An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

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Ivan Ž.
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Re: An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

#16

Post by Ivan Ž. » 19 Jun 2018, 02:28

GregSingh wrote:
The photo was undoubtedly taken in Novi Sad
Disappointing reply, Ivan! :D :D
I was hoping it's not Novi Sad.

L AK and 294.ID vehicles presence near this town does not have much sense!
294.ID was on occupational duties around Nis at that time.
:D They were waiting to cross the Danube on a ferry. There's also a photo (from a different source) of a vehicle of the 5th Armoured Division (Panzerjäger-Abt.) on the same ferry (on a different occasion, but also in April 1941). They were all crossing from Novi Sad to Petrovaradin.

The mysterious SS truck photo was, by the way, taken by Curzio Malaparte (today best known as the author of "Kaputt"). There is another photo of his from this series which shows a column of vehicles on a road (the SS truck might have been in this column, but I'm not sure, the photo isn't clear). The archival (Mondadori Portfolio) caption for this other photo is: "A column of German motor vehicles during a break in a trip back to the Hungarian bases. They have supplied provisions to the occupying troops in Belgrade. Hungary, April 1941."

The archival caption for the SS truck photo is: "A road block, at the outskirts of Novi Sad. Next to a cart of household goods of refugees, stand some German carts and a lorry of the SS. Yugoslavia, April 1941."

Cheers,
Ivan

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Re: An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

#17

Post by NagaSadow » 09 Aug 2018, 07:58

Found them!
Attachments
SS-76633.jpg
SS-76633
SS-76632.jpg
SS-76632


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Re: An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

#18

Post by Ivan Ž. » 09 Aug 2018, 12:50

:thumbsup:

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Re: An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

#19

Post by Ivan Ž. » 17 Sep 2019, 10:45

More vehicles of the mysterious SS unit! I can't see the licence plate clearly, but it seems to be from the same series as others (SS-76...). The tactical insignia seems to be the same as on the truck pictured in Novi Sad.
Bild 101I-161-0214-29.jpg
Bild 101I-161-0214-29.jpg (28.63 KiB) Viewed 2522 times
The photo was taken by PK Habermann, who also photographed some vehicles of the 11. Panzer-Division (Panzergruppe 1) at the time. According to the archival caption, the photo was taken in Bulgaria; both L. Armeekorps and Panzergruppe 1 assembled there prior to the Balkan Campaign (but note that the archival location-identifications may be wrong). The SS unit known to be stationed there prior to the campaign was LSSAH, while the "Reich" Division was in Romania. This mysterious SS unit, however, probably didn't belong to either of the two known units.

Ivan

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Re: An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

#20

Post by steve248 » 25 Nov 2019, 17:49

I am surprised that no one has mentioned the Einsatzkommandos of the Sicherheitspolizei und des SD that were deployed in Serbia at this time. They undoubtedly had both cars and trucks.
I am not aware of any documentation about vehicle signage they used. The other Einsatzgruppen deployed a few weeks later in Russia all had vehicles signage to identify them.

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Re: An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

#21

Post by Ivan Ž. » 25 Nov 2019, 19:09

Hello, Steve

Police units (SD included) didn't have the "SS" prefix on their licence plates, they had "Pol".

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Ivan

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Re: An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

#22

Post by Ivan Ž. » 13 Mar 2020, 17:56

Looks like the licence plate number is SS-76616 (or something like that). Too bad it isn't clear enough.
Bild 101I-161-0214-29b.jpg
Bild 101I-161-0214-29b.jpg (86.29 KiB) Viewed 2120 times
Again, no info on such a number in the licence plate list https://www.feldgrau.net/forum/viewtopi ... 02#p223942

(And this time the company number is 6.)

This car was definitely in a column with tanks of the 11. Panzer-Division (Panzergruppe 1).

Ivan

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Re: An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

#23

Post by Ivan Ž. » 16 Jul 2021, 15:57

I've just come across another image of the same car (SS-76616) here https://wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/de/ ... ect/zoom/7

Credited as the "Sonderkommando des Auswärtigen Amtes" (Special Unit of the Foreign Office).

4fd63d3829e8471db6579b1e46e527bbee0e7d4f.jpg

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Re: An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

#24

Post by Blanusa » 18 Nov 2021, 07:23

Hello,

In reference to particularly SS-76633 from viewtopic.php?p=2150392#p2150392, I recently found this, showing that the vehicles belonged to the Bataillon der Waffen-SS z.b.V.


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Blanusa
Attachments
02.JPG
Source: NARA T354 R184

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Re: An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

#25

Post by Ivan Ž. » 18 Nov 2021, 11:44

A nice find, B.!

Thanks for sharing ;)

Cheers,
Ivan

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Re: An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

#26

Post by Blanusa » 18 Nov 2021, 12:21

My pleasure. Here are the complete documents for those that don't have access to the specific rolls. Maybe someone can identify more vehicles. There are more documents concerning vehicles and lincese plate numbers on said roll.

And for those wondering, here is a link to the page on Axishistory.com about the unit in question:

Bataillon der Waffen-SS z.b.V.


Best regards
Blanusa
Attachments
0439.JPG
0440.JPG
0441.JPG
0442.JPG

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Re: An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

#27

Post by Ivan Ž. » 18 Nov 2021, 12:45

From the same roll - check the bottom of the list ;)

LKW 8 (SS-76628)
LKW 12 (SS-76632)
0108b.jpg

All numbers match :)
SS-76628 - LKW 8.jpg
SS-76628 - LKW 8.jpg (58.11 KiB) Viewed 1052 times
SS-76632 - LKW 12.jpg
SS-76632 - LKW 12.jpg (35.94 KiB) Viewed 1052 times

The list also suggests that the numbers painted next to tactical insignia and/or on doors indicated a vehicle, not a company. So this was wrong:
Leo Niehorster wrote:
16 Nov 2017, 10:00
... The "8" indicates the superior company's number ...
Ivan Ž. wrote:
13 Mar 2020, 17:56
... And this time the company number is 6 ...

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Re: An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

#28

Post by Blanusa » 18 Nov 2021, 16:56

Good find and very interesting information!

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Re: An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

#29

Post by Ivan Ž. » 18 Nov 2021, 17:24

Indeed it is and thanks again for drawing attention to that roll.

Important question: can anyone confirm/dispute that this was in fact the insignia of the L. Armeekorps?
Ivan Ž. wrote:
15 Jun 2018, 23:14

According to http://www.wwiidaybyday.com/ it's the insignia of the L. Armeekorps.

Image
There are several errors on that website and I'd like to make sure this isn't one of them. I've never encountered a period document showing such an insignia in connection with the corps; so far I've seen it only in those few photographs, painted on SS vehicles.

Cheers,
Ivan

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Re: An SS unit in the L. Armeekorps?

#30

Post by Blanusa » 19 Nov 2021, 16:50

I was looking into this a bit and I don't believe it is a L. Armee-Korps unit emblem. Instead I believe it is a version of the von Künsberg coat of arms, which I attached in this post. Have a look at the page on Wikipedia about the family von Künsberg for more information.


Best regards
Blanusa
Attachments
Künsberg-Wappen_Hdb.png

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