Help with grandfather's photos. Any info, please!

[Helmut0815]

Do you buy chance know what "13b" means on the postcard?

13b was the postal code for southern Bavaria.


regards


Helmut

[wbfamily]

Do you buy chance know what "13b" means on the postcard?

13b was the postal code for southern Bavaria.


regards


Helmut

Thank you very much.

[Volyn]

He was living in Berlin when he joined and was an engineer. One of his duties was to establish communication lines in the Alps.

I believe your grandfather served in either the 54. Pioneer Battalion or the 54. Signals Battalion based on the photos that you have shared. Since he was an engineer he should have been assigned to the Pioneers, however, the communication lines would have been the responsibility of the Signals. Both of these battalions were part of the 1st Mountain Division.

Maybe someone else can decipher which battalion it is?

Possible 54. Signals Battalion Photo -

frankreich50002.jpg

Possible 54. Pioneer Battalion Photo -

frankreich.50003.jpg

[Volyn]

I found the location of this photo - Pont-sur-Yonne, France - June 1940 - 100 Km Southeast of Paris.

France.jpg

[wbfamily]

Here are more that might be helpful. He indicated on the back that these were the 1st polish casualties.

211 or 2ss.1st polish casualties.jpg

Would the units you mentioned travel together?

1.alps.jpg

frankreich.90002.jpg

frankreich.40001.jpg

frankreich20001.jpg

[wbfamily]

Here he is with his parents. Any idea what they are wearing?

opi.egypt0001.jpg

[wbfamily]

This is him

opi mountain.jpg

Here is a blank postcard that was in his photos

postcard0003.jpg

[wbfamily]

One more thing... he met my grandmother while he was inspecting a bomb factory that she worked in. Does this mean anything?

[Volyn]

One more thing... he met my grandmother while he was inspecting a bomb factory that she worked in. Does this mean anything?

Do you know where the factory was located? It is possible to identify the facility.

This is definitely Ukraine.

postcard0003.jpg

[Geoff Walden]

Here he is with his parents. Any idea what they are wearing?

I don't know if other mine tours did/do this, but these outfits are almost exactly what used to be worn on tours of the Salzbergwerk salt mine in Berchtesgaden. A few years ago they went to modern coveralls ... took away a bit of the charm of the tour, in my opinion.

[Annelie]

I think your right about the salt mines Geoff.
Found this on net...

[wbfamily]

One more thing... he met my grandmother while he was inspecting a bomb factory that she worked in. Does this mean anything?

Do you know where the factory was located? It is possible to identify the facility.

This is definitely Ukraine.
postcard0003.jpg

I found more info that might be helpful:

He met my Omi at a munitions factory in Ottobrunn.

More about his capture- he surrendered to the British in 1945 and I believe it was in Italy. He was in a camp there and was then taken to egypt. He escaped the camp but was captured again and sent to Cyprus where he lived on 800 calories a day. He was skin and bones by the time he was released.

[Volyn]

munitions factory in Ottobrunn.

Do you know what kind of munitions the factory built, you stated earlier bombs, but are you sure? Ottobrunn might be small enough to only have had a few specialized facilities, I will let you know what I find.

he surrendered to the British in 1945 and I believe it was in Italy.

If you know where in Italy or even the date, I can find the British unit that accepted his surrender.

[wbfamily]

munitions factory in Ottobrunn.

Do you know what kind of munitions the factory built, you stated earlier bombs, but are you sure? Ottobrunn might be small enough to only have had a few specialized facilities, I will let you know what I find.

he surrendered to the British in 1945 and I believe it was in Italy.

If you know where in Italy or even the date, I can find the British unit that accepted his surrender.

I thought it was bombs but I spoke to my dad this morning and he said it was a munitions factory.

I don't know where or what date exactly that the surrender took place... only that it was in 1945. I'm sorry. I wish I was more helpful. Your help with this means so much to my family and i.

[Volyn]

it was a munitions factory.

Here is a brief video about German women working in a munitions factory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAAJGu8HhKA

The factory that your Grandparents met in was called Heeresmunitionsanstalt (MUNA) built by the Reich Ministry of Aviation. This was a large scale research facility & experimental plant for the Luftwaffe in Ottobrunn, it worked on projects for the Luftfahrtforschungsanstalt München e. V. Messerschmitt (LFM).

This factory was in fact 1 Km away in Hohenbrunn, and more precisely in the forest South of Ottobrunn in Riemerling. Around 80 bunkers and warehouses have survived to this day. It was under the control of Wehrkreis VII München (Military District VII). https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wehrkreis ... 3%BCnchen)

Heeresmunitionsanstalt Hohenbrunn -
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munitionsanstalt

Heeresmunitionsanstalt Hohenbrunn employed about 4,000 local residents (the vast majority of whom were women) and 700 forced laborers, mainly Russians and Ukrainians, but also Poles. On the day of American liberation, forced laborers killed the hated camp leader and his translator. You can actually visit the area with a guide today.

Here is the Wikipedia article in the section - World War II (1939-1945) - it's in German but you can auto-translate it using the Google browser.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geschichte_Ottobrunns

Muni1.jpeg

Muni2.jpeg

Muni3.jpg