The anniversary of start of the Ardennes offensive is coming, so I thought it was a good idea to show a set of someone that was involved in the opening action of operation Wacht am Rhein.
Otto Paul (°1909) was a Sudeten German from Aussig an der Elbe, in civilian life he was a foreman in a warehouse; from October 1 1929 till March 30 1931 he served in the Tsechoslovakian Army.
After Nazi Germany annexed the Sudetenland in 1938 he once again became a German citizen, this also meant that he would have to comply to the conscription laws and in October 1939 he was medically checked as a reservist.
A year later he was called up to serve, after two weeks of basic training with IEB 185, he was transferred to Sperrfeuerbatterie 149, an AAA unit armed with French AA guns, in March 1941 his unit was transferred from the army to the air force.
He now served with several searchlight units, first in Germany, then from March 1942 on the Northern part of the Eastern front; in December 1942 he was awarded the Flak artillery badge and at the end of 1943 he is trained to become a searchlight team leader, with this comes also a promotion to NCO rank.
So far his service is rather simple and relatively safe, operating a 150cm searchlight behind the frontline searching for night bombers but this all changes mid November 1944, then they are transferred to the western front and their task now is to light up the frontline at the start of the offensive to aid the advance of the infantry.
To prepare them for service close to the actual frontline, they are given a quick course in tank destruction with close combat weapons, how to use a Panzerfaust for example.
After the battle of the bulge he is transferred to the III Flak Korps, then defending the Rhein and Ruhr Kessel, he now is issued a machine pistol and in his Soldbuch an extra page is added which states that he can't be transferred to any Army unit.
His dog tag and a picture from the Bundes Archive that shows a searchlight unit manoeuvring their searchlight in to position for the bulge offensive.
Otto Paul (°1909) was a Sudeten German from Aussig an der Elbe, in civilian life he was a foreman in a warehouse; from October 1 1929 till March 30 1931 he served in the Tsechoslovakian Army.
After Nazi Germany annexed the Sudetenland in 1938 he once again became a German citizen, this also meant that he would have to comply to the conscription laws and in October 1939 he was medically checked as a reservist.
A year later he was called up to serve, after two weeks of basic training with IEB 185, he was transferred to Sperrfeuerbatterie 149, an AAA unit armed with French AA guns, in March 1941 his unit was transferred from the army to the air force.
He now served with several searchlight units, first in Germany, then from March 1942 on the Northern part of the Eastern front; in December 1942 he was awarded the Flak artillery badge and at the end of 1943 he is trained to become a searchlight team leader, with this comes also a promotion to NCO rank.
So far his service is rather simple and relatively safe, operating a 150cm searchlight behind the frontline searching for night bombers but this all changes mid November 1944, then they are transferred to the western front and their task now is to light up the frontline at the start of the offensive to aid the advance of the infantry.
To prepare them for service close to the actual frontline, they are given a quick course in tank destruction with close combat weapons, how to use a Panzerfaust for example.
After the battle of the bulge he is transferred to the III Flak Korps, then defending the Rhein and Ruhr Kessel, he now is issued a machine pistol and in his Soldbuch an extra page is added which states that he can't be transferred to any Army unit.
His dog tag and a picture from the Bundes Archive that shows a searchlight unit manoeuvring their searchlight in to position for the bulge offensive.
