Russian placenames in German, translation neede

[AndyD]

hello,
i was wondering if anyone could tell me where i can find translations of Russian placenames written in German,or if anyone out there could tell me?I have a wehrpass to a deceased soldier which gives the place of death,but because it's in German i'm stumped!
Hope you can help,
Kind regards,
yorkie

[Rick Research]

What is it?

It could still just be some little 4 shacks and a barn place anyway.

[Gary T]

Any chance you could post a scan? As Rick says it could be a village in the middle of nowhere, that may well be known by a different name by now especially if it is in the Baltic States. However I've had a bit of success tracking down some out of the way places while researching my own wehrpasses. David Glantz's books, both privately and publicly published are excellent for this.

[AndyD]

Hi Rick and Gary,
thanks for replying.From what i can make out the entry reads:Zilovo/Zilowo,Rusland(which i believe is Russia!)wurde Zammoje(?),30 km mouduker/moudocker(?).Sorry if this sounds a little vague but the writing is tiny and not too neat!I would love to be able to post a scan,but it broke down the other day!I'll try to post when i get a new one, in the meantime any help you can give with what i've described would be appreciated!
kind regards,
yorkie

[Gary T]

Any chance you could give us the unit and date? I forgot to ask! It would narrow down the area enormously. At the moment I'm not in Sheffield so I'm away from most of my books but I'll be abck there some point next week.

[Rick Research]

Neither of those ring any little bells, but then neither will "Oxford, Massachusetts" to anyone but me, since I live here.

The fact that the description includes the nearest bump in the road as 30 km away tells us something.

Easier, of course, since you've got the Wehrpass, is what battalion/regiment/division was the guy in when he was killed? Division location should narrow the vast endless steppe down a bit.

There are a fair number of German military maps out there, so somebody should be able to narrow things down from something fairly large.

I have been into Soviet stuff these last few years, and among THEIR personnel records, I often find birthplaces like "At the XXX Versts Marker on the X-to-Y-Railway" or things like "At Soandso's Factory in Z-Region."

Vast, empty land-seas, far far away from anybody's home....

[AndyD]

Hello again Rick and Gary!
from what i can gather from the description of the wehrpass on the website and from the contents is this: Horst Fritz serving with Grenadier Regt. 465 killed 4th August 1943.This is a replacement wehrpass,and has two sheets pasted in on pages 32 & 33,both giving dates of battles and operations(?).The first sheet is a printed sheet and the second is a roughly typed sheet.1st sheet lists operations in France and Belgium,2nd sheet lists operations in Russia,but only goes up to February 1943.The 2nd sheet doesn't seem to list any of the places i mentioned in my last post(frustrating!)
Here's hoping you can help,
kind regards,
yorkie

[Gary T]

I've bought a few books with me - IR 465 was part of 255 ID. At the time you mention it was part of LII Korps, 2 Armee situated to the west of Belgorod. Unfortunately for the division it was in the direct path of the Soviet counteroffensive following Kursk. This began on the 3rd August.

I have my copy of Glantz's "From the Don to the Dnepr" with me which has a map of the situation on the 4th August. Although these maps aren't as good asin his later Kursk book it does show IR 465's positions on the 4th August. The nearest settlement marked is Zybino. As to what the 30 km is referring to could it be Belgorod? This is approx 30 km to the east. Kharkov is about 40km to the south east.

I've bought my scanner with me as well (you never know when it'll come in useful ) but haven't got it setup. I 'll do that and scan this map in for you.

Cheers,
Gary.

[Gary T]

Okay here's the map. I've marked the village and IR 465 on it. Its quite large (210KB) though. If you need to put it into a wider context just find Kharkov on a map of the Ukraine. This area is about 40 km to the north.



Just for good measure below are some situation maps from the 3rd August. The top one is the positions before the offensive began and the lower one is the positions at 2000 hours. I've put this in to show how IR 465 was pushed back during the fighting on the 4th August. Glantz has this to say about the fighting on the 4th in this area -

"At 0400 the Voronezh Front commenced heavy air and artillery prpeparation againsy German positions north and east of Tomarovka. At 0430 the bombardment ceased, and tanks and infantry renewed their assaults on German positions which had been reinforced during the preceding night by 255th Infantry Division and by the remainder of 19th Panzer Division. 6th Guards Army's 23rd Guards Rifle Corps, supported by 5th Guards Tank Corps' Tanks repeatedly assaulted German positions but with only limited success. The 51st Guards and 71st Guards Rifle Divisions, in grinding battles lasting all day, pushed back the German units 4 kilometres to new defensive positions just south of the rail line running northwest from Tomarovka. The 52nd Guards Rifle Division with 5th Guards Tank Corps support pushed the 74th Panzer Grenadier Regiment and 255th Infantry Division back about 2 kilometres to the positions along the rail line north and north west of Tomarovka."

IT would seem your man died during this stubborn defensive fighting.

Cheers,
Gary.






[ 29 December 2001: Message edited by: Gary T ]

[ 29 December 2001: Message edited by: Gary T ]

[ 29 December 2001: Message edited by: Gary T ]