Good morning folks,
I recently purchased a Sterbebild to an SS man who passed away in early January 1946. I noticed that the tab which would usually be an SS Rune was in fact something different which intrigued me. Below is a scan of said tab. I originally hoped a scan would make it clear enough to decipher what unit he was with, as the tab looks like an SS-Divisional one, but I fear that even the scan isn't clear enough. Below is a scan of said Sterbebild. I began to read the information alongside it which has given me a glimmer of hope that based on the location of his death, that could have been the area he was wounded, and died.
It says he passed away in a hospital in Sankt Andreasberg, the Harz Region. I found a history of the American 745th Tank Battalion where it mentioned a military hospital there full of German wounded, as well as a few others in the area. I know at the very end of the war there was fighting in the Harz between SS units and the Americans, but couldn't find which SS units they were, is there any chance someone knows which SS units were engaged in fighting in the Harz? It would still only be guesswork, but there is a chance that he was wounded with this unit in the Harz, and ended up staying at a hospital there until he died 7 months later. I found another article online where it mentioned men in the Gottingen Stadtfriedhof, not far from Sankt Andreasberg, had died up until 1949 from wounds sustained during the war.
Kindest regards and many thanks in advance
Harvey
SS Units in the Harz Region, 1945
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Re: SS Units in the Harz Region, 1945
Rests of SS-PzBrig. 'Westfalen' made it into the Harz...
Jan-Hendrik
Jan-Hendrik
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Re: SS Units in the Harz Region, 1945
Many thanks Jan.
From what I’ve found online, it seems the late war SS Kampfgruppe’s and battle units were mismatched and didn’t follow too much of a concrete pattern re what units made them up. It’s probably a safe bet that he was wounded with the Westfalen unit and died later of his wounds. It’s a shame I can’t manage to ID his collar tab.
From what I’ve found online, it seems the late war SS Kampfgruppe’s and battle units were mismatched and didn’t follow too much of a concrete pattern re what units made them up. It’s probably a safe bet that he was wounded with the Westfalen unit and died later of his wounds. It’s a shame I can’t manage to ID his collar tab.
Re: SS Units in the Harz Region, 1945
It actually look like standard SS runes to me.
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Re: SS Units in the Harz Region, 1945
After having looked at it every which way, I think you are right mate, as although it resembles other tabs, in line with the rest of the pics quality, the tab does look like a skewed SS rune tab.
Many thanks
Harvey