Soldbuch details - questions for German speaking members

I love Soldbuchs, and researching them, but the German Sütterlin script kicks my a$$. The good thing about Soldbuchs is most of the info fits within a certain box, and you know what to expect in certain sections. But now and then I get stuck - luckily I have Amberg whos already helped me with this current book I am working on, but rather than bug him to death (I already have) I thought it might be fun to show what kind of things you can run into.

3 pics below of Hauptwachtmeister August Engling's soldbuch, from Panzer-Jäger Abt. 12 - the photo shows a ribbon bar with I think WW1 Iron Cross and 2 Long Service medals. But his shoulder boards are odd to me, with the white center stripe. And the device? I'm assuming its a "P" since hes a Panzer-Jäger, but wanted to see if other document people would look at it.

The other 2 pics - 1 shows his address crossed out with new information below. I can't make heads or tails, but can tell you his old address was in Königsburg, so the Russians were there by March 1945....

The last photo shows a wound code entry in his Soldbuch, September 1944. To me it looks like -36 which is not what you want to have in your Soldbuch (suspected of faking illness). Is it possibly 31? The issue is he wasn't in any action at the time, he was with Kraftfahr Park Kompanie z.b.v. 573.

Thanks for any insights, I want to get that right before I say he was faking illness.

Hello mfarb,

To me it looks like a KvKII ribbon, but his medals should be listed in the Soldbuch, usually also those earned in WW1.
Did he receive a KvKII?

I tend to see a #31, it is written fast by the clerck of the hospital and that is how you would write a 31, he also didn't bother to add the affix letter which happened a lot.
Did he receive a wounded badge that could be connected to that injury?
Trucks and truck depots were prime targets for ground attack aircraft, certainly this late in the war.
A #36 is a rather rare entry, I have only one in my collection I think and I'am sure I haven't seen many of them.


Solving this type of puzzles always works better/easier if you show all the pages. ;-)


Cheers,
Peter

Hi,
agree with Peter that it looks like a "31" code. But the code behind that says:
"L52" = heart disease
and
"L49" = appendix surgery or gastric and intestinal diseases

AV = arbeitsverwendungsfähig


Might be a "36" .... ? still undecided.

Concerning the photo, I'm pretty sure that it shows a Leutnant of the Heeresverwaltung. Army official.

Thanks
Wolfgang

Thank you guys, both of you. I evidently got the rank translations wrong as well, the script is very difficult, but while I read Hauptwachtmeister the title is actually Hauptwerkmeister (and Werkmeister, Oberwerkmeister, a revelation that makes other assignments make sense all of the sudden), a specialist rank which got officer pay evidently. Rather than upload the photos here, I have sent some photos to Wolfgang for additional input. I want to present this Soldbuch to the forum once I'm certain of everything, in order to do this man justice for his service. This is the reason I reached out, I would hate to smear a good soldier with poor english reading and translations of his Soldbuch. I'm still new to this idea of interpretations of Soldbuch, let this be a lesson to others not to make assumptions and put that info out (which I have NOT done yet, thankfully).

I am going to believe the entry is 31 as well, it seems unimaginable this guy faking injuries. But, there is no wound badge, no KVKII (but there is a KVKIw/swords? With a second look its possibly a KVKII entry, the lines are very close if so). No long service medals listed either, an not any WW1 awards in the Soldbuch.

Hi mfarb,

That is an entry for a KvKII, the clerck has written the two "I" very close to eachother, you can't be awarded the KvKI without having received the KvKII first.
Pre war medals like long service medals and WW1 medals aren't always entered in to a Soldbuch.
Although their are of course rules and regulations when it comes to an ID booklet as the Soldbuch, the unit administration often had their own interpretation of it, thus their are lots of anomalies; alas fakers know this too.


Cheers,
Peter

PS: watch out because Soldbuch collecting can soon develop in to an addicition.

Peter U said:

Hi mfarb,
PS: watch out because Soldbuch collecting can soon develop in to an addicition.

Click to expand...

It's too late for me ........

These are the sholderboards on your pic.
It´s Heeresverwalung.

Somethig like administration/ logistik troops.
This ma be a Zahlmeister (engl. paymaster?), or something like this.
Hard for me to explain... Something like army clerks(?).
They have been a specific typ of soldier in the Wehrmacht.
More like administration clerks in uniform.