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
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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