Who is this Ardennes soldier?

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jtemple507
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Re: Ardennes : name & unit of Rottenführer with Sturmgewehr

#46

Post by jtemple507 » 07 Feb 2013, 23:30

Blue Jay wrote:
Larso wrote:Thank-you Harro

I know the picture of the young soldier has been posted/discussed before but I can't find it by the search terms I've used. Can anyone out there read my mind as to which one I mean? I think it was a still from footage? He has a machine gun and bandoliers hanging fron his neck, he has some sort of scarf under his helmet against the sides of his face. Actually, his picture appears about 2/3rds down Wiki's Battle of the Bulge page under the heading 'Seige of Bastogne'. I've been wondering about him for years, so anyone who could point me towards some more information would be greatly appreciated!
I think you mean "Mr Battle of the Bulge" or "Winter Fritz". He's never been identified and never will be. Only thing that is known is that he was in the LAH and probably from 1. Pz Gren Regt.
In the past a name, Walter Armbrust, has been given, but this was a misunderstanding. (Armbrust is in fact the MG42 gunner with pea dot jacket in another group of Pz Grenadiers - wrong name, different photo).

Winter Fritz remains and will for ever remain the Unknown German Soldier of the Ardennes offensive...
Does anyone know who the soldier in the background is?
Shooting 'em down in flames!

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Harro
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Re: Ardennes : name & unit of Rottenführer with Sturmgewehr

#47

Post by Harro » 07 Feb 2013, 23:54

Which soldier in the background?


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jtemple507
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Re: Ardennes : name & unit of Rottenführer with Sturmgewehr

#48

Post by jtemple507 » 08 Feb 2013, 00:14

The guy to the right of "Winter Fritz" with his back to the camera.
Shooting 'em down in flames!

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Harro
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Re: Ardennes : name & unit of Rottenführer with Sturmgewehr

#49

Post by Harro » 08 Feb 2013, 00:58

You're joking, right?

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jtemple507
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Re: Ardennes : name & unit of Rottenführer with Sturmgewehr

#50

Post by jtemple507 » 08 Feb 2013, 04:27

Oops, facepalm...the only way you'd be able to tell who the other guy was was if you could tell who "Winter Fritz" was. Sorry about that :D
Shooting 'em down in flames!

rossmcpharter
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Re: Ardennes : name & unit of Rottenführer with Sturmgewehr

#51

Post by rossmcpharter » 10 Feb 2013, 22:01

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For what it's worth, always believed the bloke with his back to us is the luftwaffe troop on the right in the above photo from WAF. Because of the entrenching tool, slung rifle and US waterproof. Still no closer to recognising him :wink:

There are clearer pictures of him on p220 of Palluds Battle of the Bulge.

By the way, Thanks Harro for all your information and help that you give, and have given over the years. I always look forward to your posts and information.

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Harro
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Re: Ardennes : name & unit of Rottenführer with Sturmgewehr

#52

Post by Harro » 11 Feb 2013, 00:03

My pleasure Ross! BTW, it would be interesting to determine if the "paratroopers" in the Poteau photos are actual Fallschirmjäger or were part of the Luftwaffe replacements the Leibstandarte recieved shortly before the Ardennes Offensive started. They seem to be too far away from the route Peiper used to be members of the Fallschirmjäger-Regiment that supported the Panzerspitze. I've heard (unconfirmed) stories from SS-Pz.AA1 veterans that those men in Luftwaffe gear were actually replacements transfered from the Luftwaffe which did not recieve Waffen-SS gear in time.

ylla
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Re: Ardennes : name & unit of Rottenführer with Sturmgewehr

#53

Post by ylla » 02 Mar 2014, 05:11

hegu69 wrote:Hans was born 1921 and joined the LAH when he was 17.
He fought from the first day until the last day of WWII
Specially Greece was very emotional for him, loosing many close friends.
He has served every front in the war except Africa.
About the pictures he only told me that he remembers that day.
They had an ambush and after the fight was over, they took food and cigaretts from us vehicles.
Guys from the "Propagandakompanie" came by, stopped and asked if they can take pictures.
Thats all...nothing spectacular.
I think they just liked the heavy armed guys after the fight smoking US Cigaretts.
Hans never realised, that the pictures are so famous.
We surrendered to US Troops close to Vienna after the US Army promised them, not to deliver them to the Russians.
Well.....he and many of his comrades where given to the Russians, so he had not a very good opinion about promises of the US Army.
After he returned from Russia he suffered many problems because he has served in the Waffen-SS, specially LAH
He had the Iron Cross 2nd class and the silver Close Combat Medal, Assault Badge etc.
He was woundet several times and a russian shrapnell was still in his back until he passed away.
He was a great guy, I liked him very much.....
Hello? I hope your still active, you know so much. :P

Is this hans you spoken of? And was his nic name was "lucky strike"?

Thank you :)
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Harro
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Re: Ardennes : name & unit of Rottenführer with Sturmgewehr

#54

Post by Harro » 02 Mar 2014, 11:15

ylla wrote:Is this hans you spoken of? And was his nic name was "lucky strike"?
Doubtful, you claim "Lucky Strike" lived in the US. Hans Tragarsky, the Hans "hegu69" talks about, lived in Germany and died there in 2011. There's is a perpetuated story that the soldier in the picture is Walter Armbrusch who did move to the US after the war, but that story has long been proven to be wrong (Armbrusch was in the LAH but he's not the pictured soldier). The problem is that every now and then somebody pops up with an identity for this soldier. Here you are with a nickname you got from "a woman on facebook". There's nothing that proves your story to be true or even reliable.

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Re: Ardennes : name & unit of Rottenführer with Sturmgewehr

#55

Post by ylla » 02 Mar 2014, 11:43

Yes. I figured I was "in the wrong" with "moving to the USA" after I had read hegu69 post.

She had that excat pic up claiming nic name "lucky strike". I was just asking if he knew.

He seems pretty confedent that he knew that guy. ?

Hans T "could be" that guy in my pic?

I wished, hegu69 asked him, before his death three years ago for some kind of evidence.

Thanks for answering . :)

ylla
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Re: Ardennes : name & unit of Rottenführer with Sturmgewehr

#56

Post by ylla » 02 Mar 2014, 11:58

Doing research on the "unknown soldier" and I had came across a colour picture of him. Found nothing on him.
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Joms
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Mr, Battle of the bulge

#57

Post by Joms » 08 Mar 2014, 16:27

It has been discussed for a long time and on many forums who the mysterious soldier is at the photos of the battle of the bulge. There have been lots of different theories, options and names.
I would like to present what I came up with some years ago. You decide what you think. I'm not saying I'm right, but for my part, the similarities are striking.
The face in the picture is not photoshoped. It is only entered from one of the photographs.
If it's the same man, his name is Heinz Maeger born Alcase, year? LSSAH
The man in the picture took part in a documentary for history channel. Many of you will probobly recognize him?

Would be interesting to hear your thoughts? I have never before present this in any forum.

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Larso
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#58

Post by Larso » 10 Mar 2014, 14:32

Always been intrigued by this guy. I gather there's no youthful picture of Maeger? That would help a lot. Its absence makes it likely it's not him. Surely people who knew the actual guy would've recognised him?

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Harro
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#59

Post by Harro » 10 Mar 2014, 19:16

First question would be if Mäger was a member of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 1 LSSAH or otherwise connected with Kampfgruppe Hansen (note that you asked in the Feldgrau forum if Mäger was with "Regiment 2 LSSAH SS-Panzer group Hansen", but Hansen's regiment was 1 (not 2, that was Sandig) and it wasn't a "Panzer group".

http://www.feldgrau.net/forum/viewtopic ... 28&t=31076

BTW, is it really Heinz Maeger or did the History Channel make a typo and did they mean Herbert Maeger, LSSAH veteran and author of "Verlorene Ehre - Verratene Treue - Zeitzeugenbericht eines Soldaten"?

http://www.amazon.de/Verlorene-Ehre-Ver ... 3475536595

Joms
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#60

Post by Joms » 10 Mar 2014, 23:35

I am not a specialist on this.

I have seen the name Heinz Maeger and the face of the older man above in two different documentarys. What unit he was in , i aint sure of ? And of course i cant be sure of the name.
But first. Could it be the same person? Here is the docu. Look from 20.20 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzyx6DbOhec

Have seen the name Herbert Maeger before when you mention that. I found it here 20.10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLvbPGr6_WY


Thanks for your answer.

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