Who is this Ardennes soldier?

Discussions on all (non-biographical) aspects of the Freikorps, Reichswehr, Austrian Bundesheer, Heer, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Fallschirmjäger and the other Luftwaffe ground forces. Hosted by Christoph Awender.
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headwest
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#151

Post by headwest » 29 Jan 2020, 19:34

man timo, i follow your FB as well, how do you get ALL this info!?

i just want to find a simple old tank spot and am stumped lol

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Harro
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#152

Post by Harro » 02 Feb 2020, 10:29

25-years of research, contact with veterans and the help from the experts in this field of research - Danny Parker, Hans Weber, Jens Westemeier, Mike Smeets :milsmile:


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Harro
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#153

Post by Harro » 02 Feb 2020, 12:53

Regarding the photographer:

SS-Unterscharführer Max Büschel was born on the 10th of June 1912 and joined the SS-Kriegsberichter-Kompanie on the 6th of June 1941. A regular photographer with the Leibstandarte, he accompanied SS-Obersturmführer Goltz's Stabskompanie of the SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 1 LSSAH from Honsfeld over Born and Kaiserbaracke to Recht, took the famous photos of the "ambush" on the road between Recht and Poteau, before doubling back to Kaiserbaracke where he was filmed by his collegue Schäfer as he fixed the roadsign at the crossroads.

The newsreel footage leaves no doubt that it is indeed Büschel.

https://youtu.be/wWOOnRIpGqg

After the Leibstandarte surrendered to American forces in Austria in May 1945, Büschel managed to evade captivity and made his way back to his family in Berlin. He was shot when the Soviet occupational forces found him out as a member of the Leibstandarte.
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PatrickBateman
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#154

Post by PatrickBateman » 03 Feb 2020, 15:44

Thanks for telling his story, Harro.

It is hard to see, but the man with the cap might be Max Büschel as well?
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Click here for a larger format https://imgur.com/a/RMVZpSd

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Harro
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#155

Post by Harro » 03 Feb 2020, 20:48

Absolutely, well spotted!

PatrickBateman
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#156

Post by PatrickBateman » 03 Feb 2020, 22:39

I never knew that many of my favorite photos of WWII from the German side were taken by Max Büschel. His photographic style gave the soldiers actually a 'face' and real emotion, not some typical propaganda hero photo all the time. I think he was ahead of his time, many of his photos remind me of photos from the Vietnam war.

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Crew members of a Tiger tank at Kursk, probably taken shortly after a battle. It looks like one even cried, or had some dust in his eyes.

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I don't know what he did beside taken photos, but he didn't deserve to die like that after the war.

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MERRIE-GAUV.
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#157

Post by MERRIE-GAUV. » 31 Mar 2020, 07:12

Do someone hava a pic of this Max Büschel?
Merrie

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Harro
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#158

Post by Harro » 31 Mar 2020, 15:13

MERRIE-GAUV. wrote:
31 Mar 2020, 07:12
Do someone hava a pic of this Max Büschel?
Merrie
Not sure what you mean. Did you actually read the previous posts?

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dgfred
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#159

Post by dgfred » 31 Mar 2020, 16:01

Good stuff H!

Noarderwyn
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#160

Post by Noarderwyn » 06 Apr 2020, 23:20

Hi,

Great thread, i was wondering for ages who the guy was at Poteau. But on another note, the fir tree with the shed or something in the background is still there. The fir tree is enormous nowadays. I have been to Poteau a couple of times now and we walked on that piece of road to take pictures and such.

Kippstufe
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#161

Post by Kippstufe » 07 Oct 2020, 03:29

Meanwhile i have also ordered and read the book written by Timo. A great and captivating book indeed. What a tremendous work by Timo!

Anyway i also wanted to revive this thread to ask if there is more known to the fate of battlegroup Hansen? Did they suffer high casualties in the ardennes?

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Harro
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#162

Post by Harro » 07 Oct 2020, 08:52

Thanks "Kippstufe"! Losses for Gruppe Hansen were quite high indeed, particularly when in their attempts to reach Peiper in La Gleize and the subsequent clashes with Task Force Lovelady and the 120th US Infantry Regiment, but also after the move to the area east of Bastogne. They further suffered fter the Ardennes, in Hungary

PatrickBateman
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#163

Post by PatrickBateman » 17 Dec 2020, 22:26

76th anniversary, and his identity remains unknown. It remains fascinating to watch the footage taken at Poteau and the Kaiserbaracke.

KG Hansen Poteau
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#164

Post by KG Hansen Poteau » 11 Jan 2021, 17:49

Harro, I had to create an account to write this. I’m just after reading all 11 pages and, you’re a legend. I’m an LSSAH Reenactor and I have a great interest in Kampfgruppe Hansen and the soldiers shown in the collection of footage. I’ve been looking at this forum for about 6 or 7 months but never really went in depth through the pages and you really have done a terrific job I was trying to find stuff out myself and then I realised you’ve done so much. When I started reading the whole forum today I couldn’t believe it’s still going as of recent and you’ve been doing it before 2004 when this was created!
Also well done everybody else who has chipped in their own pieces of information, true or false. Unfortunately we probably will never ever know who Hans Tragarsky/Walter Armbrusch/Winter Fritz actually is but we’ve done a brilliant job at identifying the rest which is good enough for me. I’m trying to gather equipment for an impression of the Gruppenführer with the Sturmgewehr44 and does anyone know who commonly were issued brown leather map cases? or are they black ones just not dyed? Harro, I was also wondering what the name of your book is called? I’m not sure if the title was mentioned, my mistake if it was but I would like to check it out!
Ryan. 🇮🇪

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Harro
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Re: Who is this Ardennes soldier?

#165

Post by Harro » 11 Jan 2021, 21:36

My pleasure, this is a direct link to the webshop of my publisher (by far the cheapest option since it goes for ridiculous prices on Ebay and Amazon

https://www.boekenbestellen.nl/boek/gus ... 58?lang=en

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