mean your SB-Guy is the second on the right, I say "very possible !".

[Edward]

Could be, but the US POW dogtag that is still together with the Soldbuch is even more interesting. Have not seen that combination before.

[5thFallschirm.]

Well thats nice to read.
This was indeed that I and a few others had noticed.

The photo and SB are both in my collection though. I had the picture before I purchased the SB a while ago. When I was looking through my archives one day I thought to myself "ohh heck, that looks like the same guy". One will obviously say and think, the chance that that is the same person is one in a million. Actually, the chance is quite large. I will explain myself further in detail.

The picture was taken on February 28, 1945 at Dausfeld near Prüm (Eifel/Ardennes).
The Soldbuch is of Günther Adler who joined the 10./FJR15 on February 20, 1945, at age 17. Thus, the 3rd Battalion / 15th FJ Regiment.
This battalion was from February 14 till February 28, 1945 in and around Dausfeld, where the photo is taken. Then under the leadership of Oberleutnant Sniers, who had his "Gefechtsstand" 100 meters from where the photo is taken.

Thanks to German and American archives, I learned the following about the 5. Fallschirmjäger Division, and the 3rd Battalion / 15 Fallschirmjäger Regiment when they stayed in the vicinity of Dausfeld.
The strength of this unit on February 27, 1945, the day before the photo is taken are listed in two sources. The strength of the 5. Fallschirmjäger Division was 1400 to 1500 men. As the 15FJR regards, this had two battalions employed. The 1st and 3rd. Company strength was 60 to 80 men. 4 Companies are part of one battalion, so thats about 240 to 320 men present in the 3rd Battalion, and in the inviroment of the town Dausfeld. So the probability of a one in a million chance, is after this information considerably smaller.

I can also mention that in the Soldbuch about equipment nothing special is listed, however, I noticed a lone entry in Gebirgsjäger equipment section. He had received a Bergmütze during his training in 1944. Coincidentally, the Sanitäter before him looks like wearing a Bergmütze(!). Whether the man in the picture, which I think is Günter Adler, also wears this hat, I unfortunately can't say, I lack the knowlegde about equipment and such. But the theory that the Sanitäter comes from the same Ersatz unit, is quite logical. There the 15FJR was strengthened during the mid of February by young troops of the age of 17 / 18. Various other Soldbucher that I have seen can prove that.

Beside the above, his face shows many similar features. Nose, lips, chin ... eyebrows.

All I can comment myself is that I thought he would be captured a short while later that February 28, 1945, looking at his "high" POW number. But here for are also several theories ...

Well I am open to more comments, positive or negative... At first I thought it was " wishful thinking " but apparently I am not the only one who sees it.

===

Edward Indeed , the POW tag is a nice bonus with the Soldbuch. I've seen them before but this is the only one I have in my collection.

[Simon O.]

What was his unit?

The sani is i Guess from the 2 Geb.Div.

[5thFallschirm.]

Hi Simon, I just posted it a minute before you. Both the guy from the soldbuch and the POW's on the picture are from the 3rd Battalion / 15FJR.

[Kengir]

This was a pretty awesome read!
Thanks for sharing!

[Simon H]

Nice Soldbuch and tag pairing. The guy does appear to resemble the second from right in the "combat" photo.