-
-
A lucky entry at the beginning of this year, a wehrpass with 3 certificates, centered on the "Bandenkampf" operazion Wallestein against the italian partisans in the North Apennines (between Emilia and Tuscany) in summer 1944.
Wehrpass issued May 30, 1940 in Bochum (Nordrhein-Westfalen) to Werner Koerschgen class 1921, Catholic, celibate, dealer ... ..Comment
-
Enlisted on February 7, 1941 in the Luftwaffe, anti-aircraft, in the Falk school in Wolfenbuttel where he remained until April 24, 1941, to then pass into the schwere Flak Abteilung 163 until the end of the war.Comment
-
the Flakkaserne WolfenbüttelComment
-
The first assignments at 360 degrees: as telephone operator then quartermaster , scriptural, Flak gunner for 20 mm (240a), then NCO course, Untenoffizier from November 1943, finally Fahrenjunker from 15 March 1945.Comment
-
Wounded (annotated in his wehrpass) on 2 June 1944, so right around the city of Rome during the retreat from Anzio / Cassino (here is a photo of Falk 8.8 cm abandoned near Rome).Comment
-
But the most interesting certificate of this small group is its Ek2 dated July/August 1944, taken during the Wallestein operation, the important mopping up and liquidation against the partisan bands in Emilia to free the roads between the Po Valley and Central Italy. The signature of the Oberst Karl MEHNERT as "Sicherungskommandant Luftflotte 2"... some germans photo of the bandenkampf Walllestein… the car plate PR = Parma…..Comment
-
Then its Kampflakabzichen signed by the Generalleutnant Walter von Hippel as commander of the 25. Flak-Division. The 163 Flak Abteilung was from the autumn of 1944 at the end of the war around Verona, the center of communications between Germany and Italy through the Brenner Pass.Comment
-
for Verona I post to integrate a then & now for the medieval bridges, Castelvecchio and Pontepietra over the Adige riverComment
-
The campaign pages: Mittelitalien, Nettuno, Rome, but the peculiarity is the clear indication (as in numerous cases of German departments after the surrender, the list was compiled in captivity, in the Rimini Enklave) of the Wallestein operation,
complete with a feldpost of 163 Flak Abteilung, with accurate dates: from 2 June 1944 to 8 August 1944.
The great Wallestein operation against the free partisan zones that arose on the Apennines between Piacenza and above all Modena, took place in three distinct but consecutive phases (I attach below the maps) involving expecially growe units of the Luftwaffe and Italianand german police units (over 5000 men).
Wallestein I, from 30th June and 7th july invests the areas between the Cisa State Road 62 and the Cerreto State Road (Val Parma and Val d’Enza).
Between 9th July and the end of the mounth Walelstein II hits the Parma Apennines west of the Cisa state road (Val di Taro and Val di Ceno) as well as some areas of the Piacenza Apennines (Val d’Arda and Val di Nure)
Finally, Wallestein III tightened to a pincer in the Modena Apennines, reoccupying the area of the Partisan Republic of Montefiorino. The roundups of the 3 Wallestein operations obviously caused looting, deportations and numerous massacres of civilians.Comment
-
Wallestein (and Montefiorno) mapsComment
-
Partisans in Montefiorino, in the center in the first photo the commander Armando (Armando Ricci) head of the communist partisans of the Modena DivisionComment
-
Another beautiful image of German soldiers of the Luftwaffe ready to leave for the mopping up protected by an Italian AB41 armored car, from Castellarano (Modena) ini Rocchetta square (today's photos of the same place) for the Walelstein operation...Comment
-
His certificate of discharge from Rimini Enklave in November 1945 and immediately to work in Bochum in December in the "Zeche Costantin" company ....Comment
-
and finally another summary statement of his career and his portrait ..Comment
Comment