Normandy - "Operation Cobra" Death Card

[InfanterieSammler]

Here is another recent pick up for a Gefreiter d. Gebirgsjäger who was KIA on 29 July 1944. A mountain trooper in Normandy!

[InfanterieSammler]

The Volksbund has this soldier buried at Marigny.

[InfanterieSammler]

Based on the location of where he is buried and his date of death (29 July), it appears he was a casualty of Operation Cobra.

You can see Marigny in the yellow circle below, located right in the middle of where Operation Cobra took place.

[InfanterieSammler]

I have two questions about this card...

1. I have not been able to ascertain a unit for this soldier, as there were many facing the Allies during this battle. Interestingly enough, someone wrote 2.P.D. (2. Panzer or Panzergrenadier Division) on the card. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how some one was able to come up with that.

2. He is place of birth on the Volksbund site is listed as "Lana." South Tyrol? It would make sense for a guy with a Gebirgs background...

Many Thanks.

[H.W Plainview]

Hello

Interesting, i don t speak german but i found his brotherS here :

http://www.kriegstote.org/cgi-bin/ba...ktuell&Id=4813

Also dead in 1944 in the Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 204, 11. Kp.
At the bottom page it deals with josef, maybe there is his place of birth too ? Hope it will help as there s a third brother missing in 1945.

[InfanterieSammler]

Thank you - I saw that too.

The Volksbund lists 22 Josef Egger who were KIA in 1944, so there is a less than 5% chance it could be the same guy just based on that. The Gebirgs connection is interesting though. However, Albert Egger was born in Germany and Josef Egger in South Tyrol, Austria...

Regards

[matthias_AC]

John,


an interesting death card indeed, especially the Gebirgsjäger-background!

2 P.D. indicates 2nd Panzer-Division, there was no 2nd Panzergrenadier-Division in the Wehrmacht. The division saw action in the St. Lô/Argentan area, so it is highly likely that he actually was a member of 2nd Panzer.

As the 2nd Panzer was sent to France by the beginning of 1944 for refreshment, it could be that Egger was part of the reinforcement and had served in a (maybe destroyed?) Gebirgsjäger-unit before.

One can only guess why someone wrote down the unit on the card. Maybe a former comrade or family member needed a reminder...

Best,

Matthias

[InfanterieSammler]

Hi Matthias,

I absolutely agree that it is possible that the soldier served with 2nd Panzer. At this point, I think it's just as likely he served with another unit as well. For example, take a look at this map below to see all the other units fighting in this AO.

Interestingly enough, this map shows a 2nd Pz.Gr.Div., which as you correctly stated did not even exist.

Regards.

[matthias_AC]

There is certainly something wrong with that map.... there also wasn´t a 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Division.

Where did you get the map from?

[InfanterieSammler]

You're right. Though technically, Das Reich was known at one point as the 2nd SS Panzer Grenadier Division. It certainly wasn't by the time it arrived in Normandy.

This card just came in last week, so I haven't had a chance to do any research or scan a map from one of my books. Figured I would just throw this one up for Normandy anniversary. Think I pulled the map off Google.

[matthias_AC]

Here´s a map of "Operation Cobra" which I scanned from Antony Beevor´s amazing book "D-Day: The Battle for Normandy"... should be more accurate.

By the way, now that we are talking about "Operation Cobra" I also attached a Cobra-linked citation from my collection... Versorgungs-Kompanie Panzerlehr-Regiment 130, Panzerlehr-Division, Bayerlein signed.


Best,


Matthias

[pauke]

name

Or would that be Versorgungs-Kompanie?

[matthias_AC]

Or would that be Versorgungs-Kompanie?

You are very right there, my mistake... I know it is "Versorgungs-", don´t know why I wrote "Versuchs-"... must have been a mental blackout, similar words.

[InfanterieSammler]

By the way, now that we are talking about "Operation Cobra" I also attached a Cobra-linked citation from my collection... Versorgungs-Kompanie Panzerlehr-Regiment 130, Panzerlehr-Division, Bayerlein signed. Best, Matthias

Hi Matthias,

Very neat - thank you for posting. I shudder to think what this guy may have went through. Panzer-Lehr was decimated during Operation Cobra.

Regards.

[matthias_AC]

Hi Matthias,

Very neat - thank you for posting. I shudder to think what this guy may have went through. Panzer-Lehr was decimated during Operation Cobra.

Regards.

Very very true John - our generation (fortunately!) can´t imagine what these guys went through! Or at least the majority of us can´t. I am sure veterans from recent conflicts have seen a lot of sh.. as well.

I assume Knappe saw the heavy bombardement by the USAF just before the operation began - which, by the way, killed many american soldiers as well due to mistakes by the bomber crews.

Some people might think that the battles in the west were less brutal, almost gallant or clean, than the fightings in the east as there wasn´t a big ideological/"racial" aspect to it (unlike the view on russians as "subhuman beings" who needed to be annihilated). But as Antony Beevor writes in his book, german combat veterans from the eastern front who also saw action in Normandy reported a way higher level of brutality and grimness during the Normandy campaign than anything they had seen in the east.