The mystery of the missing Infanterie-Ersatz-Bataillon 232

[Freakingcat]

I have been researching the fate of my grandfather for the last years but I am still unable to solve one last mystery, so I am asking for help and advise here.

I had received from the WASt the following information about my grandfather, who went missing in 1944

Heinrich Bauer, geboren am 19.3.1912 in Grieskirchen (Oberösterreich, 4710) wird seit dem 03.12.1944 als Angehöriger der Einheit 12. Kompanie/Grenadier-Regiment 383 (kroat) bei Knin/ Kroatien vermisst.
Er war Träger der Erkennungsmarke: -192- 8./ I. E. B. 232
Über seinen weiteren Verbleib ist uns bisher nichts bekannt geworden.

translation:
Heinrich Bauer, born 19.3.1912 in Grieskirchen (Upper-Austria 4710) is reported missing since December 3rd 1944 as member of Unit 12 of the Grenadier-Regiment 383 (kroat) in Knin / Croatia.

----- so far so good - I was able to trace his whereabouts as member of the 383 Tiger Division from January 1943 until he went missing in December 1944 in quite some detail....but there is more....

----- I found out that my grandfather had fled illegally in May 1934 from Austria to Germany where he joined the "Austrian Legion". He had been a member of the SA since 1933. The members of the "Austrian Legion" returned in April 1938 to Austria.

----- I dont know ANYTHING about his life from April 1938 until January 1943 when he became member of the 383 Grenadier-Regiment and went to Croatia.

----- The WASt informed me that he had been bearer of the "Erkennungsmarke" - his dog tag ID was "-192- 8./ I. E. B. 232" which should translate that he had been a member of the "Infanterie-Ersatz-Bataillon 232" - so my thought was that maybe from a date after 1938 until 1943 he served with the I.E.B. 232 ...... I tried to research it (and checked the letter from the WASt a few times to eliminate any mistake) but I could NOT find an "Infanterie-Ersatz-Bataillon 232" !!!!!

http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... derung.htm

I doubt that he hasnt been drafted into any part of the Wehrmacht from 1938 until he joined the 383 Tiger Division in January 1943.

Is there anyone able to help me out with it?

I had already contacted the Red Cross but they couldnt find any information.

Its really a mystery...

thanks!

[Panzergrenadier2967]

Hi, well, I can help you:
1) he was member of 12.Kompanie, III. Bataillon, Grenadier-Regiment 383 (Kroat.) and he didn't fight in Inf.Ers.Btl. 232 (it was a replacement unit, not fighting unit).
2) for example a soldier of 29.Panzergrenadier Regiment had the id disk 60 I.E.B.
3)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Knin he was missing in the city during the final fight with 6555 killed and wounded, 4285 were taken prisoner (only Nazi Germany and not Croatian fascists included)
4) about his unit, perhaps the documents on 232th Infantry Replacements Battalion were destroyed in 1945 (and especially on internet there aren't all the ersatz units so there is a hope)
5) a question: when you wrote to WAST?
6) Red Cross didn't answer you because the researches were did by relatives in 1950s-1960s and some aren't in their archives.

If you have questions, ask

[Panzergrenadier2967]

Sorry I don't want pedantic... but your relative is great uncle or grandfather?

[Freakingcat]

You are not pedantic at all and its a valid question and actually one of the riddles I want to solve through my research.

Friedrich Bauer was the grandfather I grew up whom I always had thought was my biological grandfather as well. He had married my grandmother who was very close to me. Before she passed away she had handed me two letters, one containing a reply from the Red Cross about the search of her "brother" (unfortunately negative) from 1963, another letter contained a newspaper ad she had posted trying to find Heinrich Bauer, whom I always had thought was the brother of my grandfather Friedrich.

My grandmother told me that she knows that I am the only one in the family who would be able to solve the mystery about Heinrich (called Heinz) who had gone missing in WW2 AND I would be the only one to UNDERSTAND it. For quite some time I had no clue what she meant with it. A few years after she passed away I found those letters again and noticed some irregularities. One was that she said she was searching for her brother, while it was the brother of her husband. Then I started a long journey tracing back my family. It took months of research but I was able to trace my ancestors back 15 generations, a family tree of over 1000 persons. I was able to find some other relatives through that research which are still alive and they told me one of our family secrets, that its very likely that my biological grandfather was not Friedrich, the one I grew up with but actually his brother.

I recalled my grandmother shedding tears when she talked about him and that she always had expressed hope that he would come back one day from the war which had been past many decades already. I was too young at that time to understand. Moreover I was named after Heinrich. I only have one picture of him and indeed there are a lot of similarities in our looks.

So I started to dig deeper into his life. I found out more and more things about him which were not pleasant to discover but I understood why nobody actually ever had talked about him. He had been a fanatical Nazi from early age on. Joined the HJ with 17, the SA with 30, Austrian Legion, was convicted in absense for treason. When he served at the 383 and I studied the war diary, it is possible that he might have been engaged in some horrific war crimes and massacres. Slowly things started to add up.

I recently received some documents about my grandfather Friedrich and I have sent to the WASt already an inquiry but it might take until 2020 before I will get more information where he had served. I began writing a book about my journey to find out the truth. Now I try to establish the whereabouts of those two grandfathers during the time between 1938 and 1941 when my father was born, hoping to find some evidence to pinpoint who the real father of my father is.

[Freakingcat]

Hello!

One general question I am asking myself. As the WASt only gave me information that he served from 1943 to 1944 at the 383 Grenadier Regiment in Croatia before he went missing, there is a gap from 1938 to 1943 in his biography.

Could it be possible that because of his engagement from 1934 to 1938 at the Austrian Legion that he had been "rewarded" by not having to be drafted until 1943 and had just been a civilian? I very much doubt this but would ask well informed members of this forum if this would be an explanation for those missing 5 years even I nor my family have any evidence or clue what he had done during those years

[Panzergrenadier2967]

Perhaps civilian until 1943, but it is strange, all men were called in 1940 or 1941 to the front.

[Freakingcat]

Yes, that is also my reasoning. All of his brothers had to been drafted into the Wehrmacht. I doubt that an exception was made for members of the "Austrian Legion" as after their return to Austria on 31.3.1938 was celebrated with a "Day of the Legion" in Vienna on April 2nd, the Legion was very much disbanded despite promises to the soldiers to get rewarded for their "service and sacrifices" in the early years of the Austrian Nazi movement.

But if he had been from 1938, 1939 until 1943 at another unit, wouldnt this my inquiry at the WASt have brought up already?

[Panzergrenadier2967]

Mmmm... there are some point to clarify... certainly if they found documents they wrote to you.
Perhaps they didn't find anything or didn't want do this or in 1945 some documents were destroyed (some soldier are buried in cemeteries like unbekannten because ID Disk numbers brought to WAST but in this archive the I Disk identification papers were lost)

[Panzergrenadier2967]

Do you ask again to WAST?

[Panzergrenadier2967]

Have you contacted Volksbund?

[Freakingcat]

Have you contacted Volksbund?

Thanks for your answers. Yes I have contacted Volksbund but unfortunately they couldnt find any information about him either

[Panzergrenadier2967]

Perhaps in Split cemetery as unknown or never recovered

[Panzergrenadier2967]

Communist troops destroyed many German cemeteries

[offizier1916]

hi,

its indeed strange that your grandfather wasnt drafted before 43. maybe he worked in a war important industry branch and benefited from the "uk" stellung.

[Glynwed]

Hallo, I read the all post and I have a suggestion: as there is no any Inf.Ers.Btl. 232, there can be an error (misswriting) in WASt document and there should be 8. Kp. / Inf.Ers.Btl. 132 in Wehrkreis XVII.

As the Manschaftnummer (-192-) is very low, it indicates that he was drafted at 1939/40 to this Ersatz unit. At that time, there existed I./Inf.Ers.Btl. 132 (3xSchtz.Kp. + 1xMG Kp.) and II./Inf.Ers.Btl. (3xSchtz.Kp. + 1xMG Kp.). Probably the first one (I./132) had 1.-4. Kp. and the second one (II./132) had 5.-8.Kp.

A lot of document were lost during a war, so there is normal that WASt can´t find all records about soldiers career.