Small EK 2 group of Sturm-Btl. AOK 16 with CC days listing and many Questions

[Archi]

Hello !

Here is a small group of docs, consisting of citations for an EK 2 and a VWA in Silber,
a listing of Nahkampf- and Sturmtage and some additional papers.

Typically, I am interested in groups, that allow to reconstruct a larger part of a soldiers career.
Here we have quite the opposite : Everything important happens just within a month !

I found this an interesting group nevertheless, because :
- the Sturm-Btl. AOK 16, was part of the Armee-Waffenschule, a very special type of unit I am interested in.
- it illustrates very well, how fierce the battles in summer 1944 were (16 CC-days and/or Sturmtage,
just within a month, seem quite remarkable).
- Finally, the listing of CC-days also allows to trace the way of this soldier and his units very closely,
almost on a day by day base for over a month (if you help me to close the gaps !) .

Here a short overview, what happened :
Obergefreiter Bretschneider fought with Sturmbataillon AOK 16 during Operation Bagration, in the
crucial timeframe from early July - early August 1944, when 16. Armee tried to avoid beeing cut off.
He was thrown into battle on the right flank of AOK 16 in early July, after the Red Army had achieved
a breakthrough South of Polozk.

Sturm-Bataillon AOK 16 launched a counter attack near Nowy Pogost on 2.7.44, ~30km S of Druya, tried to seal off
a Russian attack the next day, somewhere near Miory (?), 10 km further N. It was encircled during this action, but
could break out on 5.7.

By 8.7., the Sturm-Btl. had been forced back to the area of Druya. From 11.7. onward, the unit was involved for a week
in actions near Swiluki, a place I couldn't locate yet. A week later (24.7.), it fought near Lielraki, 20km SSW of Dünaburg (Daugavpils).

By end of July/early August 1944, OG Bretschneiders unit had been pushed back further to the West and fought in an area between Birzai
and Bauskas (~100km SSE of Riga). In this area, on the 4. August, OG Bretschneider was wounded for the first time. However, the wounding
must have been severe, as he was awarded the VWA (silber) for it.
For the actions in the month before, he was also awarded the EK 2, confirmed by the award doc and an additional paper doc,
signed by his Spiess (Hauptfeldwebel).
===========================

=> I have several questions, related to this group :
1.a) EK2 doc : signature should be Oberst Franz Eccard von Bentivegni ?!
1.b) But he should have been promoted already to Gen.Maj. by 1.8.44 ?!

2.) Most of the documents confirm, that OG Bretschneider was affiliated to Sturm-Btl. AOK 16 during the battles, for which he
was awarded the EK 2. However, the EK 2 citation mentions his unit as II./Gren.Rgt. 161 (and is also signed by the Kdr./Führer 81. ID).
Any explanation for that ?!

3.) The listing of CC-days : would this kind of list be an indication, that he was awarded a Nahkampfspange ?

=> 4.) I would like to locate all the places, mentioned in those CC-days listing :
I really hope for some help on finding/confirming the following places (but I am aware that this might be extremely difficult ) :
- 03.07.44 Wilnowo-Orce (I found some vague hint, that this is likely in the vicinity of Miory)
- 11.07.44-17.07 Swiluki
- 12.07.44 Kleijpaniszki
- 26.07.44 Odi

- 31.07.44 Gut Neu-Raden :
I think this could be = Jaunsaule (from several references) :
http://www.carstenwilms.online.de/or...n_lettland.htm

- 01.08.44 Schönberg : I think this could be = Skaistkalne ?! :
https://www.birzai.de/ziele/schoenberg.html

- 03.08.44 Uszubaliai ( a candidate is marked in the last map with ??)

The first map shows an overview of the general situation in July/August 1944, with the areas of action of Sturm-Btl. AOK 16.
After the documents of the group, I'll provide two maps, which display those areas of combat in more detail.

What do you think of this group ? Any comments are very welcome !
Any help on the questions would be very appreciated !

Thanks and best regards,

Archi

[Archi]

Here is the listing of CC-days and the maps which show some of the the probable locations in more detail :
(maps are downloaded from this website : )
http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/eastern_europe/

[mufasa]

very nice aand interesting Group Archi, and great examine and reconstruction!
Thanks
Oriano

[Brian R]

1.a) EK2 doc : signature should be Oberst Franz Eccard von Bentivegni ?!
1.b) But he should have been promoted already to Gen.Maj. by 1.8.44 ?!

2.) Most of the documents confirm, that OG Bretschneider was affiliated to Sturm-Btl. AOK 16 during the battles, for which he
was awarded the EK 2. However, the EK 2 citation mentions his unit as II./Gren.Rgt. 161 (and is also signed by the Kdr./Führer 81. ID).
Any explanation for that ?!

Very nice group and, definitely, a testament to the intensity of the fighting at the time. He saw a lot of action and then suffered terribly with a single wound worthy of the WBiS.

For question number 1, my guess is that von Bentivegni was indeed still an Oberst and Division Fuehrer at the time this document was signed and was soon promoted, but the promotion was made retroactively to, or effective as of, August 1st.

The answer to number 2 is that Sturm-Btl. AOK 16 or elements of it (maybe just 4. Kompanie) were, at one point, subordinate to II./Gren.Rgt. 161. In this case the recommendation for the EK was initiated at this level and sent to the regiment's parent unit (81. ID). The map for August 1, 1944 on the LdW site shows 81. ID as a Kampfgruppe so the intensity of the fighting probably dictated some level of mixing of troops and commands. Sturm-Btl. AOK 16 would technically be a Heerestruppe with a direct subordination to 16. Armee but was put under the temporary command of other units at other time - in this case 81. ID or what was left of it.

[Hank C.]

Hello !*EDIT*

3.) The listing of CC-days : would this kind of list be an indication, that he was awarded a Nahkampfspange ?

....

Thanks and best regards,

Archi

To be exact, I'd venture a guess that it showed he was qualified for the NKS; you'd need either the award document for award, or the Vorschlagsliste that he was recommended. Could be the appopriate officials never got around to submitting the actual paperwork.
Just a guess.

best
H

EDIT: I also notice his Silver wound came the day after the last listed Close combat day. If he was severely wounded & evac'ed, also quite possible that recommendations for awards were secondary to his primary unit as they were heavily involved, and the Lazarett/Medical units were probably swamped at the time. So paperwork between units could easily be lost or simply put aside, for more immediate requirements (battle and treatment of the wounded, in this case).

best again,
H

[Yubari]

I am a fan of groupings like this. Really nice research you did.

If you ever decide to sell, I will be really interested.

[Archi]

Hello !

Tom, Oriano and Yubari, many thanks to all of you for your nice comments !

Now many things have become more clear :
@Brian :
- Regarding Oberst Bentivegni : I was thinking of such a possibilty, but I hoped for some confirmation.
- The answer to number 2 explains a lot, now I understand several things much better. I think you are completely
right pointing to the high losses of 81. ID. I now found the link to Gren.Rgt. 161, according to which the I. Btl.
(down to 120 men) was destroyed during the fighting near Birsen (=Birzai) (3.-5. August) and the II./Gren.Rgt. 161
suffered so heavily, that it had to be merged with Gren.Rgt. 189 :
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/...er/GR161-R.htm
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/...nter/GR189.htm

Now, thanks to your explanation, I found that the listing of CC-days is
likely stamped by Dienstelle FPNr. 09060, which would be : Rgt.Stab Gren.Rgt. 189 !
(the number is hard to read and I looked only for numbers ending with 3060 oder 8060)
Now everything fits together quite logically ! Many thanks !!

@Hank :
Many thanks for your explanations too . When I asked, I thought the listing perhaps could have been prepared,
by 4.Kp./Sturmbtl. AOK 16 (which is listed at the top) to recommend OG Bretschneider for the NKS. Now with the new info,
it seems that the list was prepared by the Stab GR 189 and then sent to his former unit, just to document, what had happened,
when he was under another command. And as you explained, what happened then, we probably will never know (except his
award doc would show up somewhere).

And yes, he was wounded the next day after his last listed CC-day, that is why I would like to locate that place named
Uszubaliai. (I think I found it now, it is listed as Uzubaliai, ~5km West of Birzai(!) on the 2nd map).
So we can be sure, that he was wounded during the fighting for Birzai.

Now, the major open topic would be, to locate Swiluki and Kleijpaniszki as he was in that area for over a week.
I found a website, mentioning Kleipaniszki but I don't understand the context, perhaps it helps :
http://www.tarnautojai.lt/memo/modul...hp?storyid=129

Many thanks again and best regards,

Archi

[Admiraal]

Nice grouping
I like those nahkampf- and sturmtage lists!