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Battle of the Bulge Soldbuch - then & now pictures

Peter U

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Staff member
Hello,

This is the Soldbuch of Walter Groth, Walter was born on December 14 1927 in the small farmers village of Ziegnitz in Pommeren (East Prussia), in 1939 there were only 294 inhabitants.
He was working as a farhand until July 1944, he was 16 and a half years old and volunteered for the Waffen SS; he was accepted and assigned to a basic trainingsunit of the Leibstandarte.
After his basic training he was transfered in October 1944 to 6th company of SS Pz Gren Rgt 25 of the 12th SS Pz Div "Hitlerjugend" as a MG34 gunner.
On December 16 1944 the war started for him, he got his baptism of fire in the fight for control over the little village of Rocherath-Krinkelt, fighting house to house combat against units of the 2nd & 99th US ID.
On the night of December 27/28 1944 his company was engaged in fierce hand to hand combat in Sadzot against the paratroopers of 509th PIB, the fighting called the: "Sad Sack Affair", it continued until December 30 1944.
It was on this day that Walter Groth got wounded.
Two weeks later he was admited to a fieldhospital in Germany, his wound was so bad that it kept him away from the front for the remainder of the war.
On April 21 1945 he left the hospital most likely to flea West to escape caputre by the Sovjets, this was succesfull because he was taken POW by the British, they kept him detained until 1948.

The Soldbuch cover has been denazified and doesn't it have the most typical picture of a Waffen SS Hitlerjugend soldier one has ever seen in it?
- he is wearing LAH shoulderboards, no doubt that this young farmhand was pretty proud when he got them, his social status must have risen a lot.
Notice on his issued weapons page that he typical for a MG34 gunner he had no rifle anymore but a pistol.
(I forgot to make an image of the MG34 cleaning kit entry)
Also notic the WKC bayonet ON (Ohne Nummer) and rare the entry for a close combat dagger (Nahkampfdolch).
A rather sinister entry because he was engaged in close combat action in Rocherath an Sadzot.
When he was POW, the British sprayed him with DTT and gave him an injection against Typhoid.

Enjoy the images,
Peter
 

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With the Soldbuch there is also the awarddocument for the wounded badge in black and his release from POW camp document.
- Notice that the fieldhospital clerck made a mistake in the number of his unit, he wasn't part of the 26th regiment (also HJ Div) but the 25th.
 

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In the summer of 2009 I did a "War walk" in Rocherath-Krinkelt and this are some pictures I made there.
The foxholes and the remains of trenches are those of the Hasselpath forest, the Elsenborn ridge.

Btw when I visit Sadzot this year, I'll post some extra pictures in this thread.
 

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The monuments in Rocherath-Krinkelt for the US divisions that fought there during the battle of the bulge.
 

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Peter, if you happen to be by Bizory Marvie Noville could snap a pic of the 10th Armored monument or any pics, I know they have one there somewhere. I really have to go their and see these places. Keep those pics coming.
 
Peter U - This is a great soldbuch. Thanks for posting and not sure how I missed this. Can you advise the dates he was issued the various items (pistol, bayonet, close combat knife, etc) you mention on the last scan of the first post? I am having trouble making out the script. Thanks in advance .....
 
Looks like 15, XI, 44 which would obviously be November. Awesome soldbuch!
 
An old thread but this is what some people do to deceive......exact copy sold as original
 

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