Soldbuch 1945

[naxos]

An intriguing Soldbuch, a Zweitschrift from March 1945.

Like many late war replacement Soldbücher it's sparsely filled out and leaves many questions open. What makes this brave NCO's book most interesting for me is his unusual career

Note his dog tag: -Walter Doeblitz - N.336 / 39 KT (A)-

In 1939 he started out in the Navy (Marine Küstendienst), but early in 1942 he was already transferred to the Wehrmacht, fighting with an infantry unit in Africa. (Note the Afrika cuff title award date - obviously the clerk filling in the the date got the year wrong).
Late in 1944 he was awarded the CCC in bronze. In January 1945 he earned the WB in silver and the Iron Cross first class. After recovery he was assigned to the vehicle depot replacement unit in Riesa, Saxony.

His Marine dog tag was never changed to a regular Wehrmacht one.

[naxos]

No prior units entered

[Gerdan]

His profession is given as "Schriftsteller" - author / writer - but no German public library has a publication written by him in his stock.

Gerdan

[naxos]

His profession is given as "Schriftsteller" - author / writer - but no German public library has a publication written by him in his stock.

Gerdan

Gerdan, I think it is "Schriftsteller" in the sense of "Schriftsetzer" (type setter). When he entered the Navy in 1939 he was just 20 years old, a bit young to be a professional author already

[mufasa]

Nice and interesting Soldbuch, intriguing the Africa note......

Ciao Oriano

[Lionel H.]

Hi Hardy. You are right, an intriguing one, with a beautiful Pic anyway.... I would be really curious to know in which unit he served at the time he earned his Awards. Keeping his old KM dog Tag... was that just forgotten, or any hidden reason that would explain this quite strange point ? In such a case, I would try to get a "Laufbahnbescheinigung" from the WASt in Berlin. OK, It will last half a Year at least but could be from great interest, just my two cents...

[naxos]

Hi Hardy. You are right, an intriguing one, with a beautiful Pic anyway.... I would be really curious to know in which unit he served at the time he earned his Awards. Keeping his old KM dog Tag... was that just forgotten, or any hidden reason that would explain this quite strange point ? In such a case, I would try to get a "Laufbahnbescheinigung" from the WASt in Berlin. OK, It will last half a Year at least but could be from great interest, just my two cents...

Thanks Lionel, I will try the WASt

I agree, him retaining the KM dog tag is strange. Are there other known instances of this?

[Ironcrown]

He must have had a very hard life. He was 26 years old or less when he made the picture for the Soldbuch, but was looking like a 40 years old man!

[Archi]

Hello naxos !

Indeed a very interesting Soldbuch, with an unsusual career !

Some questions/remarks :
1.) I would not have noticed that his EKM is Marine. Any chance to decipher it ?!

2.) Any hospital entries, that would help to get an idea on his last field unit ?

3.) Sometimes the Stellengruppen entries could give hints, whether he served already prior to 1939.
(perhaps even the immunizations could give some hints ...)

BTW, I had the same impression as Ironcrown, regarding the look on his face !

Best regards,

Archi

[naxos]

Thanks guys, appreciate your interest.
Yes, he does look much older than 26, I noticed that as well. The photo was taken about a month after he was wounded last - perhaps he had lost a lot of weight, who knows.
Archi, there are no hospital entries and no Stellengruppen entries. Regarding the EKM decoding:

Walter Doeblitz
N. 336
39 KT - (A)

-Walter Doebblitz-
" N " = Marinestation Nordsee
" 336 " = M Nummer
" 39 " = Eingestellt 1939
" KT " = Küstendienst See, Laufbahn XIII a und b
" A " = Blutgruppe

.

.

[Archi]

Hello naxos !

Thanks for the detailed explanation of the EKM !
And good luck for the further search regarding this SB.

Best regards,

Archi

[Lionel H.]

Thanks Lionel, I will try the WASt

I agree, him retaining the KM dog tag is strange. Are there other known instances of this?

The only other examples I know are for "fresh" KM People transfer to Army Units just after their basic Formation. It happened widely for the hurried settlement of the VGD's at the Fall of 1944, and later. For the 708.VGD I studied in details a while ago, this soldiers came into the battle with their KM-dog tags. For the "diggers" in the 80-90's, that was a big mistery, I heard so much b....t about this :-)

I don't know for those who survived the first weeks at the front, I will research examples...

For your Guy, it is anyway a complete different explanation to find, as it seems he spent a long time in the Army, and much earlier in the war...

[Lionel H.]

Here is an clear Example. This "Truppen-Krankenbuch" was found in an Attic in my Region 25 years ago. Most of these Army Guys from 3./Festung-M.G.Btl.56 came from the KM and still wore the original issued KM dog Tags. I managed to get in touch with some Families and get the SB from soldier Nr.17, Günther Cornelissen, who survived the war. His SB clearly shows that its KM-Tag was worn until the end of war.

[Admiraal]

Nice example Lionel!

Ask yourself this: why should a soldier get a new dogtag when he changes from Luftwaffe/Kriegsmarine to the Heer/SS ?? Most dogtags are given out by Ersatz units anyway.
I cannot think of a practical reason, giving out new EKM's only costs more time and material. It doesn't matter what is written on the EKM. As long as its unique, to identify the soldier.

[HanSSturm]

Nice example Lionel!

Ask yourself this: why should a soldier get a new dogtag when he changes from Luftwaffe/Kriegsmarine to the Heer/SS ?? Most dogtags are given out by Ersatz units anyway.
I cannot think of a practical reason, giving out new EKM's only costs more time and material. It doesn't matter what is written on the EKM. As long as its unique, to identify the soldier.

youre right, it was very unusual to get a new dogtag, after changing the unit.