German Railways in the East

[Walter Jorg]

Several images of the 1939.

[Walter Jorg]

Two more photos of the 1939.

[Thomas the Fox]

Good evening,

My name is Thomas Devos, I’m from Belgium and I’ve got a specific question about the German railways in Ukraine in the years 1941/42/43.

During these years I’ve found out that my grandfather, Rudolf Devos, was working in Ukraine for the German occupiers. He was mainly doing the re-gauging of the tracks with another friend from Roeselare (Belgium), Julien Dumon. They were Bahnarbeiter. (his number: Bahnarbeiter 21 g)
My father has got my grandfather’s Fremdenpass and apparently he was working in the Generalbezirk Nikolajew, more precisely in the Perwomajsk region in Ukraine
There’s also more info in this Fremdenpass: signature of the gebietskommissar, dates when he was there, …

Other information is about the undertaker he worked for: Mr Ludwig Specht from Berlin Wilmersdorf, Wustermark.

I’m planning a trip to Ukraine and I would like to try to get as close as possible to the places were he must have been working, I want to go and visit these villages this next month of may…
I’m wondering if there are railroadmaps of this region in this period, any information of tracks that were re-gauged…
Or can you help me with some information about were to start looking: books , archives,…

Thanks a lot!

Thomas Devos

[Dann Falk]

Greetings Thomas,

If you look at this web site (listed below) you can find Russian/Soviet rail maps from WW2. They are in Russian, but you should be able to find ones that cover the Ukraine. These should give you a good idea of the rail network, cities and train stations. Then translate the Russian names to compare to modern maps and names.

For my own studies, I saved different RR map files that I was interested in to a Flash Drive. Then I took the Flash Drive to a shop that can print out large format pages using a plotter, and had them print out. Not that expensive, and that way you can have a hard copy to take with you, or you can have them on a laptop computer.

http://www.soldat.ru/files/4/10/137/

This is the Odessa area Map: http://www.soldat.ru/files/f/000005d2.jpg

Hope This Helps,

Dann

[Thomas the Fox]

Hi Dann,

Sorry, I couldn't log in on the forum for a couple of days. Thanks for the tips and the links. I will study them...

Thomas

[olseer]

As regards researching NARA, the Eisenbahnpioniere records are mainly held at OKH level under Grudeis and Kodeis but there are a few records held in Heerengruppe and Armee. The full index for the rolls is available although this may not tell you a great deal about what is on the rolls. Other than that individual documents may appear in KTB of various headquarters but these are pretty random and virtually impossible to find unless you stumble across them.

NARA indexes are here: http://www.sturmpanzer.com/Default.aspx ... em=1&sec=1 and you should start with Guides for OKH(T78) - 95 MB

Searching BAMA is more challenging (but then most of the NARA materials are duplicated here anyway) Invenio is the easiest to use.
You can look under :

R5-ANH. II This is the collection of Eugen Kreidler a high railway official who post war went around collecting a great deal of material which otherwise would have been lost about the GVD Osten, Gedob and DRB.

RH 47 Verbände und Einheiten der Eisenbahntruppe und Technischen Truppe des Heeres
(44) 1 Eisenbahntruppen
(2) 1.1 Stammtafeln
(30) 1.2 Eisenbahn-Pioniere
(10) 1.2.1 Gruppenkommandeure und Kommandeure der Eisenbahntruppen (Grukodeis / Kodeis)
(1) 1.2.1.2 Gruppenkommandeur der Eisenbahntruppen bei der Heeresgruppe B (Grukodeis B)
(7) 1.2.1.3 Gruppenkommandeur der Eisenbahntruppen bei der Heeresgruppe C (Grukodeis C)
(2) 1.2.1.8 Kommandeur der Eisenbahntruppen 16 (Kodeis 16)
(18) 1.2.3 Eisenbahn-Pionier-Regimenter (und Rgts.Stäbe)
(3) 1.2.3.1 Eisenbahn-Pionier-Regiments-Stab 1 z.b.V. / Eisenbahn-Pionier-Regiment 1 mot. (zugleich Grukodeis A)
(1) 1.2.3.2 Eisenbahn-Pionier-Regiments-Stab 2 z.b.V. / Eisenbahn-Pionier-Regiment 2 mot. (zugleich Grukodeis C)
(1) 1.2.3.4 Eisenbahn-Pionier-Regiment 4
(13) 1.2.3.6 Eisenbahn-Pionier-Regiment 6
(3) 1.2.3.6.1 Kommandeur
(4) 1.2.3.6.2 Stab
(1) 1.2.3.6.3 I. Bataillon
(4) 1.2.3.6.4 II. Bataillon
(1) 1.2.3.6.5 Sonstige Unterlagen
(1) 1.2.4 Eisenbahn-Pionier-Bataillone
(1) 1.2.4.1 Eisenbahn-Pionier-Bataillons-Stab z.b.V. 10
(1) 1.2.8 Eisenbahn-Bau-Bataillone
(1) 1.2.8.8 Eisenbahn-Bau-Bataillon 511
(12) 1.3 Eisenbahnbetriebstruppen
(12) 1.3.1 Feldeisenbahn-Kommandos und Feldbahn-Einheiten
(3) 1.3.1.1 Feldeisenbahn-Kommando 4
(2) 1.3.1.2 Feldeisenbahn-Kommando 5
(2) 1.3.1.3 Feldeisenbahn-Betriebs-Kompanie 104
(2) 1.3.1.4 Feldbahn-Kompanie 304
(2) 1.3.1.5 Feldbahn-Bataillons-Stab 501
(8) nicht klassifiziert


(76) RH 66 General der Eisenbahntruppen
(5) 1 Organisatorischen Angelegenheiten
(1) 3 Ausbildung
(8) 5 Pioniergerät
(8) 5.5 Feldbahnen
(59) 7 Strecken, Bahnanlagen, Fahrzeuge
(52) 7.1 Strecken- und Bahnhofspläne
(1) 7.1.1 Allgemein
(1) 7.1.2 Deutsches Reich
(1) 7.1.4 Südeuropa / Südosteuropa
(1) 7.1.5 Nordeuropa
(48) 7.1.6 Osteuropa
(6) 7.2 Brücken
(1) 7.3 Bahnbetriebsanlagen
(1) 13 Berichte, Wochen-, Monats- und Lagemeldungen, Nachrichten
(2) 16 Handakten

RH 4 (OKH / chief of transports)
RH 12-10 (inspection of the railway pioneers of the army (in 10)

My grandfather was a pionier...his Feldpostnummer was 42805, which correlates to Feldeisenbahn-Werkstatt-Amt 2. I know he was a carpenter and ran sawmills and was augmented by local Russians. In your list of units above, which unit would this have fallen into?

[GregSingh]

which unit would this have fallen into?

It depends on which year, but in general in Russia it would be Feldeisenbahn-Direktion 2 / Feldeisenbahn-Kommando 2
Look here: Feldeisenbahn-Werkstätten-Amt 2

[GregSingh]

Nice photos of Warschauer Hauptbahnhof taken in late spring of 1944 from reconnaissance Focke-Wulf Fw 189.
Source: Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe

Click for a high resolution!

Warschau Hauptbahnhof.jpg

Click for a high resolution!

WH.jpg

[GregSingh]

An article from 8th of July 1944 by elusive (we still can't find a photo of him) Dr. Ing. Josef Heinrich Müller

September 1941: Chef der Betriebsleitung Osten, Warschau
December 1942: Chef der Generalverkehrsdirektion (GVD) Osten, Warschau

On the 12th of September 1944 awarded the Ritterkreuz des Kriegsverdienstkreuzes mit Schwertern.

Dr. Josef Müller.jpg

Eisenbahn im Ostkampf.jpg

[Avalancheon]

I have a question about the German production of locomotives in 1941.

As many of you know, the Nazis suffered from coal shortages that year, due mainly to all the trains that were diverted to the eastern front. The sudden vacuum in rail traffic (especially in the occupied countrys) made it difficult to move supplys to Germany, especially the bulk shipments of coal that were their lifeline.

What I wanted to know was, would it have been possible for the Germans to produce more locomotives in 1941? And if they had built a larger fleet and solved their economic problems with coal shortages, would that investment have 'paid for itself?' (In the sense that it enables the war economy to be expanded)

[GregSingh]

the Nazis suffered from coal shortages that year,

Problems started only in November 1941. Too late to influence production numbers for 1941.

See Mierzejewski:
While the Wehrmacht marched deeper into the Soviet Union, [..] traffic flowed fairly normally in Germany. In July passenger traffic was heavy due to the throngs of people who flocked to vacation resorts. [..] During August, although the Reichsbahn could not satisfy the entire demand for coal, freight traffic generally improved. Passenger traffic continued to be heavy, accentuated by the movement of people fleeing air attacks arriving in RBDs Mainz and Karlsruhe. [..] Yet in September there was no hint of impending disaster in Germany. Passenger traffic continued strong and coal traffic moved satisfactorily. [..]Traffic flowed in Germany normally through October, but difficulties arose in November.

[Dieter Zinke]

An article from 8th of July 1944 by elusive (we still can't find a photo of him) Dr. Ing. Josef Heinrich Müller
...
On the 12th of September 1944 awarded the Ritterkreuz des Kriegsverdienstkreuzes mit Schwertern

See with pic:
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic ... &start=255

Dieter Z.

[Der Alte Fritz]

Dieter - you are a star and Igor too. Please let us know if you come across any photographs of other railwaymen.

[GregSingh]

Adolf Gerteis receives nomination for Präsident der Generaldirektion der Ostbahn (Gedob) from Hans Frank.
Date of the event: Monday, the 8th of April 1940.

1940-04-08.jpg

2-2846.jpg

Source: NAC photo 2-2846

[GregSingh]

It was around 1330 km from Berlin to "Eichenhain" and took nearly 35 hours to get there by train.

0776.jpg