Hello guys,
Together with the SSLAH Soldbuch I added this Soldbuch/Wehrpaß set to my collection, perhaps a bit less spectacular but interesting nevertheless.
Günther Specht (°1915) a gardener from Harburg first served six months with the RAD and then began his military service with the 4th company of Kavalerie Regiment 14, a cavalry unit in the pure sense of the word, soldiers on horseback.
I can't find any evidence in the documents that he signed a volunteer contract but he stays with his unit for several years and rises through the ranks to become a sergeant in 1938, so I presume he is in fact a career soldier.
Three days for the outbreak of the war his company becomes the 1st company of AA31, the recon unit of the 31 Infantry Division, in the campaigns of 1939 & 1940 they are still partly on horseback.
He takes part in the invasion of Poland and the siege of Warsaw; after the conquest of Poland they are immediately transferred to the west to take part in the invasion of the low countries.
In the May 1940 campaign his unit will fight almost exclusively against the British regulars of the BEF in Belgium; in this campaign he earns the EKII.
After the fall of France and the cancellation of the invasion of the UK they are transferred back to Poland to prepare for the invasion of the Soviet Union.
On July 23 1941 he gets wounded for the first time, he is wounded by a landmine explosion in Nov Bychow, he gets shrapnel in his right lower arm and his right eardrum is damaged.
He is evacuated back to Germany and remains in hospital and with reserve units until early March 1942, then he returns back to his old unit on the eastern front, soon after his arrival he is wounded again; during the battle for Juchnow he gets shrapnel in his left shoulder and leg.
This time he isn't only physically injured but also mentally, he suffers from shell shock.
He stays in several hospital and recovery units until late September 1942 but he will never be same as before, the doctors declare him unfit to serve any longer with a frontline unit and he is reeducated as a medic and joins the medic company of infantry battalion 999 based on the Greek island of Rhodos.
Infantry battalion 999 is a special unit, it is a penal unit; the ranks are filled with men that are serving time in German prisons for non military related offences, the officers and NCO's are normal service men.
It is estimated that between 25.000 and 40.000 criminals served with various 999 units; all 999 units were on the Mediterranean front, first in Africa (Tunisia) then on the Greek islands, Balkan and Italy, were they are used in the notorious anti partisan warfare.
Günther Specht keeps on serving with distinction, he is promoted to Feldwebel and in April '45 gets the KvK medal.
The day after the German army capitulates on May 8 1945 he becomes a British POW.
In his Soldbuch you can see nice and interesting details.
He got tropical equipment for his service on Rhodos.
When he served with AA31 he had a MP and while with San/999 he had a M34 Italian pistol.
His wounds are described in detail in his Wehrpaß and in his Soldbuch you can see the medical code #35 (general bad condition) and #26 (mental problems).
Cheers,
Peter
Together with the SSLAH Soldbuch I added this Soldbuch/Wehrpaß set to my collection, perhaps a bit less spectacular but interesting nevertheless.
Günther Specht (°1915) a gardener from Harburg first served six months with the RAD and then began his military service with the 4th company of Kavalerie Regiment 14, a cavalry unit in the pure sense of the word, soldiers on horseback.
I can't find any evidence in the documents that he signed a volunteer contract but he stays with his unit for several years and rises through the ranks to become a sergeant in 1938, so I presume he is in fact a career soldier.
Three days for the outbreak of the war his company becomes the 1st company of AA31, the recon unit of the 31 Infantry Division, in the campaigns of 1939 & 1940 they are still partly on horseback.
He takes part in the invasion of Poland and the siege of Warsaw; after the conquest of Poland they are immediately transferred to the west to take part in the invasion of the low countries.
In the May 1940 campaign his unit will fight almost exclusively against the British regulars of the BEF in Belgium; in this campaign he earns the EKII.
After the fall of France and the cancellation of the invasion of the UK they are transferred back to Poland to prepare for the invasion of the Soviet Union.
On July 23 1941 he gets wounded for the first time, he is wounded by a landmine explosion in Nov Bychow, he gets shrapnel in his right lower arm and his right eardrum is damaged.
He is evacuated back to Germany and remains in hospital and with reserve units until early March 1942, then he returns back to his old unit on the eastern front, soon after his arrival he is wounded again; during the battle for Juchnow he gets shrapnel in his left shoulder and leg.
This time he isn't only physically injured but also mentally, he suffers from shell shock.
He stays in several hospital and recovery units until late September 1942 but he will never be same as before, the doctors declare him unfit to serve any longer with a frontline unit and he is reeducated as a medic and joins the medic company of infantry battalion 999 based on the Greek island of Rhodos.
Infantry battalion 999 is a special unit, it is a penal unit; the ranks are filled with men that are serving time in German prisons for non military related offences, the officers and NCO's are normal service men.
It is estimated that between 25.000 and 40.000 criminals served with various 999 units; all 999 units were on the Mediterranean front, first in Africa (Tunisia) then on the Greek islands, Balkan and Italy, were they are used in the notorious anti partisan warfare.
Günther Specht keeps on serving with distinction, he is promoted to Feldwebel and in April '45 gets the KvK medal.
The day after the German army capitulates on May 8 1945 he becomes a British POW.
In his Soldbuch you can see nice and interesting details.
He got tropical equipment for his service on Rhodos.
When he served with AA31 he had a MP and while with San/999 he had a M34 Italian pistol.
His wounds are described in detail in his Wehrpaß and in his Soldbuch you can see the medical code #35 (general bad condition) and #26 (mental problems).
Cheers,
Peter
