German Military KIA 1939-45 (D. Dienststelle WASt ) Available on Ancestry

[HouweTrouwe]

I've noticed that most late-war casualties are not listed (a few are but much less than earlier periods). Also note that the spelling of the name, sometimes the name isn't fully transcribed.. Ex. "Max Sch" .. You'll never find him when you search for his full name, although his record is there. So try a few spelling options.

Also, although sadly you can't search per Unit, you can search per Location.. Making it easier to find more KIA per Location (again try a few spelling options ...). This helped enlarge my database for KIA of Panzer-Regiment 35!

It's a huge step forward.

[Waffenreich]

Here's another reason why this development is so important (to me at least).

I have this large framed picture of Jager Hartlieb Malter. He was killed on 1 December 1942 in Tunis. Larry Foley once posted a picture of another Fj standing in the exact spot/studio this picture was taken in (http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ghlight=bohley). They are both equipped the same way regarding smock, helmet, gloves, holster, etc. Because Larry knew what unit his guy was from we thought Malter was from Fj Rgt 5 as well and was killed in the same battle.

I looked his card up on Thursday and found that he was in I/Fj Rgt HG. This caused me to do some research on here regarding the unit and I found another Thread with this awesome picture of the cemetery in Tunis by posted by Remy Spezzaano. The grave on the left is that of Malter's. What a wonderful way to cap off my research for today.

Enjoy your weekend!

vr

Bob

[TWS]

^^ That's an awesome find, Bob. Congratulations! Love it when someone gets a research "hit" like that.

[Waffenreich]

^^ That's an awesome find, Bob. Congratulations! Love it when someone gets a research "hit" like that.

Thanks Todd! What are the odds of seeing a period pic of their grave? This is why I love doing research on these guys. Like I said before, it just drives home the finality of their service.

Stay healthy mate!

Regards!

Bob

[Ironcrown]

I have made a 6 months subscription, and following a friend's suggestion I've paid a very fair price: only 29€ for 6 months, just subscribing from ancestry.de instead of .com.
At this price I've even skipped the free trial option

However, I confirm what has been said by others: I got some matches but also many names did not give a result, either because were entered with some misspelling or were not entered in the database at all. In particular I got very few results regarding the fallens of September-October 1944 and later (unfortunately these were the names I was more interested in!) while I got a good share for early 1944 dates and before.

[Jean-Loup]

Here is part of an article I wrote last year about an ambush by the resistance in which 10 Germans were killed. First a German witness account, explaining that most of the men had burned to death.

JL

[Jean-Loup]

By researching like a mad man (almost all the men were from Sudetenland or Silesia), I was able to get one KIA letter of a man killed in the ambush, Franz Schindler. The letter claimed he had died painlessly and immediately from a gunshot to the head. In the article I said that this was probably a sanitised version of reality. However there was no way to know at the time what the truth was....

[Jean-Loup]

Now thanks to ancestry, we can see the horrible reality in Franz Schindler's case. Cause of death: 3rd degree burns due to high voltage electricity and exsanguination.

JL

[Waffenreich]

Excellent research JL. It makes you wonder how many of these families had an impression of their young son lying peacefully in the grass in death when the sad reality is that many couldn't even be sponged up for burial.

vr

Bob

[Jean-Loup]

In my experience, most of the causes of death told to families were truthfull. However in such horrendous cases, I guess it was up to the officer to decide what was best.

Here is another case, taken from my book. A German soldier stationned in Nice remembering how one of his NCOs was killed.

[Jean-Loup]

And the WASt card confirms the information. Cause of death: early detonation of handgrenade, accidental.

[Jean-Loup]

And for those who dont go to the helmet forum, here is a helmet from a soldier killed during the liberation of Paris: shot by terrorists.

JL

[Waffenreich]

Fantastic helmet and picture JL. Again, this is why I think access to these cards has really advanced our understanding of what happened to these men.

I am having tremendous success with my research (about 25 hits per night) and the causes of death really make you think about their final moments. I think the most graphic one I found last night was "head wound - protruding brain due to artillery fire". Poor guy

vr

Bob

[Lutfen]

I followed Ironcrown's suggestion and picked up 6 months membership via Ancestry.de for 29 Euros. Just started working through my catalogue of documents and have matched 2 out of the first 3 soldiers recorded as KIA. I can see what I'll be doing most evenings for the next few weeks.

This is an excellent resource and full marks to Thomas for alerting us to its existence!

Regards,
Michael

[Ironcrown]

In my experience, most of the causes of death told to families were truthfull. However in such horrendous cases, I guess it was up to the officer to decide what was best.

Here is another case, taken from my book. A German soldier stationned in Nice remembering how one of his NCOs was killed.

I don't think it was a sabotaged italian grenade, but just a regular M35 grenade, very dangerous! Accidents with this kind of weapon were very common in the italian army, even postwar. The SRCM was still in use for training until the early 2000s. In 2001-2002 when I was in the military a recruit in my base (but from another unit) was wounded in training: he got splinters in the legs.