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SS Germania officer Soldbuch

Peter U

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Last week I added another early war Soldbuch of Waffen SS regiment "Germania" to my collection, I especially like this unit because it fought in my neighbourhood in May 1940.

Joachim Wilde (°1921) was a student from Luneburg, just before he turned 18 he joined the Waffen SS, in September 1939 he was one of the few German nationals that the Wehrmacht allowed to join the Waffen SS as substitute for their conscript service.
(German army conscript laws kept the number of volunteers of the Waffen SS down early in the war, service in the Waffen SS did back then not automatically qualify as conscript service time.)
Joachim Wilde was a typical poster boy for the Waffen SS: well educated, blond hair and 180 cm tall, a true Arian according to there standards; he was assigned to the training battalion of the SS Germania Regiment in Hamburg, after he completed his basic training he was transferred to the regiments fifth company, with this unit he participated in the invasion of the Low Countries and France in 1940, for this campaign he will be awarded the Infantry Assault Badge.
After the victorious campaigns of 1940 the Waffen SS started to recruit Germanic volunteers in the occupied countries, the WH conscript laws had no influence on these foreign volunteers thus the Waffen SS could expand his divisions.
Because of this rapid expansion the Waffen SS was short of officers and Joachim Wilde was one of the enlisted men that was sellected to follow Waffen SS officers training in the school in Bad Tolz in May 1941.
In September 1941 his officers training is finished and he gets his officers commission in his old unit, he now is a platoon commander in the third company and joins them while they are fighting on the Eastern front as part of the Wiking Division.
In February 1942 he is seriously wounded by shrapnel in the head and right arm, his wound gets infected and as a result his right lower arm is amputated in July 1942, this is not enough and in December 1942 what is left of his right arm is also amputated.
At the end of March 1943 he can leave the hospital but not able to serve in a combat unit, this well decorated officer (EKII + I) is transferred to the Waffen SS training facility in Sennheim, he lives near this base together with his wife.
In April 1945 his home in Luneburg is bombed and he gets a special leave period to visit it.

The Soldbuch itself is loaded with all kinds of nice details about his service such as entries for the typical Waffen SS camouflage clothing which now is worth a small fortune.



If you have time take a look at this old thread of me:
http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread...IA-Waffen-SS-driving-licence&highlight=krause

Kurt Krause was also a Waffen SS volunteer from the SS-Germania Regiment.
Both men came from the Hamburg area and were together in officers training in Bad Tolz in the same period (May/September 1941); I'am pretty sure these two men must have known each other and might even have been friends.
 

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Very cool, these are tough to find and expensive. Boy, I wish I had 147 1938 serial number 5286 k(?).
 
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Very interesting indeed. These are fascinating pieces IMHO. Any chance you have or have seen anything from SS Totenkopf-Reiter-Standarte or SS Kavallerie?
 
He was issued a rifle 147/1938 with the serial number: 5286w; he gave it back to the armory of his unit in April 1941 when he departed for officers training.
 
Great read Peter thanks for posting. Is there any more information on what happened to him after the war was over.
 
Great read Peter thanks for posting. Is there any more information on what happened to him after the war was over.

He isn't listed as KIA and the last entries in his Soldbuch are done in April 1945, so I presume he survived the war.
I have no information what happened with him after the war but I guess that he just like all other Germans picked up his civilian life as soon as possible.
He was an early member of the Waffen SS and an officer, so it wouldn't surprise me that he used the old boys of the W-SS network, better known as "HIAG" to find a job in post war Germany.
 
Sauer !

He was issued a rifle 147/1938 with the serial number: 5286w; he gave it back to the armory of his unit in April 1941 when he departed for officers training.

It was a Sauer 98k.. anyone have that Sn in their collection???
 
No, not in my collection; that is mainly because I don't focus on the dirty warfare on the Eastern front.

Thanks. I understand your feelings but that's not something I can undo. I wish I understood more about how he felt.
 
Thanks. I understand your feelings but that's not something I can undo. I wish I understood more about how he felt.

What I mean is collecting focus; my collection is Belgian orientated with a little chapter of holocaust related material.
There sure are collectors that focus on Waffen SS units like the Reiter Regiments but I'am not one of them and I don't have any contact with them either otherwise I would have brought you in to contact with them.
Waffen SS Soldbucher are amongst the most expensive pieces in document collecting, adding an Eastern front/anti partisan warfare chapter to my collection would simply be to expensive.
 
What I mean is collecting focus; my collection is Belgian orientated with a little chapter of holocaust related material.
There sure are collectors that focus on Waffen SS units like the Reiter Regiments but I'am not one of them and I don't have any contact with them either otherwise I would have brought you in to contact with them.
Waffen SS Soldbucher are amongst the most expensive pieces in document collecting, adding an Eastern front/anti partisan warfare chapter to my collection would simply be to expensive.

Thank you for expanding on that. I wonder if many of those Soldbuch and other 'evidence' were quickly destroyed or discarded immediately after the war ended? I can see it would be very problematic to be in possession of such documents.
 
Thank you for expanding on that. I wonder if many of those Soldbuch and other 'evidence' were quickly destroyed or discarded immediately after the war ended? I can see it would be very problematic to be in possession of such documents.

Many were indeed destroyed at the end of the war, you simply wouldn't want to be caught with such incriminating evidence on you.
Soldbucher with a direct veteran connection of units involved in anti partisan warfare, the holocaust or war crimes are rare, most examples you find in collections of these units come from archive sources.
 
He was issued a rifle 147/1938 with the serial number: 5286w; he gave it back to the armory of his unit in April 1941 when he departed for officers training.

A rare and very interesting Soldbuch, thank you very much for the photos and the background story.

It's hard to recognize, but I think the serial number of the 147 1938 looks rather like "5286 k" (the highest serial number in 1938 from Sauer which I know is "2494 t").

In the 90's I met a SS-Untersturmführer who served early in the Waffen-SS regiment "Germania". In April 1945 he was fighting in the city where I live with the SS-PzGren.Ausb.Btl.18.
 
A rare and very interesting Soldbuch, thank you very much for the photos and the background story.

It's hard to recognize, but I think the serial number of the 147 1938 looks rather like "5286 k" (the highest serial number in 1938 from Sauer which I know is "2494 t").

In the 90's I met a SS-Untersturmführer who served early in the Waffen-SS regiment "Germania". In April 1945 he was fighting in the city where I live with the SS-PzGren.Ausb.Btl.18.


Thanks, it could indeed be a "k".
 

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