Wehrpass FJR 1 Italy - Sicily - Ortona

[Schuasta]

I got this nice Wehrpass from a Missed in Action Paratrooper ! I think this guy see hard Action at Sicily Island...later Battle Action at Landing in Salerno - and was missed in the Battle of Ortona - right ?
He was only from June - to December 1943 in the FJR 1 - before he was at Jump School in Wittstock !

[Schuasta]

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[Schuasta]

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[Schuasta]

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[Schuasta]

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[Gerdan]

He is not listed in the Volksbund list.

Gerdan

[Schuasta]

Hi Gerdan, yes the Volksbund Page i have checked tooo - so its possible he is allways missed.......and was not found the last 70 years...!

[Ian Jewison]

He's not in the Vermisstenbildliste either so he could have been taken PoW!

/Ian

[Ironcrown]

Nice document!
For sure he took part to the battle of Ortona, were he was either took prisoner or killed in action. Who knows, the city was completely destroyed, maybe his body was covered by the rubbles and still lies somewhere, or maybe he lost his dogtag and now rest as an unknown soldier.

[mufasa]

missing or prisoner of the Canadians ..... very nice wehrpass!
ciao Oriano

[Ironcrown]

I have some doubts that the men fought in Sicily.
Usually this should be mentioned in the Wehrpass as "Einsatz in Sizilien" or something similar. I also read on a website:
http://www.balsi.de/Weltkrieg/Einhei...nter/1-FJR.htm

that during the trasfer to Sicily the regiment was stopped and remained in Italy (probably due to the events of July 27th).

[Schuasta]

Thanks for the comments...its only "Einsatz Italy" in his Battle historys entryd...so i dont know about his action at Sicily....its possible...?
Sure is Salerno Action and Ortona !

[415]

My Great great Uncle was an NCO also with 9.Fallschirmjager Regiment 1 and only July 27, 1943 they were in Pomezia just out side of Rome, loaded on planes to jump on Sicily. Unfortunately for my Uncle, right upon take off they were attacked by an allied fighter and the plane crashed, only one guy made it out. So it might be possible that your guy jumped on Sicily.

Chris

[Ironcrown]

Very intriguing!
The first units of the 1.FJD arrived in Sicily from France around 12th July.
The division was sent in part by plane, in part by train. FJR1 was sent later and had to stop at least for some days in the continent.
The book "Die deutsche Fallschirmtruppe 1942-1945" written by Hans-Martin Stimpel reports that in July the FJR1 was deployed in the Salerno area.
The FJR3 and 4 fought in Sicily, and retreated northwards from Calabria (the most southern region of the italian peninsula).
I don't know, maybe some parts of the FJR1 were actually sent to Sicily for some days. But consider that he island was completely evacuated by 17th August.