Third Party Press

Führer Begleit Brigade Soldbuch - Battle of the bulge

Peter U

Moderator
Staff member
Recently I added this Soldbuch set to my collection, it is one from a member of the "Führer Begleit Brigade", one of the smaller units that participated in the battle of the bulge.
Initially this brigade was in the OKW Reserve but soon after the start of the offensive it was committed, first in the battle for Sankt Vith and then in Bastogne.

Ferdinand Heiselmeier (°1919) a miners son from Duisburg initially served with the twelfth MG company of IR7 until December '41 part of the 28ID, afterwards of the 252ID.
With this infantry unit he saw intensive action in Russia in '41/'42 and for this he was awarded an ISA, EKII and winter war medal.
Somewhere in '43 he is transferred to the third grenadier company of the "Verstärkte Grenadier Regiment "Großdeutschland", a company that belongs to the "Führer Grenadier Batallion", a unit responsible for guarding Hitler's HQ the Wolf's lair.
In the summer of '44 this battalion is reorganized in to a combat brigade, the backbone of this brigade consists of troops from the Großdeutschland units, all of them have seen action on the eastern front.
Ferdinand Heiselmeier is transferred to the "Schnelle Kompanie", the fast company of the brigade equipped with Schwimmwagens and Steyr recon cars; in this period he hands in his bayonet and is issued a P38 pistol, typical for vehicle crewmembers.
Part of the brigade sees action on the eastern front in Wilna but at the end of November '44 they are retreated back to the west for the upcoming new winter offensive: Wacht am Rhein.
Now also the brigade is under the command of a hardcore nazi Otto Remer, known for putting down the uprising on July 20 1944 in Berlin.
I'll not explain the entire combat history of the FBB in this thread but instead I'll concentrate a bit on the action in which his company played an important part, the battle of Hinderhausen.
On the morning of December 21 '44 the LXVI AK issues the order for an all out attack on what remains of the US defenders of Sankt Vith; the tanks of the FBB aren't in position yet, already this early in the offensive they are struggling to find the necessary fuel.
Despite this set back Otto Remer orders his "Schnelle Kompanie" in the woods west of Rodt to reconnoitre for a route for his tanks to breakthrough.
This patrol is a success and they even reach the main road between Sankt Vith and Vielsalm and they capture several US Army vehicles and troops driving on this road; they kept on moving southwest until they ran in to an US artillery unit in Hinderhausen; by now the US tanks of the 7th Armoured Division were alerted and they counter attacked , forcing the men of the FBB to leave behind their captured vehicles and POW's.
In the Soldbuch of Ferdinand Heiselmeier we can find close combat days for St Vith, Hinderhausen, Chenogne, Tillet & Longvilly.
After they are retreated from the Ardennes, once again they are reorganized now his unit becomes the seventh company of Pz Gr Rgt 100 of the Führer Begleit Division.
In February '45 they are transferred back to the eastern front, now on German soil in Arnswalde; here he accumulates another six close combat days until he is WIA by shrapnel on March 4 '45.
On March 24 '45 he returns to his company, a few weeks later the FBD is destroyed in the pocket of Spremberg.


The Soldbuch contains several nice details, on his picture you can see that he is wearing "GD" chippers on his shoulder boards, the continues use of Großdeutschland units entries aa part of their tradition, the pistol entry at the time they were equipped with Schwimmwagens and Steyrs and of course his detailed close combat days list.
 

Attachments

  • DSC08580.jpg
    DSC08580.jpg
    66.4 KB · Views: 17
  • DSC08581.jpg
    DSC08581.jpg
    67.6 KB · Views: 36
  • DSC08582.jpg
    DSC08582.jpg
    65.2 KB · Views: 21
  • DSC08583.jpg
    DSC08583.jpg
    64.6 KB · Views: 17
  • DSC08584.jpg
    DSC08584.jpg
    58.9 KB · Views: 17
  • DSC08585 (2).jpg
    DSC08585 (2).jpg
    134.6 KB · Views: 21
  • DSC08586.jpg
    DSC08586.jpg
    118.5 KB · Views: 15
  • DSC08587.jpg
    DSC08587.jpg
    55.5 KB · Views: 16
  • DSC08588.jpg
    DSC08588.jpg
    60.4 KB · Views: 12
  • DSC08589.jpg
    DSC08589.jpg
    98.6 KB · Views: 14
...................................
 

Attachments

  • DSC08590.jpg
    DSC08590.jpg
    88.5 KB · Views: 10
  • DSC08591.jpg
    DSC08591.jpg
    105 KB · Views: 12
  • DSC08592.jpg
    DSC08592.jpg
    69.7 KB · Views: 16
  • DSC08593.jpg
    DSC08593.jpg
    99.1 KB · Views: 10
  • DSC08595.jpg
    DSC08595.jpg
    111.6 KB · Views: 11
  • DSC08596.jpg
    DSC08596.jpg
    113.9 KB · Views: 9
  • DSC08597.jpg
    DSC08597.jpg
    35.6 KB · Views: 11
  • DSC08598.jpg
    DSC08598.jpg
    46.1 KB · Views: 10
  • DSC08599.jpg
    DSC08599.jpg
    52.2 KB · Views: 11
An nice map I found online about the battle of Hinderhausen.
 

Attachments

  • 4nfkh.jpg
    4nfkh.jpg
    231.5 KB · Views: 16
For those that can spare 57 minutes, this is an interesting old documentary about the battle for Sankt Vith with interviews with Manteuffel and US Army officers that played an important part in the battle.


 
This posting could not have happened at a better time. I am about to start reading, The Battle of the Bulge from the TIME/LIFE WWII series. A fellow that used to work for me was a medic in Bastogne and one of our customers was a forward artillery observer for Patton. Thank you for posting your findings and the video.
 
What a great Soldbuch and as always finely researched, scanned and described. I look forward to your Werpass & Soldbuch postings as they are essentially highly detailed miniature history lessons based on that individual soldat .....
 
I entirely agree with Slash, these are some of the most interesting posts on the forum.

Did you ever discover what became of this soldier? I assume captured, maybe KIA? How did his Soldbuch survive if PoW or KIA in an encircled position? Just curious, I suppose you do not know or would have mentioned it.
 
I entirely agree with Slash, these are some of the most interesting posts on the forum.

Did you ever discover what became of this soldier? I assume captured, maybe KIA? How did his Soldbuch survive if PoW or KIA in an encircled position? Just curious, I suppose you do not know or would have mentioned it.



I have no idea what happened to him after he left the field hospital in March '45; he isn't listed on the Volksbund wargraves website so I presume he wasn't KIA.
Often soldiers kept on using their Soldbuch in the POW camp and they took it home when they were discharged.
This Soldbuch is still together with the award documents which were kept at home, so he was one of the many that took his Soldbuch home with him after the war.
 
That must have been a story, how he survived all he went through and made it home after his unit was surrounded... maybe a Willi Heinrich story. (The Willing Flesh - Cross of Iron)

Hopefully he did make it home.
 

Military Rifle Journal
Back
Top