going on leave question

[Gray]

How did going on leave work. Obviously I have never been in the military. Let's say I'm a Panzergrenadier fighting on the Russian Front is there a scheduled leave time that I know about or does the order just come over the radio without my knowledge of when it will be? Does the whole unit go on leave at the same time and if so does another unit replace the same position my unit held?

If it's just me and a few soldiers at a time does a troop transport come and collect us or does one my unit's troop transport take us back behind the lines to the trains.

Thanks in advance for any help in the matter.

[Chad1]

leave

My guess is that if you are a Panzergrenadier on the Eastern Front, you've got two options, with three outcomes.

1. Eat a bullet (killed or wounded).
2. Wait until your unit gets sent back to the Fatherland.

Leave must have been just about impossible to get for the average soldier.

[Larry deZeng]

When units were pulled out of the line to rest and refit, individual soldiers were given Heimat Urlaub. The system tried to afford each soldier some Heimat Urlaub each year, but from 1943 to the end of the war this became increasingly difficult.

[Simon O.]

In their monthly status reports all units had to report on how many of their men had not had leave in over 12 months.

Here are the reports of three frontline divisions which shows you how dramatically the leave situation worsened during 1944.

Firstly the reports for january 1944 from the 2, 6 and 6 SS mountain divisions. The section you're after is d.), second box down on the right.
These 3 are actually representative for all units within the 20th Mountain army, as you can see the leave system is still working and almost all men had home leave during 1943.

[Simon O.]

Now see the dramatic change by nov.44







a month later, Dec. 44 the situation was only getting worse

[jmark]

Now see the dramatic change by nov.44

Fascinating, Simon! Thanks for posting those documents. Nothing could have shown this change any more clearly.

My research focuses on 1942, so I can only comment on an earlier period in the war. Leave was a regular occurence and each unit was allowed to send a certain number of men on leave in a certain period. From what I have seen, entire units were never sent on leave from the front-line at the same time. The leave system was often suspended during major operations and crisis situations. For example, during the summer of 1942, leave seems to have been suspended during the movement phase of Operation Blau (June to early September), but as soon as the front-line solidified along the Don river or elsewhere, the leave system started up again. In Stalingrad itself, the last lucky soldiers went on leave in mid-November, just passing through the jaws of the Soviet encirclement. Needless to say, all leave was cancelled upon that momentous event.

From the Feldpost letters I have read, most soldiers had a rough idea when their next furlough would be. One officer knew he was third in line from his battalion (eg. "I'll get leave after the commander - who's been at the front for 15 months - and Oblt. X...). This officer knew a few week's in advance the precise day he would head back on leave. There's also anecdotal evidence that priority was given to married men and fathers, even over unmarried men who had been at the front for much longer.

A book could be written about the subject but hopefully you get the idea.

All the best,
Jason

[Gray]

Yeah, thanks guys that is really interesting. So if I wanted to look up more, would I look up Heimat Urlaub?

[Larry deZeng]

If you "google" Heimat Urlaub, most of the results will be in the German language.

[tenoriodj]

Even earlier, of course, OKW / OKH could issue "Urlaubsperre" (leave cancellation) orders at strategic times, such as just before Barbarossa. From the 321 ID divisional "Tätigkeitbericht" for the period 1-31 May 1941: "effective 5 May, ´Urlaubsperre´has been ordered by OKH"

Another Tätigkeitbericht from Oct 1st 1941 states that the division´s Urlaubsquote has reached 15%, and that this is due to the fact that farmers had to return home for seasonal work in the fall.

Great thread.