wbfamily wrote: ↑02 Nov 2018, 19:24
Could he have been with the XVIII Mountain/ 5.Gebirgs div at this time?
It appears that he was with GJR 98 in Poland, Pioneer 54 in France and maybe GJR 100 in Greece - GJR 100 was assigned to 5. Geb on November 3, 1940.
There were many mutual ties between 1. Geb and 5. Geb that could lead to contacts and exchanges of soldiers, especially for such specialists as a Feuerwerker, and you are correct that 5. Geb occupied Thessaloniki and Athens.
Can someone confirm if this is possible?
At some point he was transferred back to 1. Geb because 5. Geb was sent into action around Leningrad at the Volkhov Front, and all of his post-Barbarossa photos are from Southern Ukraine and Russia 1942, which is precisely where 1. Geb was operating during that time.
So far we have him at these potential battle sites:
Battle of Lvov (1939)
Battle of Monthermé (1940)
(?) Battle of the Metaxas Line (1941)
(?) Battle of Crete (1941)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of ... s_Division
Correct me if I am wrong, but even if he was at Crete he still would not be eligible for the Kreta Cufftitle?
https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/campai ... /kreta.htm
The > KRETA < cuffband was instituted on 16 October 1942, about five months following the conclusion of the battle (Army/Heer Regulations/Verordnungs Blatt 1942, Directive 23, page 457, No. 874; Air force/Luftwaffe: 1942 Directive 40, page 1403, No. 2519; Navy/Kriegsmarine: 1942 Publication 29, page 831, No. 721 and 1942 Publication 36, page 1000, No.901).
The cufftitle was considered an award and was given to personnel who made a parachute or glider landing on to the island of Crete between 20 and 27 May, took part in the air campaign over Crete, or were in active service at sea in the Crete theater of operations up to 27 May 1942.
Separate Question -
I do not think that we have been able to identify yet the RAD unit that he was part of - this link has a roster of different units (scroll to the bottom), can it be used to help?
https://www.feldgrau.com/WW2-German-Nat ... eitsdienst
Lastly -
I learned that the Feuerwerker training program lasted up to 20 months and in 1929 the Heeresfeuerwerkerschule (Army Feuerwerker School) in Berlin-Lichterfelder was established.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardesch% ... hterfelde) Can someone confirm if 20 months is accurate? If so, that means he would have begun his training in 1937 in order to get into the Poland Campaign.
Can we figure out the how much time he spent in training from when he entered the Feuerwerker school combined with the mountain training that was required to be certified with the Edelweiss patch and join GRJ 98?
This photo might be an Oath Swearing Ceremony for GJR 98:
- Oath Swearing Ceremony.jpg (49.85 KiB) Viewed 1990 times