unknown Stab (end Jan. 45 under Armee Ligurien)

[Rossano]

Hello gentlemen
I need Your help to decipher a word (see enclosed). What kind of a Stab is this ? I read Hochgeb.Stab "Makkland" or "Mattland" but it has no sense to me. If You succeed to decipher it, can You give me pls. also some details (from/to when it exhisted, which troops it had + cdr.) about this Stab ?
Thanks, Rossano

[Frech]

It would be better to read the rest of the document too.

Regards

Christian

[Rossano]

text comes from Otl. Pramann´s Karteikarte and the full line reads :
"26.1.45 AOK Ligurien Rgt.Kdr. Hochgeb.Stab ?????? "
My question remains same : who can decipher the name of the stab, and if possible, who can then add the requested informations ?

[Alanmccoubrey]

Would Hochgeb be an abbreviation for High Mountain ?

[Rossano]

yes (Hochgebirgsstab = High Mountain Staff)

[Heimatschuss]

Hello,

that's a nasty one, really nasty. The best I can read it the word is 'Maddlend' though the second 'd' is a bit shaky and I interpreted it as 'd' just because there's no reasonable alternative.

I've not been able to find anything meaningful for 'Maddlend' despite employing Google. So I jumped to the idea that the word may be 'Madalena'. If it was originally in hand-written latin letters it's possible an inexperienced reader may have mistaken the 'a's for 'd's because their vertical stem was extended a bit too far upwards. If so this copy writer would have penned 'Maddlend' in Sütterlin where his predecessor had written 'Madalena'.

Such confusions between Sütterlin and Latin (and vice versa) occured from time to time and are very hard to resolve. I once had a type-written list of personnel lost, so and so many officers, NCOs and Mannschaften KIA, WIA, MIA. And then there was a last category in the list: 'Birnen' (pears). What the hell was this? Usually the final category in a German report of losses is 'Hiwis'. After a lot of thinking I came to the conclusion that the draft for the document must have been in hand-written Sütterlin. In Sütterlin the word 'Hiwis' looks very much like 'Birnen' in latin scripture. Obviously the guy in the office wasn't versed very well with Sütterlin so he hacked 'Birnen' into his type-writer without bothering that the word didn't make any sense in this context.

When I sought for a 'Regimentsstab Madalena' I ran into the following outfit: Infanterie-Regiments-Stab z.b.V. "Maddalena" This HQ was reported as subordinated to LXXV. Armeekorps (i.e. Armee 'Ligurien') as of March 10, 1945. http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... VKorps.htm
That's a bit odd as http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... lena-R.htm claims the HQ was set up only a forthnight later on March 26, 1945.

My gut feeling is the unit took a development similar to the sister unit Gebirgsjäger-Regimentsstab z.b.V. Meeralpen

Oct. 26, 1944: Gebirgsjäger-Regimentsstab z.b.V. Meeralpen entered into Feldpostübersicht under Hochgebirgs-Jäger-Bataillon 4
Dec. 19, 1944: own Feldpost number for a Regimentsstab 'Regiment Meeralpen'
Mar. 26, 1945: Infanterie-Regimentsstab z.b.V. Meeralpen set up
Apr. 13, 1945: Infanterie-Regimentsstab z.b.V. Meeralpen renamed Infanterie-Regimentsstab z.b.V. 1266
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... GJB4-R.htm
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... lpen-R.htm
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... lpen-R.htm

The unit's name must have been derived from the Maddalena Pass. It's an important pass in the Western Alps between Italy and France. The Italian name is 'Colle della Maddalena' while the French refer to it as 'Col de Larche'.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Col_de_Larche).
Hochgebirgs-Jäger-Bataillon 3 was holding that pass in September 1944 but later was moved further north to accompany Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 296 (Kaltenegger, 2004, p.69). At the same time Hochgebirgs-Jäger-Bataillon 4 was a bit further south in the Maritime Alps around Monte Argentera. This geographical distribution seems to have led naming the HQ units Meeralpen and Maddalena respectively.

References:

Kaltenegger, Roland
Spezialverbände der Gebirgstruppe 1939 - 1945.
Motorbuch-Verlag; Suttgart; 2004

Best regards
Torsten

[Dieter Zinke]

Vorzüglich, Hochachtungsschluck !
Excellent result !

[Rossano]

Dear Torsten
Very good indeed, bravo ! In fact I came myself already to the same conclusion, i.e. "Maddalena" in spite of the bad writing in the card !
Thanks for confirming, Rossano