POW reverse look up?

[army group south]

Not sure if it's possible, but can it be determined which unit a POW was in based on his POW location?

All I know regarding my Opa's service is a starting point and the end point, but very little in between. Here is what I know;

He was a part of the Volksdeutsche Kavallerie (8 SS cavalry) unit that escorted refugees out of Ukraine in Sept. 1943. Apparently, in Litzmannstadt early 1944 was re-drafted or assigned with a group to France. That is all I know. I have a letter he wrote to his brother from ICRC stating he has been discharged to Rodewald, North of Hanover, 17.02.1946.

Is there any way to figure out which unit he was in France with, and how he got to Rodewald?

Thanks for any suggestions, asked WaSt, ICRC, ect. All they have is the letter

S.

[army group south]

My Opa's brother was also in the Cavalry unit, not sure but I think they went separate ways at Litzmannstadt. The ICRC has info on him but only gave me the following;

Erkm.: S.S. Kav. Ausb. u. Ers.Abt 6789,
H.J.
Reg. 25, Batl.II, 6. Komp.
Obergrenadier

They would not release any further info, other than a copy of the letter from my Opa to his brother, as I am not immediate family. Can anyone confirm what the above info means?
I assume: training and spare cavalry unit, then HJ would be, Hitler Youth regiment 25 battalion II, 6th company. Anyone know of further info available on this unit?

Thanks again
S.

[hucks216]

My Opa's brother was also in the Cavalry unit, not sure but I think they went separate ways at Litzmannstadt. The ICRC has info on him but only gave me the following;

Erkm.: S.S. Kav. Ausb. u. Ers.Abt 6789,
H.J.
Reg. 25, Batl.II, 6. Komp.
Obergrenadier

They would not release any further info, other than a copy of the letter from my Opa to his brother, as I am not immediate family. Can anyone confirm what the above info means?
I assume: training and spare cavalry unit, then HJ would be, Hitler Youth regiment 25 battalion II, 6th company. Anyone know of further info available on this unit?

Thanks again
S.

The EKM is short for ERKENNUNGSMARKE and would be his dogtag with the details following being his initial unit details that would be marked on the disc, so he underwent training with SS-Kavallerie-Ausbildungs und Ersatz Abteilung and his allocated number was 6789.
Following on from that it looks like he went on to serve with SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 25 (6 Kompanie in the II Bataillon) which was one of two Panzergrenadier Regiments in the 12. SS-Panzer-Division 'Hitlerjugend' which fought in Normandy, the Ardennes & Hungary.
Stackpole do a reasonably priced 2 volume history of the Hitlerjugend Division...
http://www.stackpolebooks.com/showprodu ... WPCID=1026

[army group south]

Thanks Hucks216 for your confirmation. I will look into the books. Are they the best source for the SS panzer-grenadier regiment 25? Thanks again as I have been trying to track down for a while!
S.

[hucks216]

They tell the history of the whole unit and as Pz.Gren.Rgt 25 saw a lot of action they are well covered. You would just need to know when he joined them to narrow down where he fought.
There is also a book called Blood & Honor by Craig Luther which is good but I would go with the Stackpole published books as they were originally written by the division's Chief of Staff (and temporarily commanded the division).

[history1]

[...]
They would not release any further info, other than a copy of the letter from my Opa to his brother, as I am not immediate family. [...]

You´re talking about your grandfather and his brother and then you mention that you´re not immediate family?
Where did your info came from? I ask because I got informations for my great-grandfather thoug he has a different last name.
From the WASt I also got informations about the same man, his son and their son-in-law respectively brother-in-law my grandfather.

[army group south]

I got the info from ICRC. It is info on my Opa's brother. They will only release further info to his immediate family; his wife or son, but not me. They did tell me his unit info as listed and provided a telegram/letter written by my Opa from 1946 looking for his brother. It appears he was in POW camp near Hannover, but they have no further info on my Opa. Which is why I'd like to try to reverse lookup,go from Hannover backwards, but so far unsuccessful

[history1]

[...]They will only release further info to his immediate family; his wife or son, but not me. [...]

What an iditoty, what if they died! Contact the ITS Arolsen:
https://www.its-arolsen.org/en/service/ ... .html#c438