Feldpost & Soldbuch help

[Marc Garlasco]

Gents,
Need a bit of help. Have an amazing group I am getting and am curious if you could check a Feldpost number for me? The guy has a recommendation for the RK on 2 May 1945 for destroying 7 Panzers in Biberach on 22 April 1945 with the number L63906 (on 2 May 45).

his dogtags list him in 1 L/Flak Abt 85



Thanks for the help - can't wait to get the group!
Marc

[Marc Garlasco]

Anyone have the Feldpost to check?
Thanks!
Marc

[Larry deZeng]

Anyone have the Feldpost to check?
Thanks!
Marc

L 63906 during 1945 was Stab gem.Flak-Abt. 493 (v). On 10 April 1945 it was located in the Winnenden area (a few kilometers northeast of Stuttgart) under Flak-Rgt. 86/28. Flakdivision. There are 4 villages/towns named Biberach: 39 km due east of Strasbourg; 35.3 km SSE of Strasbourg; 7.7 km NW of Heilbronn; and, 21 km SE of Ulm. The last of these seems most likely because U.S. VI Corps had armored spearheads pushing through the area southeast of Ulm on 22 April. The other "Biberachs" were too far to the west to have still been the scene of fighting on that late date.

--BHS1956

[Marc Garlasco]

Thanks so much - great info! It is some grouping...
Marc

[Marc Garlasco]

Just read it again - he did it by UTTENWEILER, near bieberach...in the morning about 1030.
Thanks,
Marc

Here it is:

[Eric JB]

Sorry Marc,

But I am not so happy with that document-stamp.
Any other material to go with this document.

yours
Eric-Jan Bakker

[Marc Garlasco]

Some more:

[Marc Garlasco]

More

[Marc Garlasco]

[Marc Garlasco]

So, what do you think?
Marc

[Larry deZeng]

So, what do you think?
Marc

I can't speak for the disputed Ritterkreuz page, but the other documents are 100% authentic as to their content. But I am no handwriting expert, so I cannot exclude the remote possibility of perhaps some pen-and-ink embellishments. But that is all very, very unlikely.

--BHS1956

[Simon O.]

Great grouping from what i can see. Seeing the whole lot (or at least most of it) puts that RK recommendation into context. Note how the same stamp is used for the WB entry in his SB. All sorts of things not quite according to the book happened in those last chaotic weeks of the war, i'm just wondering whether they used any old FP number stamp with the number removed because they either didn't have a unit stamp or it had been lost.

That action would be well worth researching Marc, you should be able to do find out a good bit i'd imagine as it was against US forces. you've got the time date, place and what the Germans believe they'd knocked out. Would be interesting to see if he actually did knock out 7 tanks.

[Marc Garlasco]

I am removing the rest since this will be published. But I do appreciate caution! Should anyone want to see the grouping please PM your e-mail to me.
Thanks,
Marc

[Marc Garlasco]

Thanks Simon - I will delve into it!
Marc

[F L Clemens]

Interesting document for an alleged Ritterkreuz-Tat. Of course, at the time it was issued, one could expect a fair amount of field improvisation in the preparation of the document. If the correct Dienststempel was not available it is believeable that another might be used with the incorrect FPN un-inked or masked out. The abbreviation of Abteilung as Abtg is a little unusual compared to Abt.

The act itself - destroying 7 Panzers with a Panzerfaust at 1030 is what I am somewhat skeptical of. I could see 1, 2 or 3 Panzers destroyed at a given timepoint but 7 within just a single timepoint seems "incredible" in the bad sense of the word. Put another way, I would find it more believable if he destroyed 7 Panzers over the course of 2 or 3 days - or if he and his men destroyed 7 Panzers in one morning. But just think of how hard it would be for one guy to destroy 7 Panzers in an hour with a Panzerfaust!!

With the available US records, one should be able to get an idea of how reasonable this claim is by checking combat actions around that town on that day.