Art.Abt.(RSO) ??

[hucks216]

Hi,
I have a wehrpass that lists the mans last unit as 4 Batterie Le.Art.Abt.(RSO) 109 with which he served in the Balkans from July 1943 securing the area and fighting partisans in Montenegro & Albania.
But would anyone be able to enlighten me as to what the (RSO) means? I have been able to find a short reference to the unit on the Lexikon site and in Nafziger's Order Of Battle series a few Volks Artillery Corps have such a RSO Battalion but I can not find what the RSO actually means.
Any info is appreciated so I can complete my little history sheet to go with the wehrpass.

[ChrisA]

Hello

It means Raupenschlepper Ost

\Christoph

[hucks216]

Many thanks for that. That would tie in with him being awarded the Drivers Badge in Silver on the same date as his transfer into the unit from Art.Rgt 109.

By chance would anyone know what the main weapon of 4 Batterie Le.Art.Abt.(RSO) 109 was?

[Larry deZeng]

I can't tell you the type of artillery they had, but I would suspect 7.5cm mountain guns. Here are a few additional entries beyond what Tessin and Lexikon have:

18.8.43: en-route to Yugoslavia and to be attached to LXIX. Armeekorps.
23.8.44: ordered transferred from Albania to Nis/Serbia on this date.
31.08.44: now located in Urosevac/Serbia after transferring from Skutari/Albania.
19.12.44: in the Jabuka area attached to XCI. Armeekorps/Heeresgruppe E.

My assumption is that it moved around a lot for use in the hundreds of anti-partisan operations carried out in the former Yugoslavia, 1941-45. It probably spent the latter part of 1943 to August 1944 in Albania and Montenegro attached to XXI. Gebirgs-Armeekorps.

[hucks216]

That's great, thanks for the info. The last date listed in the WP is for 10th May 1945 on Pg26 - just a date, stamp and signature - but the last action listed commenced on 25th May 1944 in Albania, with no end date noted and under the heading Bekampfung der Bandenbewegung im Sudostraum.
He is listed as having been trained on the le.FH.18 which I now presume would be for this unit as his previous posting of Art Rgt 104 had the sFH 18 according to Nafziger's volume.
Thanks for helping out.

[Simon O.]

I'm afraid i'm going to have to disagree with Larry here. The RSO was far too large a prime mover for the little 7.5cm Geb.36. Had it been equipped with mountain guns it would also have been designated as a mountain unit.

RSO equipped light artillery battalions were equipped with one or other of the 10.5cm le.F.H.18 variants.

Prior to it's reformation in 1943 as a light artillery battalion, II./109 had been equipped with 15cm s.FH.18 as well as 21cm Mrs.18

[hucks216]

Thanks for the additional details Simon. According to his WP he served in 4 Batterie Art.Rgt 109 from 18/04/1941 until his transfer to the RSO unit on 01/07/1943 (and at one point in 1940 he served in the infantry).

With Art Rgt 109 he took part in the battles from the Russian border to Moscow with the 'winterschlacht' at Juchnow lasting for 3 months, before going on to take part in the 1942 summer offensive reaching and fighting in Woronesh until 18/02/1943.

[Larry deZeng]

I'm afraid i'm going to have to disagree with Larry here. The RSO was far too large a prime mover for the little 7.5cm Geb.36. Had it been equipped with mountain guns it would also have been designated as a mountain unit.
RSO equipped light artillery battalions were equipped with one or other of the 10.5cm le.F.H.18 variants.
Prior to it's reformation in 1943 as a light artillery battalion, II./109 had been equipped with 15cm s.FH.18 as well as 21cm Mrs.18

Well, Simon, I couched my words very carefully because I wasn't sure. Most of the artillery used to support the anti-partisan operations in the former Yugoslavia were 7.5 cm mountain guns due to the difficulty of the terrain.

The schematische Kriegsgliederung for XXI. Gebirgs-Armeekorps, Stand: 7.8.1944, shows le.Art.Abt.(RSO) II./109 attached to 181. Inf.Div. with the following:

Abteilungstab
Stabskompanie (mot) with 2 le.MG
3 x Batterien each with 4 x 10.5 cm F.H.18 and 2 x schw.MG

[See: NARA WashDC: RG 242, Microcopy T-314, roll 664, frame 000435, geheime Kommandosache].

There it is. But is is clear from the Korps KTB that the RSOs towed anything they were told to tow, including 7.5 cm guns, captured Italian artillery, ammunition, supplies, etc. The terrain around Lake Scutari along the Albanian-Montenegrin border is very mountainous with peaks ranging up to 2,700 meters. This is the terrain where the anti-partisan operations took place, so the RSOs were a handy vehicle to have.

BTW, the RSOs seem to have come in different flavors, according to photos in the Walter J. Spielberger Aero Armor series, vols. 7 and 9, and on several web sites. Some were apparently smaller than others and might not have been up to towing 10.5 cm howitzers in difficult mountain terrain.

--Larry