Introduction and apology

[Thegirldon42]

Hello all. I would like to introduce myself and explain my reasons for joining. Forgive me if this is not the place.

I originally began reading here as a way to absorb information abd feel out the forums. I am the daughter of a German WW2 soldier who served from 1939 to 1945; he emigrated with his wife to the US in the 50s. My father passed away in 1994 when I was still a young woman. I am now finding a desire to know about the details of the things that he shared with me. In hindsight I can understand his reluctance and the burden . Unfortunately having waited this long , it is difficult to piece it all together.

I have been able to find out more about my uncle (who is actually listed here as a Iron Cross recipient) than my father. My uncle served in the 8th Panzer regiment .My uncle unfortunately passed away in a Russian POW camp.

If I am correct, I may have posted here years ago but could not find my log in .

I have several pics of my father and Grandfather during the war but still am having difficulty identifying a specific regiment and while I recognize the Iron Cross , beyond that I am stumped. I would like to post a pic of my father in uniform but it will not let me add the attachment. Any direction you can give me is appreciated. I understand that this forum is geared towards those already versed in this so my apologies if this is not allowed. Easy places for me to start ???

[Hans1906]

Good morning Thegirldon42,

"I would like to post a pic of my father in uniform but it will not let me add the attachment. Any direction you can give me is appreciated"

This topic about adding photos to the forum will be helpful for you:
How do I insert a photo? viewtopic.php?f=22&t=145819

Welcome, and good luck for your further research!

Greetings to NY

Hans1906

[Thegirldon42]

Thank you !

[Edward L. Hsiao]

That's a nice picture of your handsome father who was a soldier. What was his highest rank before WWII ended in 1945?

Sincerely,

Edward L. Hsiao

[Thegirldon42]

Thank you. I am not sure what his rank would have been. My mother remembers that he was demoted for lack of a better word at some point when he was in Russia. She believes Feldwebel or Oberfeldwebel. She is still alive at 87 but obviously was a child during the war and met him in 1953. The difficulty is that his military documents etc were taken so I only have photos and the stories I have heard over the years.

[jpz4]

You could request the service records of both your father and uncle.
These requests used to be handled by the WASt, but this has been transferred to the Bundesarchiv:
https://www.bundesarchiv.de/EN/Content/ ... en-en.html

(More info about the change, in German)
https://www.bundesarchiv.de/DE/Content/ ... -wast.html

[Thegirldon42]

Thank you. I will definitely do this. It is my understanding that this can take up to 2 years.

[Thegirldon42]

One more question please. Is that a Panzer badge on his uniform ? I know it's hard to see ....

[fusilier1944]

Looks like he has the Iron Cross 1st & 2nd class, ribbon for Sudetenland medal with Prague bar, Panzer Assault badge (probably in Bronze) & there is something below that iron cross 1st class on his pocket. Potentially a wound badge. Someone as decorated as well as he was would more than likely have seen a lot of combat & possibly been injured in combat.

[Thegirldon42]

Fusilier1944, thank you for helping me identify the Sudentenland medal. Yes he was injured in battle twice. Once quite severely, was shot through the cheek and also the back. When he was near the end of his life I helped to care for him and i was shocked at seeing his back. His exact words were " they patched you up and it was back to the front. That was the way of it".

I was lucky to have had some conversations with him about the war but I wish I had asked more. I was born when he was in his 50s and he passed away when I was 25. I didnt realize then what history he was part of. And quite frankly I was embarrassed that my older father had been a soldier for Germany. Lots of regrets on my end that I didnt take the time to truly know him.

[Thegirldon42]

Another picture of my father

[fusilier1944]

Glad something I said was of help.

My grandfather was in the US Army during the war. He was a Purple Heart recipient who walked around with German mortar shrapnel in him until he died about 12 years ago. Any ill will he had towards the Germans, he resolved soon after the war and had a long career working in a very German industry. He visited trade shows there every couple years and regularly visited on business.

Unfortunately we never heard much about his service. We were told he didn’t want to talk about it so we never asked. Turns out he did want to talk but no one ever asked. We only found this out when his neighbor’s young school child did a report on the war and interviewed him.

Best of luck in your research!

[ErwinZ]

Thank you. I will definitely do this. It is my understanding that this can take up to 2 years.

Hi, welcome to the forum. Don't be sorry, a lot of descendants (including myself) use this forum as a start for their search. And you may have noticed already that everybody is serious and helpful about this sensitive subject.

Submissions to the formerly WASt could take years but most likely it's a couple of months. It depends on a few variables of course. The amount of information you can supply (the more the better). Is there any information left in the archives (a lot has been lost due to bombing). Please note that they do not work on full strength at the moment due to Corona.

Good luck.

[Volyn]

Another picture of my father

Plate Number.jpg (22.25 KiB) Viewed 1358 times

The number on the motorcycle plate reads -

WH-916451

This registration would have been part of the following series WH 900000-999999 Seit 1940, can someone please confirm this?

Can we link the motorcycle registration to the assigned regiment?

[Volyn]

I have several pics of my father and Grandfather during the war but still am having difficulty identifying a specific regiment...

If more of their photos can be shared with the forum we may be able to figure out where they were fighting and use it to narrow down which potential regiment they were both assigned to.

Ribbon with Prague Bar.jpg (24.07 KiB) Viewed 1286 times

Based on the fact that he has the Prague Castle Bar on his Sudetenland ribbon in post #3, it may help us identify his unit. I started a separate thread to determine which panzer regiments participated in Fall Grun. He would need to have been part of a regiment that participated in 1939 in order for him to receive the award bar.
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=251595

Sudetenland 1938:

PzRgt1
PzRgt2
PzRgt3
PzRgt4
PzRgt5
PzRgt6
PzRgt7
PzRgt11
PzRgt15
PzRgt25

CSSR 1939:

parts of PzRgt3 and 4
parts of PzRgt5 and 6
parts of PzRgt15 and 31
parts of PzRgt35 and 36