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Infantry officers Soldbuch

Peter U

Moderator
Staff member
Hello,

This is one of the new Soldbucher in my collection:

Johann Daelle (°1903) was an engineer from Halberstadt, he also was reserve officer int he Wehrmacht.
This Soldbuch was issued to him on August 26 1939, the day of the big mobilizationin Europe, by the battalion commander of the third battalion of Infantry Regiment 12; he was a lieutenant with the 10[SUP]th[/SUP]company, as a part of the 31[SUP]st[/SUP] Infantry Division, this company took over the traditions of the 3rd Magdeburgische IR N°66.
A few days later, on September 1 1939 the war starts for this lieutenant, the 31ID willinvade Poland together with the tanks of the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] Panzer Division.
Their main target is the Polish capital Warsaw; just before they reach their target they will they will fight their main battleof this campaign, in Kutno they will stop an attempt of the Polish army to break out of their encirclement.
After this battle they are a part of the siege garrison in Warsaw, on September 24 1939 hereceives the EKII; this is before the fall of Warsaw and the capitulation of the Polish army; for me personally this is one of the earliest WH EKII’s that I have seen.
After the fall of Poland they return back to Germany and take a position on the western border, where they prepare themselves for the invasion of the Low Countries.
This offensive starts on May 10 1940; they cross the German/Dutch border and invade Belgium the next day.
The first ten days of the campaign are relatively easy for them; they pursue the retreating allied armies through Belgium, but on May 20 1940 the allied resistance is getting very fierce, they cross the Schelde river in Pecq but their advance is halted by the the Coldstream- and Grenadier Guards of the BEF, the next day the Guards even counter attack and drive the Germans back over the river.
- Lance corporal Nicholls will get the VC for this counter attack.
In this battle Lt Daelle will earn his Infantry Sturmabzeichen in silver.
After the Westfeldzug he is promoted to “Oberleutenant”.
In October 1940 he is transferred to the newly created 11[SUP]th[/SUP] company of IR431 ofthe 131ID.
During operation Barbarossa he gets seriously wounded in the battle of Gomel, on August 12 1941 he gets hit by several Soviet bullets, one penetrates his lefthand and another one passes through both his femurs; he will remain in hospital to recuperate from these wounds until January 13 1942.
In September 1941 he gets the EKI and a wounded badge in black, later in June 1944 it will be upgraded to silver.
In February1942 while he is in a recuperation unit he is promoted to captain.
But the agony isn’t over for Johann Daelle, on May 4 1942 he is admitted to a hospital again, this time for tuberculosis.
On September 20 1943 he leaves the hospital but after a few months he is admitted again, on top of his tuberculosis he gets inflammation in his old wounds.
He will remain in the hospital until the end of the war, the last annotation in his Soldbuch is a leave entry made by a doctor of the hospital of Schielo from August 1944.


If you takea look at the images notice that he had a private purchase pistol, a Walther PP

Cheers,
Peter
 

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