Feldpost look up

[StuGIII]

Hi I have a small collection of photos and identity books belonging to a Feldwebel Wilhelm Wirth. One book is an Arbeitsfront, I believe that was a driver's booklet of some sort. The other is a Deutsches Reich Reisepass. What is that? This soldier was apparently killed at Stalingrad as there are two letters, one dated Sept 7, 1943, and another dated Dec 30, 1955. Both seem to declare him dead as of Jan 7, 1943. I can't read German, so I can only assume this to be the case. His feldpost number at the time he was declared dead, Jan 7, 1943, was 36254. Can someone tell me what unit this feldpost number would have belonged to? I could post his photo and one of the letters and maybe someone can confirm my suspicions as to the basic gist of the letter. I know Feldwebel Wirth had earned an Iron Cross 2nd Class and an Eastern Front Medal as I have his ribbon bar and those are the two ribbons on it. Among the photos is a family group photo. Wilhelm isn't in it, but a young man is in uniform wearing an armband stating Deutsches Wehrmacht. I've heard of these armbands, but I'm not aware of their significance. Can someone enlighten me on their purpose?

John

[Gerdan]

Reisepass is a ordinary passport

Gerdan

[StuGIII]

Wilhelm Wirth

Hi Gerdan,

Thanks for the help. It'll be interesting to see what unit he was with. An Arbeitsfront is a driver's license thing isn't?

John

[Jonathan M]

36254



(1.10.1940-27.2.1941) Nachschub-Kompanie 305,

(12.3.1943-7.9.1943) gestrichen (Stalingrad),

(23.4.1944-24.11.1944) 10.7.1944 Kraftfahr-Kompanie A 191.


Stalingrad it is!
Jonathan

[StuGIII]

Wilhelm at Stalingrad

Hi Jonathan,

Thanks for the help, but exactly what unit at Stalingrad had this feldpost number? What does gestrichen mean?

John

[Simon O.]

The unit was Nachschub Kompanie 305. Part of the supply echelon of the 305 Inf.Div.

I know many people that have the feldpost reference on CD simply do a copy paste for speed but it serves to confuse anyone that doesn't understand how to interpret the data.

The dates in brackets refer to an event within that time frame, ie. the period in which an fp number was brought into use, a unit name change or when a number went out of use. That's what you see with 'gestrichen' ie. struck off or cancelled as you'd expect from a unit that ceased to exist after Stalingrad.

[Gerdan]

John

what do you mean by Arbeitsfront ? It should be a booklet (brown color?) and I would prefer that you read Arbeitsbuch.
A driver's license is a Führerschein.

Gerdan

[Jonathan M]

John

As Simon points out the FPN was cancelled after the units destruction at Stalingrad. They remained unissued for some time before being reissued to another unit later on in the war. Times between cancellation and reissue depend on stage of the war.

Jonathan

[StuGIII]

Wilhelm Wirth

Hi Simon,Jonathan,Gerdan,

Thanks for the help. So Wilhelm was a Feldwebel with the 305th Supply Company. That makes sense as he was an older type soldier. When he died or was captured in January of 1943, he would have been 41 years and 3 months old. The booklet I have is called an Arbeitsfront Gerdan. It's red in color and on the front, it has what looks like a cog with a swastika in the center.

John

[StuGIII]

Wilhelm Wirth

I feel I need to correct myself. The red booklet in question is called

"Die Deutsche Arbeitsfront Mitgliedsbuch." So I should have asked what is a Mitgliedsbuch?

John

[Gerdan]

Mitgliedsbuch means membership-booklet.

The Deutsche Arbeitsfront was an organization during TR which combined labor union with the employer's federation. Every worker was forced to be a member in this organization.

Gerdan