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**Archi** · 04-16-2017, 09:54 PM

Wehrpass p 1-3, 4,5,11

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**Archi** · 04-16-2017, 10:00 PM

Training, promotions and awards

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Gust_Wilhelm_WP_22_38_test.jpg (84.9 KB, 132 views)

**Archi** · 04-16-2017, 10:09 PM

units and battle calendar

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**Archi** · 04-16-2017, 10:15 PM

Woundings and medical exams and Wehrdienst im Beurlaubtenstand :
If someone could explain to me the entries on p. 41,42 that would be a great help

!

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**Archi** · 04-16-2017, 10:22 PM

A more detailed account of the different steps in the career of Wilhelm Gust :

- Training in the Ersatzheer (1939-41):
Wilhelm Gust was born on July, 19., 1913. He had no military training before 1939.
He was drafted at the time of mobilization on 30.08.1939 to Kraftfahr-Ers.Abt. 9,
located at Bad Hersfeld. The result of his medical examination was: bed.[ingt] kv.
(fit for service, but only with restrictions).

In the first 18 months, he probably received his basic training, made his drivers license (Kl. 2)
and was from 15.10.39 - 19.3.41 detached to the local Bekleidungskammer [p. 21; translation ?].

Attached Files

Gust_Wilhelm_WP_20_21.jpg (150.9 KB, 129 views)

**Archi** · 04-16-2017, 11:15 PM

- Service under 11. Armee (1941-42):

In March 1941, Wilhelm Gust was transferred to Frontstalag 186 (located in Kassel), a unit guarding POWs.
This unit was dissolved at that time, to form Armee-(Kriegs)gefangenen-Sammelstelle 11 (and other units of same type),
which became his next unit, again for ~18 months.

I could not find much info on this type of units. The best info was on the Lexicon site :
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/...ager/AGSSt.htm
According to that page, this unit had a strength of 3-4 Officers /and ~50 NCOs and EM.
For the POW-guarding tasks, it typically had Landesschützen-Btls. attached.

The task of an Armee-Kriegsgefangenen-Sammelstelle was to guard and supply up to 5000 POWs. Once that number
was reached, the POWs would be transferred to Dulags, further behind the front. I found it interesting,
that the men in those Armee-Kgf.-Sammelstellen were considered as "fechtende Truppe" (combat units).

Subordinations of this unit : From the location in Romania (p.32, top) prior to Barbarossa and its later commitment
on the Krim, I would think it is at least possible, that this unit was always attached to 11. Army in 1941/42.

In 1941/42, 11. Armee advanced via Mogilew to the Dnjepr (late August) and build a bridgehaed at Berislaw.
In late Sept. it was given the task to occupy the Krim peninsula, which it did (except Sewastopol).
In Winter 1941/42 11. Armee faced severe drawbacks, (Red Army landing at Kertsch, the advance could only be
stopped at the Parpatsch position (mentioned in the battle calendar)) and finally was able to capture Sewastopol
(with ~100.000 POWs taken).

During that time, Wilhelm Gust was awarded with the KVK 2. Kl. (m. Schwertern), the Ostmedaille,
the Rumänische Erinnerungsmedaille and the Krimschild.

Attached Files

**Archi** · 04-16-2017, 11:20 PM

Pows taken during the recapture of the the Kertsch peninsula
and at Sewastopol :

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**Archi** · 04-16-2017, 11:24 PM

- Return to the Ersatzheer and a special unit (1942-43):

In late summer 1942, Wilhelm Gust could have been either wounded or he fell ill, because end of October 42,
his next unit was the Genesenden-Kp. Lds.Ers.Btl. 9 (located in Frankfurt/am Main, WK IX).
A soldier would be posted to such a unit, to recover from wounds/illness and to become fit for service again.

After ~4 month, he was transferred to another type of unit, I would like to point your attention to :
Eisenbahnküchenwagen-Abteilung 2, (located first in Kassel, from 1942 onward in Aschaffenburg).
According to the WP entry, on p. 32, these type of units were transferred to the Feldheer in Jan. 1942.

I have absolutely no clue, what kind of tasks soldiers in such a unit would have. Any help here would be
greatly appreciated!
What I think can be safely said : This would be one of the more uncommon units, as it seems there were
only 4 units of this type in the Wehrmacht throughout the whole war :
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/...Gliederung.htm

no Pics

**Archi** · 04-17-2017, 06:32 AM

- Becoming a Panzergrenadier and actions w/ Pz.Div. Tatra (1943-44):

In mid June 1943, Wilhelm Gusts career changed into a very different direction :
He was first transferred to Gren.Ers.Btl. 106, (also located in Aschaffenburg), and then posted to yet another
different branch, the Panzergrenadiers, with Marsch-Kp. of Gren.EuA.Btl.(mot) 71 (located in Erfurt):
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/...ErsBat71-R.htm

In July, 1943, he was posted to Marsch-Btl. Pz.Tr.[uppen] 188, to be sent to the front, but after a week, he was
sent back to Genesenden-Kp. of Gren.EuA.Btl.(mot) 71 again, where he stayed for over 3 more month.

He was shuffled around within this unit for roughly a year, before he would be sent to the field again in Sept. 1944:
From 10.9.44 onward, he was transferred to 1. Kp./Grenadier-Ausbildungs-Bataillon(mot) 1009.

This unit was raised as part of the Walküre call up in WK IX in September, 1944. Luckily, a very detailed strength report
(incl. weapons and vehicles) survived, which is rarely the case (see attachement) :
Strength : 16 Offz./ 110 Uffz./ 614 men
Gliederung : Btl.-Stab, 1.-3. PzGren-Kp., 4. IG-Kp.( 1 le.IG 18, 7.5 cm)
Weapons : 450 Karabiner 38k, 15 Kar. 43, 38 Kar., 24 Gew.Gr.Ger., 24le.+5s. MG 34, 4le.+1s. MG 42, 6 GrW.(8cm), 178 Pist., 28 MPi.
Vehicles : 6 le.Krad, 3 m.Krad, 7 Beiwagen-Krad, 15 Pkw., 12 Lkw.

Attached Files

Gren_Btl_1009_01.jpg (82.8 KB, 111 views)

**Archi** · 04-17-2017, 06:43 AM

This unit became a part of Pz.Div. Tatra from about mid September onward and took part in the fighting against the
uprising in Slovakia during September-Oktober 1944.

As I found it very difficult to dig out exact informations on the origins of Pz.Div. Tatra, I'll try to list a summary
of what I finally found and I really hope for additional input and corrections.

As I understand it, at the end of August 1944, when the Germans decided to occupy Slovakia with military forces,
Alarm-units of A.Gr. Heinrici successfully disarmed major parts of the Slovakian troops in the eastern part
of the country. To fight against the insurgent troops in the Western part, at least 3 different battlegroups were formed :
- One of WK VIII: from Pz.Gren.EuA.Rgt. 85 ( ~?? men fr. PzGren.EuA. 13 and 30/51); Kdr.: Oberst Junck (Stephan Junck?!)
- One of WK XVII: from Pz.Gren.EuA.Rgt. 82 ( ~1100 men fr. PzGren.EuA. 2 and 10); Kdr.: Oberst von Ohlen (Conrad v. Ohlen?!)
- One SS-KGr. : KG Schill (w/ Btl. Teutenberg and Btl. Kettgen, from SS-Unterführerlehrgang Kienschlag)

BGs Junck and von Ohlen attacked from N and NW towards towards Zilina (Sillein). BG Schill from the S along the
valley of river Nistra. Despite some local success, the operations came to an standstill during the first week
of September near Vrutky-Priekopa-Klacany (N of Sv.Martin), because of the stiff resistance of the Slovakian forces
and the lack of manpower (and strategy) on the German side.

This resulted in an effort to bring in substantial reinforcements and in a major reorganization
of troops and command on the German side : (=BGs Junck and von Ohlen were now reinforced by additional troops
and reorganized into a Pz.Div. Tatra under Gen.Lt. Loeper)
(also a change in command : SS-Ogruf. Berger was replaced by SS-Ogruf. Höfle).

As a result, Pz.Div. Tatra in mid Sept./Oct. 1944 perhaps was organized similar to that :
_ Stab/HQ (Div.Kdr.: Gen.Lt. Loeper)

- Pz.Abt./Kp. (from Pz.EuA.Abt. 4) (## Pz IV ?!) [strength !?, Kdr./CO ?!]

-- Pz.Gren.Rgt. 82 (Stab, I.(1.-4.),II.(1.-4.)) [Kdr./CO ?!]
-- Pz.Gren.Rgt. 85 (Stab, I.(1.-4.),II.(1.-4.)) [Kdr./CO ?!]

-- Gren.Ausb.Btl. 1008 (Stb., 1.-4.) [Kdr./CO ?!]
-- Gren.Ausb.Btl.(mot) 1009 (Stab., 1.-3., 4.IG-Kp.) [Kdr./CO ?!]

-- Art.Abt. Tatra (1.-3. Btr.)
-- Pz.Jg.Kp. (## Stug. III?!)
-- Pi.Btl. (1.-2. Pi.Kp.)

[Additional troops came from Lehr-Kp. Pz.Gren.Lehr-Abt. XI (Bergen), 1. u. 2./Gren.EuA.Btl. I/482, Lds.Btl. 373,
III./Kampfbeobachter-Schule 2 (Lw., Hörsching b./Wels), Wehrmacht-Streifengruppe z.b.V. Kraus and others]
(based on the Feldpostübersicht and Wolfgang Venohr, Aufstand für die Tschechoslowakei).

In mid September, with the new reinforcements coming in, Pz.Div. Tatra renewed its attack and over the next two weeks
was able to establish contact towards the east with KGr. Schaefer near Ruzomberok, took Sv. Martin (20./21.9.) and
established contact with KGr. Schill, which was advancing from the South, via Deutsch-Proben. According to Venohr,
during this fights (and over the next time), the two Btls. 1008 and 1009 and the KGr. Schill proved to be the most
reliable combat forces.

After achieving the major strategic tasks, from 25.9. onward, Pz.Div. Tatra was given the task to mop-up the hilly and
wooded terrain between Zilina and Sv.Martin from partisans, (whith only partial success).

The next phase of the attack began on 2. Oct., when Pz.Div. Tatra was given the task to take Horna Stubna (Ober-Stuben)
and Kremnica. Against fierce enemy resistance it took Horna Stuben (6km N) on the 3rd day, but had to repel several
counterattacks in company strength in close combat. It took the Div. two more days to advance 6km and to finally
take Kremnica on the 6.10. The division was able to advance further to the SE towards Jalna but on 8.10. and 9.10.
was driven back towards Sv.Kriz and finally took positions as shown in map 2.

Then both sides took a rest for one week, to regroup their units. On the German side, this meant on the one hand
bringing in more reinforcements (among them 18. SS-Div. Horst Wessel and SS-Brig. Dirlewanger) for the final attack
towards Banska Bystrica, the center of the uprising. On the other hand, Ogruf. Hoefle had to give up some forces,
among them Gren.Ausb.Btl. 1009, which was transported off from 13.10. onward, as a reinforcement for the 1. Pz.Div.
(OKH has asked for this since 1.10., but Hoefle was able to delay this transfer to use this unit for the attack on Kremnica).

[Final battles of Pz.Div. Tatra in Slovakia against the uprising (without Wilhelm Gust taking part):
The final attack on Banska Bystrica started on 18.10.44. While Pz.Div. Tatra started a holding attack, the main thrust
came from the South (KGr. Schill) and the Southeast from 18. SS-Pz.Gren.Div. "Horst Wessel". Those two units took
the last retreat on 27.10.44, after which the uprising finally faltered. Pz.Div. Tatra was given the task to
mop-up the difficult terrain W and SW of Banska Bystrica, which it did until the end of October.
During Nov.-Dec., it was given security tasks roughly in that area, before it was committed again as Alarm-unit
in Jan 1945 in Hungary.]

Attached Files

**Archi** · 04-17-2017, 06:46 AM

parade in Banska Bystrica on 27.10.1944 :

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Banska_Bystrica_01.jpg (129.9 KB, 111 views)

**Archi** · 04-17-2017, 06:51 AM

Pz.Grenadier under Pz.Gren.Rgt. 1 [1.Pz.Div] (1944-45)

To continue with the career of Wilhelm Gust :
In mid. Oct., Gren.Ausb.Btl.(mot) 1009 was sent to reinforce 1. Pz.Div., which had fought an intense battle at
the Dukla Pass (10.9.-28.9.) to deny the Red Army the breakthrough to connect with the Slovakian forces.
Since the beginning of Oct. 1944, 1. Pz.Div. was committed South of Debrecen (Hungary), to halt the attack of the
2. Ukr. Front. After two weeks of bitter fighting (often titled "Panzerschlacht in der Puszta"), the upcoming next
unit of Wilhelm Gust, Pz.Gren.Rgt. 1, was worn down to the strength of one weak battalion. Only by the incorporation
of the ~700 men of Gren.Ausb.Btl.(mot.) 1009 (at ~20.10.44) this Rgt. became combat ready again
(Divisional history by Stoves, 1. Pz.Div., p. 671).

From that time onward, Wilhelm Gust, made his way with 2.Kp. of Pz.Gren.Rgt. 1. As this unit is much better covered,
I keep the last part rather short.

After 20.10.44, Pz.Gren.Rgt. 1 (Kdr.: Oberstlt. Huppert, RK+EL) fought heavy battles at
- Debrecen (mentioned in the Wehrmacht-Bericht of 22.10.44)
- 29.10 near Kecskemet (SE, later E and NE for the defense of Budapest)
- 1.12.44 : SW of Stuhlweissenburg (near Lake Balaton)
- Jan. 45 : attack towards Valencze-See
- 15.1.45 : relief attack for Budapest and retreat
- Feb. 45 : Attacks south of Polgardi
- 8.3.-18.3.: Attack for "Unternehmen Frühlingserwachen"
- 20.-24.3.: retreat, encirclement at Jenö and breakout of the "Jenö cauldron"
- up to early April 45: fighting retreat to the Austrian boarder
- April/May 45 : stabilizing positions E and N of Graz (area of Fürstenfeld).
- 6.5.45 : March behind the Enns position, into American captivity.

This last 6 months of the war for Wilhelm Gust were full of bitter fighting and with very little time of rest,
according to the Div. history.
To illustrate that period, I thought I just pick 2 scenes related to Pz.GrenRgt. 1 from the Stoves book :
The first one somehow showing the "esprit de corps" within 1. Pz.Div., the second one (perhaps) describes the actions,
that led to the wounding of Wilhelm Gust around 5. April, 1945.

a) On Feb., 11, Pz.Gren.Rgt. 1 (under temporary command of Maj. Ritz) continued its attack south of Polgardi. In the middle
of the attack, the SPWs of HQ of Pz.GrenRgt. 1
were overtaken by the signals-SPW of the Div.Kdr. (General Thunert), despite the warning that the area might be still
partially mined. Indeed, the Generals SPW drove
into a mine shortly after, (but the General luckily took no damage).
Maj. Ritz told him immediately afterwards : "One always has to keep an eye on young Lieutenants and Generals.
Otherwise they always do some stupid things !"
The General calmly acknowledged that statement.

b) In the first days of April, Pz.Gren.Rgt 1 had repelled several attacks against its positions N of Feldbach (SW Fürstenfeld).
On the 5.4., Maj. Ritz launched an attack, with the help of 7 Jgd.Pz. IV and 3 Pz. V (Tiger), that had been attached
for support. The attack soon gain ground, and with the help of Alarm-Btl. 1, Maj. Ritz was able to establish contact
with Pz.Gren.Rgt 113 on the East in the afternoon and finally clear the valley of River Raab from the enemy.
It could be, that during this battles Wilhelm Gust recieived his wounding, for which he was awarded the Verwund.Abz.(schwarz).
[the colored map shows the positions on 9.4.45, which should be similar to that gained on the 5.4.].

1. Pz.Div. in general held its positions until the end of the war between Hartberg and SE of Gleisdorf (1. Pz.GrenRgt.
near Kainsdorf). On the evening of the 7. May, orders arrived, that the war was over and that the division should march
into U.S. captivity, across the demarcation line between US-Army and Red-Army, which meant to cross the river Enns.
Despite the very unclear situation over the next two days, the division went into captivity at Spital (am Pyrhn) and Liezen.
The division then found itself at a large POW camp at Uttendorf [~10 km SE of Braunau] (with ~ 100.000 POWs in total)
on the 10.5.45 and a few days later at the POW camp at Mauerkirchen [3km further N].

I found it astonishing that the "replacement doc" for the Wehrpass is dated 10.5.45, regarding the certainly chaotic situation!
Any thoughts on this (or examples from similar "end of the war docs") are highly welcome.

So, in Mauerkirchen ends the career of Unteroffizier Wilhelm Gust, who participated in WW 2 from the first day to the very end.

Best regards,

Archi

Attached Files

**Archi** · 04-17-2017, 06:54 AM

Pictures of his last Kommandeur (Oberstlt. Huppert) and the march into captvity :

Attached Files

Kriegsende.jpg (102.1 KB, 109 views)

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WP related to Krim, Pz.Div.Tatra and 1.Pz.Div.

WP related to Krim, Pz.Div.Tatra and 1.Pz.Div.

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