Recently I added a 1940 KIA Soldbuch to my collection, early war KIA Soldbucher are rather rare objects to find, according to rules and regulation the Soldbucher of KIA men were to be kept in their personal file (Wehrstammbuch) and only the Wehrpaß was returned to the family by the local draft office (Wehrbezirkskommando) and because the German in the early stages of the war usually ended up in control of the battlefield, souvenir hunting allied soldiers had less opportunity to pick up wallets of KIA German soldiers.
This one is an exception, it was picked up by an unknown French officer, who after the capitulation of the French army brought it to the majors office of Wisembach, the major then gave it to a German officer of a transport unit, he in his turn returned it to the family instead of sending it back to the KIA soldiers unit and finally it ended up in my collection.
First some background information about the soldier of the Soldbuch, Hans Perchtold (°1912) was an unemployed backer from Austria, he moved to Germany and joined the NSDAP & SA in 1930, this old sweat of the Nazi party makes a career in the Nazi organisation, in 1938 he is back in Austria as an HJ leader in Karintia, a winter sport area where HJ members get ski lessons.
In November 1939 he is called up for his military service, he gets his basic training with Infanterie Ersatz Btl 499 and is then sent to the third company of IR634 of the 557ID, a weak static infantry division that is created in February 1940, most of the men come from various Landesschützen units, they are partly equipped with arms that were captured from the Polish army and there task is to guard the German-French border.
Hans Perchtold gets KIA in the final days of the battle for France, Marshal Petain, the new French leader, already on June 17 1940 publicly announced that France would seek terms to lay down arms but the fighting continues in the Vosges area.
When the armoured divisions reach the Swiss border on June 18 1940 there are in the Vosges mountains large groups of French troops, that are withdrawn from the Maginot line, surrounded.
There is no escape possible and the French are waiting for the capitulation negotiations to end but the French troops aren't ready to lay down there arms until they are ordered to do so.
The situation is a bit similar to the end of WW1 in November 1918, in the days running up to the 11th hour of 11 November the fighting parties know that the war is going to end soon but in some sectors some allied commanders kept on fighting offensive operations to gain glory in a war that soon was going to end.
Similarly on June 19 1940, Hans Perchtold's unit tries to capture Col de Sainte Marie, a mountain top in the Vosges Mountain ridge, on the top of the ridge, in the hotels the French of the 54DI have established a battalion CP, which is defended by a platoon of FT17 tanks.
When the company of Hans Perchtold leaves the forest edge to take the French CP by surprise they are met with MG fire from the FT17 tanks and although these WW1 tanks are completely obsolete, the Germans soldiers that don't have any antitank weapons with them can only withdrawn; Hans Perchtold is hit by MG bullets and his remains are left behind when they hastily withdrawn back down the mountain.
When after the French capitulation they occupy the mountain top they don't find his remains or his field grave, the French haven't buried his remains on the spot where he died and thus he will remain MIA until sometime in July 1940.
On June 29 1940 his CO sends his personal belongings to his parents and together with the accompanying letter there is a series of pictures of the places where Hans Perchtold was KIA with a complete explanation written on the back.
In the bloodstained Soldbuch you can see that page 8a, weapons and equipment, is already added which is rather rare in a Westfeldzug period Soldbuch.
This one is an exception, it was picked up by an unknown French officer, who after the capitulation of the French army brought it to the majors office of Wisembach, the major then gave it to a German officer of a transport unit, he in his turn returned it to the family instead of sending it back to the KIA soldiers unit and finally it ended up in my collection.
First some background information about the soldier of the Soldbuch, Hans Perchtold (°1912) was an unemployed backer from Austria, he moved to Germany and joined the NSDAP & SA in 1930, this old sweat of the Nazi party makes a career in the Nazi organisation, in 1938 he is back in Austria as an HJ leader in Karintia, a winter sport area where HJ members get ski lessons.
In November 1939 he is called up for his military service, he gets his basic training with Infanterie Ersatz Btl 499 and is then sent to the third company of IR634 of the 557ID, a weak static infantry division that is created in February 1940, most of the men come from various Landesschützen units, they are partly equipped with arms that were captured from the Polish army and there task is to guard the German-French border.
Hans Perchtold gets KIA in the final days of the battle for France, Marshal Petain, the new French leader, already on June 17 1940 publicly announced that France would seek terms to lay down arms but the fighting continues in the Vosges area.
When the armoured divisions reach the Swiss border on June 18 1940 there are in the Vosges mountains large groups of French troops, that are withdrawn from the Maginot line, surrounded.
There is no escape possible and the French are waiting for the capitulation negotiations to end but the French troops aren't ready to lay down there arms until they are ordered to do so.
The situation is a bit similar to the end of WW1 in November 1918, in the days running up to the 11th hour of 11 November the fighting parties know that the war is going to end soon but in some sectors some allied commanders kept on fighting offensive operations to gain glory in a war that soon was going to end.
Similarly on June 19 1940, Hans Perchtold's unit tries to capture Col de Sainte Marie, a mountain top in the Vosges Mountain ridge, on the top of the ridge, in the hotels the French of the 54DI have established a battalion CP, which is defended by a platoon of FT17 tanks.
When the company of Hans Perchtold leaves the forest edge to take the French CP by surprise they are met with MG fire from the FT17 tanks and although these WW1 tanks are completely obsolete, the Germans soldiers that don't have any antitank weapons with them can only withdrawn; Hans Perchtold is hit by MG bullets and his remains are left behind when they hastily withdrawn back down the mountain.
When after the French capitulation they occupy the mountain top they don't find his remains or his field grave, the French haven't buried his remains on the spot where he died and thus he will remain MIA until sometime in July 1940.
On June 29 1940 his CO sends his personal belongings to his parents and together with the accompanying letter there is a series of pictures of the places where Hans Perchtold was KIA with a complete explanation written on the back.
In the bloodstained Soldbuch you can see that page 8a, weapons and equipment, is already added which is rather rare in a Westfeldzug period Soldbuch.
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