Adolf Röbbelen (°1921) a backer from Breinüm joined the army in January 1940, he is gets his basic training and instruction as a tank gunner with the 2nd company of Panzer Ersatz Abteilung 11.
After he has finished his training he is assigned to Panzer Regiment 5 of the 21 Panzer Division a part of the famous Afrika Korps led by Erwin Rommel; on July 15 1941 he lands in Africa, after a short while with the regimental staff he is transferred to the 8th company, which is equipped with Pzkw IV tanks.
He takes part in the desert campaign as a tank gunner; on August 15 1942 he is awarded the Panzerkampfabzeichen Silver.
I’am not going to write down all the details about this campaign in this thread, there is plenty of information available of the DAK, so I limit myself to what happened on October 27 1942 the day he got WIA.
The battle of El Alamein is in full progress, on October 27 1942 Erwin Rommel decides to counter attack, the tanks of Pz Rgt 5 will at 17.00 assault the British southwest of Hill 28 (Kidney Ridge), after a bombardment by the divisions artillery regiment the tanks advance along a track known as “Otto”, the British are waiting for them with well hidden anti tank guns and dug in tanks, in the first wave of the attack the British manage to knock out 37 of the 40 tanks engaged, the second wave is stopped exactly like the first.
The Pzkw IV of Adolf Röbbelen is one of the knocked out tanks, he himself gets shrapnel in his right upper arm and left wrist but escapes alive and on November 8 1942 he is admitted in a hospital in Germany, now a long period of recovery begins.
In August ’43 he leaves the hospital and is assigned to a reserve unit, Reserve Panzer Abteilung 5, on February 29 1944 he is still declared unfit for service in a combat unit, on May 8 1944 a new medical test is taken and now he is declared fit to serve in a combat unit again, but before he gets a transfer to a combat unit he is sent to a training unit based in Sagan, here he will get training as a NCO commanding the more modern Pzkw V Panther.
After he finished his training on the Panther he is sent back to Res Pz Rgt 5; in early December ’44 the German army is preparing itself for its final offensive, which we now know as the battle of the bulge.
On December 8 ’44 Adolf Röbbelen gets his equipment and two days later he is medically checked and declared fit and together with the new tanks he arrives in Cochem where the 5th company of Pz Lehr Rgt 130 is preparing itself for the upcoming offensive, the 5th company is equipped with Panther tanks.
From now their isn’t much information available anymore in the Soldbuch, besides the dodgy EKII entry.
The next bit of confirmable information we have comes from his POW release document from June 1945, on it we can read that besides the scars from his 1942 he also had serious problems with his knee because of a wound, his physical condition is so bad that he isn’t fit enough to work.
Was this wound to the knee also from 1942 or has he been wounded in the battle of the bulge?
I can’t tell.
Besides the dodgy EKII entry there are some other anomalies in his Soldbuch, for example he has served for +/- 15 months in Africa but the Africa cuff title isn’t entered in his Soldbuch only the Italian remembrance medal for service in Africa.
Also there is an unconformable promotion to Feldwebel entered in the Soldbuch.
Despite the unconformable entries I still like this Soldbuch a lot simply because you don’t come across Soldbucher from Pzkw IV crew members of the DAK that often and that he on top of that also participated in the battle of the bulge with the famous Pz Lehr Division is just a nice extra.
After he has finished his training he is assigned to Panzer Regiment 5 of the 21 Panzer Division a part of the famous Afrika Korps led by Erwin Rommel; on July 15 1941 he lands in Africa, after a short while with the regimental staff he is transferred to the 8th company, which is equipped with Pzkw IV tanks.
He takes part in the desert campaign as a tank gunner; on August 15 1942 he is awarded the Panzerkampfabzeichen Silver.
I’am not going to write down all the details about this campaign in this thread, there is plenty of information available of the DAK, so I limit myself to what happened on October 27 1942 the day he got WIA.
The battle of El Alamein is in full progress, on October 27 1942 Erwin Rommel decides to counter attack, the tanks of Pz Rgt 5 will at 17.00 assault the British southwest of Hill 28 (Kidney Ridge), after a bombardment by the divisions artillery regiment the tanks advance along a track known as “Otto”, the British are waiting for them with well hidden anti tank guns and dug in tanks, in the first wave of the attack the British manage to knock out 37 of the 40 tanks engaged, the second wave is stopped exactly like the first.
The Pzkw IV of Adolf Röbbelen is one of the knocked out tanks, he himself gets shrapnel in his right upper arm and left wrist but escapes alive and on November 8 1942 he is admitted in a hospital in Germany, now a long period of recovery begins.
In August ’43 he leaves the hospital and is assigned to a reserve unit, Reserve Panzer Abteilung 5, on February 29 1944 he is still declared unfit for service in a combat unit, on May 8 1944 a new medical test is taken and now he is declared fit to serve in a combat unit again, but before he gets a transfer to a combat unit he is sent to a training unit based in Sagan, here he will get training as a NCO commanding the more modern Pzkw V Panther.
After he finished his training on the Panther he is sent back to Res Pz Rgt 5; in early December ’44 the German army is preparing itself for its final offensive, which we now know as the battle of the bulge.
On December 8 ’44 Adolf Röbbelen gets his equipment and two days later he is medically checked and declared fit and together with the new tanks he arrives in Cochem where the 5th company of Pz Lehr Rgt 130 is preparing itself for the upcoming offensive, the 5th company is equipped with Panther tanks.
From now their isn’t much information available anymore in the Soldbuch, besides the dodgy EKII entry.
The next bit of confirmable information we have comes from his POW release document from June 1945, on it we can read that besides the scars from his 1942 he also had serious problems with his knee because of a wound, his physical condition is so bad that he isn’t fit enough to work.
Was this wound to the knee also from 1942 or has he been wounded in the battle of the bulge?
I can’t tell.
Besides the dodgy EKII entry there are some other anomalies in his Soldbuch, for example he has served for +/- 15 months in Africa but the Africa cuff title isn’t entered in his Soldbuch only the Italian remembrance medal for service in Africa.
Also there is an unconformable promotion to Feldwebel entered in the Soldbuch.
Despite the unconformable entries I still like this Soldbuch a lot simply because you don’t come across Soldbucher from Pzkw IV crew members of the DAK that often and that he on top of that also participated in the battle of the bulge with the famous Pz Lehr Division is just a nice extra.
