4.Panzer-Division - Divisional IVb Soldbuch

[hucks216]

It has been a long time since I have posted an item on the forum so here is a Soldbuch I have to a senior medical officer who earned both grades of the Iron Cross in WW-2.
In 1936 he served in Sanitätsabteilung 29 - Sanitäts-Staffel Hersfeld - before serving in Sanitätsabteilung 47 - Sanitäts-Staffel Jena - in 1938.

At the time his Soldbuch was opened in August 1939 he already held the rank of Stabsarzt (Hauptmann) and was serving in 10.Panzer-Division with which he won the EK II, the medal being awarded to him in December 1939.
However by December 1940 he had been reassigned to 4.Panzer-Division and was Kompanie-Chef 1./Sanitäts-Kompanie 84.

[hucks216]

He served with 4.Panzer-Division through to late 1943 and during this time he won further awards, namely the EK I, Ostmedaille and Wound Badge in Black with all 3 awards being won between August 1941 to August 1942. Before the start of Operation Barbarossa he was promoted to Oberstabsarzt (Major) which would be his final promotion.

On the 11th August 1942 he took over the position of Divisional Surgeon (IVb) in the Divisional Staff from Dr Guskar, a position he held until November 1943 when he left the Division for new pastures.

(the staff listing is courtesy of Scherzer´s Militaire-Verlag 2004)

[hucks216]

It looks like he spent the rest of the war back in Germany with Heeres-Sanitäts-Staffel Karlsbad.

Interestingly it looks like he signed various entries in his own Soldbuch, page 3 for the promotion entry confirmation and for his period of leave in December 1940 for example but also most notably he also authorised the entries for his own EK II & I.

[Brian R]

I have no medical experience or background but always find EK awards to medical personnel to be amongst the most interesting. One can imagine what these guys did to earn their awards - whether medics in the field or doctors in hospitals. Really a great SB!

[Archi]

Hello Hucks !

Many thanks for taking the time, to share this very interesting Soldbuch
of a high decorated San.-Offizier !

There are many interesting topics in this Soldbuch :
1.) That he himself signed entries for awards, promotion and leave : I am curiuos, whether
a) was this "officially" allowed (I assume not)
b) how often did this happen anyway ?!
(I am asking, because I recently saw another example, where Major Max Reck
seems to have signed his own security check(!), which I found a bit absurd.
But maybe this all is much more common, than I expected.)
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...9&postcount=35

2.) I am a bit puzzled on the sequence of units at the time of mobilization :
The Soldbuch was issued by Div.Nachschubführer 90 (also his first EKM),
but the first unit on p. 4 is Pi.Btl. 49 and the entry for Div.Nachsch.Führer 90 only after that.
Were you able to figure out the correct sequence ?

3.) For me, very interesting is the first EKM entry by itself (and also the unit designation and
stamp on p. 2), starting all with : "Üb." (?!)

Finally, Brian R made a statement that I would fully support, on the importance of San. units.
Perhaps some excerpts of an "Erfahrungsbericht" (experience report) for the first year of war
at the Eastern front, of San.Kp. 2/84 can give an idea (things should have been very similar for San.Kp. 1/84) :
>> San.Kp. 2/84 had 22 important timeframes of action. In the easiest case, there were 20 wounded to be
treated at Luschniki within one day. In the two most severe cases, the company had to treat 2150 soldiers
within 3 months at Chwastowitschi, and at Bolchow, within a week (29.12.41-5.1.42), ~1000 men. <<
[According to a book by Fischer on German medical services in WW2]

Thanks again for showing and best regards,

Archi

[Angel Farré]

Officers signing his awards or leaves are more common than you think, I have a couple of examples in my collection and it was allowed as far as the approval of the same comes from the higher and appropriate echelon.

Cheers

Angel

[hucks216]

...

2.) I am a bit puzzled on the sequence of units at the time of mobilization :
The Soldbuch was issued by Div.Nachschubführer 90 (also his first EKM),
but the first unit on p. 4 is Pi.Btl. 49 and the entry for Div.Nachsch.Führer 90 only after that.
Were you able to figure out the correct sequence ?
....
Thanks again for showing and best regards,

Archi

The sequence does seem to be Div.Nachschubführer 90 followed by Pz.Pi.Btl 49 with the first dated entry for the Pi.Btl being in May 1940. As for why those two entries in Section C on page 3 is in reverse order I have no idea, admin mistake maybe with the clerk adding the stamp on the wrong line?

Thank you for the comments.

[Archi]

Hucks and Angel,

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions and the interesting explanations !

Best regards,

Archi