100.JD, IR 227 Stalingrad, Mamajew-Hügel, Roten Oktober,

[M3A1Mats]

Hi, I recently was able to add this very interesting Wehrpass to my collection and wanted to share it with you guys. Hope you enjoy!
BTW; the writing on page 4 was done on the computer not the actual WP.

Karl Heinz Krudewig was born on 01.01.1921 in Koblenz, Germany. He was a good student, even learning English, and a rather accomplished sportsman as well. Earning the Reichsjungend Sportsabzeichen, Leistungs Abzeichen, Reichssportsabzeichen and being trained in open water swimming and cycling. His Wehrpass was opened on 30.05.1940 and he spend some time in an Ers. Btl. and a March. Batl. until he became a member of a front unit. On 12.10.1941 he became a member of Infanterie Regiment 227 which was part of 100 Jäger Division. At this time his division saw some heavy action at Kolomak and later that month they reached the city of Charkow. A little more than a month after he joined his unit he was for some unknown reason sent to a Lazarett. I doubt he was wounded but there is nothing written about this in his Wehrpass unfortunately. Anyway, during his time with various Genesende bataillonen he started the KOB course. KOB stands for “Kriegsoffizier-Bewerber” (war officer candidate) and this course was for meant for lower ranking soldiers that showed potential to become an officer. In the winter of 1941 the Wehrmacht lost more officers than they could cope with and training new ones with the regular officers course took too much time so they decided to train those who showed potential at the front.

[M3A1Mats]

On 19.09.1942 he again joined 14./ Jäger Regiment 227, part of Jäger Division 100. He joined this unit while it marched towards the north of the city Stalingrad and they reached between the 23rd and 25th. While it was relatively calm in the southern part of the city, the northern part was completely covered in dark clouds. Burning oil and detonation clouds of falling bombs formed a thick layer over the houses.
The headquarters of JR.227 was positioned in the flight school just south of Höhe 102, Mamajew-Hügel. The Division decided to attack Höhe 102 on 27.09 with on the right JR.227 and on the left JR.54. During the preparations there was a Russian attack with Stalinorgels which caused grave casualties to JR.54. 15 Jäger were killed and over 100 were wounded.
At 06.30h the attack began. The Russians immediately laid down some raging defensive fire but eventually they reached their first target at 09.00h. Continuous Russian rocket fire kept the Jägers clinging to the ground and the use of Stukas and bombers hardly helped. Artillerie Regiment 83 fired everything they had but to no avail. The infantry was only able to push one or two hundred meters. The amount of casualties kept rising and at 13.00h the order came to dig in. The bitter resistance of the Soviet Schützenregiment 269 prevented further action. For the rest of the hours until darkness fell, the Jägers squatted in their holes and listened to the Stalinorgels, which didn’t seem to slow down one bit. When there was the rare break of fire it was possible to take care of the wounded and evacuate them to the back. Our Karl Krudewig was one of those who were wounded on that hill on that day. He was hit by artillery shrapnel to his back and his head. For his wounds he was awarded the Verwundetenabzeichen in black which I think is signed by Oblt. Krajewski.

[M3A1Mats]

He was lucky (or not, depends on how you look at it) and was able to join his unit again on 19.10. Meanwhile his unit was moved just to the north of Höhe 102 but was still very much struggling and suffered heavy losses in close quarter battles against the 193rd Rifle Division at the Roten October Steel factory.
I’m unsure what the role of III./IR.227 was on the 19th but there was an offensive towards the Wolga on that day. Supported by the divisions artillery and Werfers, a part of IR.54 was able to push from the northern part of Roten October to the shore of the Wolga. Further north, other units also made it to the Wolga. Now there was only one Russian bridgehead left which was at the “Barrikade” factory.

A few days later, on the 23rd, there was another attack. This time parts of 100.JD fought together with 76.ID and 14.PD. The objectives were the parts of “Roten Oktober” that hadn’t been captured yet such as the bread factory. They quickly learned that the destruction of factory buildings with Stuka attacks brought more advantages to the defender than the attacker. The Jägers, supported by the Pionier Bataillon 100, had to fight for literally every room of every building. The explosives and flamethrowers from PB.100 proved to be of great help. While fighting in the destroyed factory it was very often that the enemy was just a wall away. This extremely heavy and costly attack went on till the 26th. Eventually they were able to occupy the bread factory and clear a big portion of “Roten Oktober”.

From a not yet conquered part of the “Roten Oktober”, a Stalinorgel repeatedly sent its rockets against the German positions and bases. They couldn’t believe it. Her aim was off but its fire was constant. It soon turned out that the Russians had mounted the salvo gun onto an elevator. After each salvo the gun would be lowered into a basement where it was reloaded. The attempts by AR.83 to destroy the position failed because of the too long flight time of their grenades. Even-though the artillery was constantly aimed and the order to fire came within seconds, the Russians were still able to do their thing. How frustrating that must have been.

After the capture of the bread factory it was relatively quiet. Then, again, disaster struck Karl Krudewig. On 30.10 he was again wounded by shrapnel, this time in his left thigh. He spend some time in Lazarett and later in a few ersatz units. During this time he jumped the ranks and became an Oberleutnant der reserve on 01.10.1943. A few days after this promotion he was again send to a front unit.

[M3A1Mats]

On 07.10.43 he joined Grenadier regiment 449, 137 Infanterie Division and was stationed at Krimino near Gomel, Belarus. Him being with a front unit was again, sadly, short-lived.. On the 15th the Russians crossed the river Dnjepr and overran his division. The losses were extremely high. Even the Divisionskommandeur, Generalleutnant Kamecke, was killed in action. This would also be the end of Karl Krudewig’s story. Exactly a year after he was wounded in Stalingrad he was killed in Krimino.

Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading,

Mats

[brooksbz]

Very nice Wehrpass. I would like to own something like this one day. Congratulations!

[mtdr]

Good to see it went to the right place. Interesting research.

[senders221]

Nice wehrpass!! And good research Mats

[TWS]

Excellent Wehrpass. Love it.

[M3A1Mats]

Thank you guys! Really appreciate the feedback!
Had a blast researching it,

[Hofstetter]

Nice wehrpass and nice research, enjoyed reading that.