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Soldbuch Stalingrad/Bulge

Peter U

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Staff member
For the first Soldbuch thread of 2018 I'll start of with a Stalingrad/Battle of the bulge combination, a combination that you don't often come across.


Traügott kühne (°1916) was a "Wachtmeister" with a chemical warfare unit, because of the ban on chemical weapons of the 1920's the German army used all kinds of camouflage names, like "street decontamination battalion" to covert their secret chemical warfare program.
His unit changed names a couple of times from Straßenentgiftungsabteilung 133 over Schwere Werfer abteilung 133 to finally become Schwere Werfer Regiment 2 in April 1942, this Nebelwerfer unit was attached to the Heeresgruppe Süd for the summer offensive of 1942.
By this time Traügott had been promoted to Oberleutenant and was a battery commander in the II Abteilung, his unit was attached to the 24 Panzer Division for the battle of Stalingrad.
They are engaged in the fierce fighting on the factory grounds of Stalingrad, on September 7 1942 he is awarded an EKII, in early October 1942 they participate for example in the fighting for the Barricade factory.
When at the end of October most of Stalingrad is in German hands and the fighting slows down a bit, Traügott is one of the lucky ones that is given a leave to spend Christmas at home, but before he can enjoy his two week Christmas holiday, he has to follow a four week course in the Nebelwerfer Schule in Celle.
He departs from Stalingrad on November 8 1942, on November 19 the Red Army starts its counteroffensive, operation Uranus and on November 22 Stalingrad is surrounded and the death struggle of the 6th Army can begin.
After the Stalingrad his unit rebuild in Germany with new recruits and the remnants of those that survived the battle for Stalingrad.
On January 1 1944 he is promoted to Hauptmann; in March 1944 his battery is used for the formation of a new regiment: Schwere Werfer Regiment 14, with this unit he will participate in the battle of the bulge.
For operation Wacht am Rhein, his unit is attached to the II SS Panzer Korps, on January 5 1945 he is awarded the EKI by the 12 SS Pz Div - Hitlerjugend.
After the war the word "Hitlerjugend" has been censored but it is still slightly visible.


In the Soldbuch you can see all kinds of details such as the equipment of a battery commander: pistol, binoculars, compass, wristwatch, flashlight.
The Christmas leave that saved his life entered in November 1942 and also entries made by the Nebel Werfer school in the period his battery was being destroyed in Stalingrad.
 

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His driving license and the travel permit to leave the Stalingrad sector.
 

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Heiligabend 1942.

The story of how Traügott Kühne survived Stalingrad is confirmed by a field post letter of a soldier that served in his battery, Ekkehard Johler:
http://www.lauritzen-hamburg.de/ekkehard_johler_stalingrad.html




Anbei 1 Luftpostmarke!




Liebe, nein liebste Mutti,
guter, nein, bester Vati,
süße liebe kleine Karin u.
Immerguter großer Roli!

Wie feiert Ihr das Fest? Es ist jetzt 6h abends u. ich denke, Ihr seid mitten darin oder fangt gleich an. Mein größter Wunsch ist, daß Ihr alle vergnügt, froh u. zufrieden seid u. ich will es auch sein. Der Russe läßt uns heute Ruhe, jedenfalls bis jetzt. Auch ist es uns noch gelungen, den Bunker recht schön weihnachtlich zu gestalten mit Kieferngrün, Watte vom Unterarc.. und Engelshaar, aus Silberpapier von Zigarettenschachteln zurechtgeschnitten. Apropo Zigaretten: die kommen nicht mehr an, weil ich sie in dieser Zeit nun alle selbst verqualme. Tut mir leid, Euch den Mund wässerig gemacht zu haben, meine Herren Vater u. Bruder!
Der Radio-Empfänger bringt schöne Kirchenmusik vom Balkan u. nachher wollen wir versuchen, ob wir die Reichssendung hören können.
Bei der kleinen Weihnachtsfeier in unserem Bunker beförderte mich der Batterie-Chef, Oblt. Löffler (Kühne hat ja Urlaub, kurz bevor er gesperrt wurde, fuhr er ab) zum Unteroffizier.
Seid mir herzlichst gegrüßt, Ihr Lieben u. grüßt bitte auch alle Freunde u. Bekannte recht herzlich. Doch die innigsten Grüße gelten Euch!
Euer Ekki.
 
From what I gather, his buddy said he just left before the battery commander came in and "closed" things, which I take to mean no more leave. How close he came to disappearing in the Stalingrad cauldron. War is so random in who it takes....
 
From what I gather, his buddy said he just left before the battery commander came in and "closed" things, which I take to mean no more leave. How close he came to disappearing in the Stalingrad cauldron. War is so random in who it takes....

You are right, Ekkehard Johler meant with gesperrt "no more leave".

@Peter
Again a very interesting Soldbuch, thank you very much for sharing.
 
Thanks for showing! As usual, very interesting!

BTW: the soldier's first name is Traugott, not Traügott.

In old German handwriting (Sütterlin), the mutated vowel had different forms of appearance.

First they used a Sütterlin "e" above the vowel. That is why you can still find the mutated vowels written as: ae = ä, ue =ü, oe = ö
Then, the "e" above the vowel was simplified to two small vertical lines, like: '' , above the vowel.
Today, two dots above the vowels are used.

The horizontal line (often slightly bent, like the bottom of the "u") above the vowel was used to differentiate the handwritten "u" from a "n".

The difference can be clearly seen on the driving license.

Photo from:https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umlaut#Darstellung_von_Umlauten

Thanks
Wolfgang
 

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