Third Party Press

Soldbuch - 51 year old

Peter U

Moderator
Staff member
Today I'am showing a Soldbuch I recently added to my collection.
I must admit that I have a soft spot for Soldbucher of 40+ enlisted men with combat/bravery awards and this one sure fits in this department: Alfred Tondera was 51 years old when he earned his LW Erdkampfabzeichen!

Alfred Tondera (°1893) was a WW1 veteran from Oels (now Oleśnica in Poland), as an elderly reservist he served as a Feldwebel with various Luftwaffe signal units in Holland and France.
So far not spectacular or very interesting, plenty of these older reservists can be found in occupation units in western Europe, but this changes in the spring of 1944 when he ends up in the Caen area (Carpiquet airfield?) with a sub unit of Luftgau Nachrichten Regiment West Frankreich, just in time for the D-Day invasion.
For some reason he isn't evacuated out of the combat zone and he gets involved in infantry combat in the Caen area, for this he will be awarded the LW Erdkampfabzeichen in September 1944.
During the retreat at the end of August 1944 he is shot in the righter lower arm, the bone is fractured, it seems to be a complicated wound because it keeps him in hospital until the end of November 1944 but luckily for him he can spend several weeks in a local hospital close to his home.
After the capitulation he enters the military hospitals again with his old bullet wound, finally in July 1945 he is discharged.

Besides his year of birth: 1893, there are also other interesting details in this Soldbuch, for example he was also small, only 154cm, just a bit above 5 ft.
And he fought in the Caen area with a Luger 08 pistol.
He was also paid 5RM front pay when in hospital.
 

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What i love about soldbuch's is they track everything about that particular soldier.
 
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