Personal Documents

[FJPionier]

Hello all. I am brand new to the forum, so please forgive me if this question has been asked before. What type of documents (besides Soldbuch) would be carried by the average enlisted Fallschirmjager? Thanks!

- Erich Loych

[Brian M]

Erich, sorry to see noone has replied to your posting, but very glad to see you here! Glad to see you worked out the logon problems!
see you on the third, brother!
Brian

[John Hodgin]

Hello Erich,

Willi is the man for this, but I'll give my two cents until he can add more. The Soldbuch may be it as far as military documents unless the jaeger was qualified in other areas, such as a driver etc.. You should carry personal items like photos of girlfriend Perhaps a letter from home.
Regards,
John

[Eric Queen]

On many occasions the paratroopers did not carry the Soldbuch at all. They carried the "tarn" ausweiss instead.

[Willi Z.]

Eric, could you expand on this? I am sure it would be of interest to many, myself included.

Willi

[jimuk]

Eric-
A bit more info on this would be nice.

JimUK

[Eric Queen]

Often times in the field, paratroopers were issued and carried what was known as a "tarn" Ausweiss. Unlike the soldbuch which was full of unit specific and other information, this simple one page ID card contained only the most basic information (i.e. name, rank, date and place of birth, signature and current address). No unit or qualification information. They were issued in both cardboard and oil cloth. Some had photos and some did not. There are a couple of examples pictured on page 221 of my book. The carrying of this document (instead of the soldbuch) seemed to be most prevalent in Afrika/Tunis, but I am sure was practiced in other theaters as well.

Eric

[Chris]

Another type of frontline substitute for the Soldbuch was called the "Grabenausweis," or "Trench Pass." Even less elaborate than the Tarn, the Grabenausweis was usually just a typewritten slip of paper with the man's name, rank and Feldpost number, signed by the Kompanie Chef and stamped with the unit ink stamp.

[Prosper Keating]

Some paratroopers carried their Jump License (Fallschirmschuetzenschein) around with them. Other documents might have included their military driving license. And some carried their qualification and award documents too.

As an addendum to Eric's explanation of the Tarnauswis and the security-related reasons for carrying this, one often sees Luftwaffe soldbucher stamped with a warning that the paybook musn't be carried on missions over enemy territory. The reasons are pretty obvious. I have yet to see an FJ paybook with such a stamp but I suppose they must exist.

A paratrooper might also have carried his last home or R&R leave pass about with him. Soldiers do things like that for some reason. An R&R pass with a rail ticket voucher might also bear, in hastily scribbled pencil or pen writing, the name and contact details of a girl he met, or the address of a bar or club he enjoyed.

PK