Stabsärzte 79th ID Stalingrad-Kuban-Krim

[Edward]

Small lot of documents to Stabsärzte d. Res Walter Senninger. In civilian life he was a surgeon and drafted to active military service in 1940.

[Edward]

During January, 1942 he was sent to the Russian Front and assigned to 1 San. Komp./179 of the 79th “Katzbach” Division at Belgorod.

Photo of German rear area near Belgorod. Winter 1941-42.

[Edward]

In June, 1942 during the 6th Army advance toward the Don Senninger skills as a surgeon were needed at the divisional field hospital so he was moved over to Feldlazarette 179. Remaining with them for the rest of the war.

[Edward]

In October, 1942 Senninger was likely worked to the breaking point operating on the heavy number of casualties brought in when the majority of the 79th Division was sent into Stalingrad to take the Red October Tractor Factory.

[Edward]

In early November, unlike the 79th Division, Feldlazarette 179 was not encircled with the bulk of the 6th Army. Not surprisingly I found no information on the movements of the field hospital during that time. From Senninger’s Wehrpass it can be seen that they were not within the pocket. It is known that during late August, 1942 they were in the area of Sserendy-Zararizinski (location?). Then by the latter part of Jan, 1943 ended up all the way down in the area of Novocherkassk. Quite a journey!

[Edward]

In April he received his first home leave. No doubt well earned. Followed by further service on the Donets and then the Kuban Brüken-kopf. During April, 1944 his unit was still in the Crimea and caught in the Soviet siege of Sevastopol. Lucky a second time they were evacuated out by both the Kreigsmarine and Rumanian Navy.

[Edward]

For the remainder of the war Senninger’s hospital unit was assigned to the 274th Division in the Stavanger area of Norway.

Some last comments. His commanding officer made a separate entry in the Wehrpass denoting Senninger’s Kuban service along with his qualification for the award of the Kubanschild which was never entered in the Soldlbuch! Also, the Ost Medal was entered in 1942, but he did not receive the citation until in Norway from the 274th ID. Probably in the Fall of 1944.

[Gerdan]

This was his Doctoral Thesis in Medicine:

Schwefelstoffwechsel und Menstruation

Author: Senninger, Walter

Borna-Leipzig ; Noske ; 1928 ; 21 S. 8"

University München 8. 11. 1927

Gerdan

[Edward]

Thank you for the additional information Gerdan. Always appreciated.

[Yubari]

luck or good networking skills so he was able to made to evacuation ships!

[TWS]

Very interesting read. Thanks for posting!

I have the Nachlass of a young Luftwaffe NCO and have his documents for his awards as well as his Wehrpass and not all of the awards were entered in it.

[mtdr]

Interesting grouping!

[M3A1Mats]

Lovely grouping! Can only imagine the horrors this man must've seen,

Thanks for sharing,

Mats

[Edward]

Thanks for the kind comments guys.

Yubari, that's a good question. It likely just came down to luck...being in a bad place, but getting out at the right time. The 179th Feldlazarette had to be located far enough back within the 6th Army rear area to quickly escape the encirclement. This leads to more questions. Why were they so far back from there division, and where? Did other divisional field hospitals also escape? Also, during October, 1943 the rebuilt 79th ID was evacuated form the Kuban and left the 17th Army. They ended up back with the 6th Army at Zaporozhye. For some reason the 179th Feldlazarette remained in the Crimea, and from the passbook entries never rejoined the 79th ID.

TWS, that LW nachlass you have is a good example. They were certainly not immune from making administrative service errors and omissions!

[Archi]

Hello Edward !

Very interesting group, and also great presentation with some very good additional maps and photos !

From 1942 onward, the Feldlazarette became more independent. They could stay with their "parent division",
but also be deployed seperately (see scan).
On 8.1.43, the Stab/HQ of 79. ID was flown out to Novocherkassk, where it would form some Alarm-units
from remants of 79. ID (mostly men returning from leave) and other local units, to form a new line of resistance.
Perhaps, Feldlazarett 179 had been withdrawn from the city earlier and then was also sent to that area.

Quite remarkable, that he was involved in 3 (or 2 1/2) encirclement battles from 1942-44, almost every 9 month !
(1/2 for the Kuban bridgehead. BTW, interesting entry regarding the Kuban-shield).
Regarding those battles, mostly we see examples of the fighting soldiers, but we often forget how important the
role of those medical units were, that tried to save lives or treat the woundings to at least limit the damage.
And that day after day. This group is a good reminder of all that.

Thanks for sharing.

Best regards,

Archi