Hello guys,
It has been a while since I showed a Soldbuch here, so here we go.
Herbert Pelkner (°1926) from Münster started his military service time just months before his eighteenth birthday with Grenadier Ersatz und Ausbildungs Btl 473, a basic infantry training and recuperation unit.
In the first days of September he has done 12 weeks of training and the western allies are crossing the German border, the situation for the German army is critical and also training units are thrown in to combat.
Herbert Pelkner's company will have to defend a part of the so called Westwall in the Aachen sector; the fighting is fierce and he soon accumulates enough combat days to be rewarded an IAB and after the battle he will also be awarded the EKII.
- Because he is on leave when the awards are actually awarded they aren't confirmed in his Soldbuch and because he is taken POW during the battle of the bulge the unit administration has no time to confirm them in the Soldbuch.
On September 24 1944 his battalion is put under the command of Füselier Regiment 27 of the 12th Volksgrenadier Division, at the end of November '44 they will be absorbed in this prestigious infantry regiment (the 12VGD is one of the best WH infantry units).
In this period of unit transfer Herbert Pelkner gets shrapnel in his eyes, no hospital entry is made in the Soldbuch so his wound must be treated by the units doctor, this wound must have earned him a Wounded badge in black but it isn't confirmed anywhere; nevertheless he gets a three weeks permit to go home.
While he is home the 12VGD is attached to the I SS Pz Korps and will be engaged in operation Wach am Rhein, the battle of the bulge.
Because of his leave period Herbert Pelkner will not participate in the brutal fighting for the twin villages Krinkelt-Rocherrath but he will be engaged in the second phase of the battle.
On January 12 1945 during the battle for the tiny village of Langlire he is taken POW; his company commander writes a letter to his father to tell him that his son is MIA and that he was a brave soldier that in the short time he was with his unit both got the IAB & EKII.
The award document for the IAB was also sent home and it is signed by Heinz Georg Lemm, his highly decorated regimental commander who was besides a KC with oak leaves and sword holder also the youngest major and colonel in the German army ever.
With the set also came the Wehrpaß of his father a WW1 veteran who worked as a coal miner, so we also can put a face on the person that received the letters.
It has been a while since I showed a Soldbuch here, so here we go.
Herbert Pelkner (°1926) from Münster started his military service time just months before his eighteenth birthday with Grenadier Ersatz und Ausbildungs Btl 473, a basic infantry training and recuperation unit.
In the first days of September he has done 12 weeks of training and the western allies are crossing the German border, the situation for the German army is critical and also training units are thrown in to combat.
Herbert Pelkner's company will have to defend a part of the so called Westwall in the Aachen sector; the fighting is fierce and he soon accumulates enough combat days to be rewarded an IAB and after the battle he will also be awarded the EKII.
- Because he is on leave when the awards are actually awarded they aren't confirmed in his Soldbuch and because he is taken POW during the battle of the bulge the unit administration has no time to confirm them in the Soldbuch.
On September 24 1944 his battalion is put under the command of Füselier Regiment 27 of the 12th Volksgrenadier Division, at the end of November '44 they will be absorbed in this prestigious infantry regiment (the 12VGD is one of the best WH infantry units).
In this period of unit transfer Herbert Pelkner gets shrapnel in his eyes, no hospital entry is made in the Soldbuch so his wound must be treated by the units doctor, this wound must have earned him a Wounded badge in black but it isn't confirmed anywhere; nevertheless he gets a three weeks permit to go home.
While he is home the 12VGD is attached to the I SS Pz Korps and will be engaged in operation Wach am Rhein, the battle of the bulge.
Because of his leave period Herbert Pelkner will not participate in the brutal fighting for the twin villages Krinkelt-Rocherrath but he will be engaged in the second phase of the battle.
On January 12 1945 during the battle for the tiny village of Langlire he is taken POW; his company commander writes a letter to his father to tell him that his son is MIA and that he was a brave soldier that in the short time he was with his unit both got the IAB & EKII.
The award document for the IAB was also sent home and it is signed by Heinz Georg Lemm, his highly decorated regimental commander who was besides a KC with oak leaves and sword holder also the youngest major and colonel in the German army ever.
With the set also came the Wehrpaß of his father a WW1 veteran who worked as a coal miner, so we also can put a face on the person that received the letters.
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