I am new to your forum but am fascinated with all the great information and resource you are to each other and the online community.
This forum stuff is new to me... and I am in some trepidation that I am placing my query in the correct topic area - please tip me if I could do this better!
I am fluent in German and English if this is of help. Of course the complexity of WW2 research online makes doing this in German difficult for me- I am not that good!
so here goes...
This is related to the genealogy work
![:[]](./images/smilies/icon_study.gif "Study"){kind=icon}
I am doing about an Uncle who was taken into training by the Germans in May 1944 as a 13 year old. Christmas 1944 was the last time he saw his Mother as after Christmas in the Warthegau he had to return to the camp and his group marched out to Strasbourg. He was in the antitank infantry - apparently attaching magnetic charges working out of panzergraben. He is elderly & can’t recall any details of this trauma - he becomes ill. 
Apparently there were at least 75-80 boys in his squad. When there were only 20 boys left, the person in command found them some farms to hide and work at in Schleswig-Holstein in a place called Gnutz and told them to wait out the end of the war. Two of the boys did. He came to Canada as a DP in Nov 1948. He eventually heard that his mother and sister were repatriated to the USSR against their wishes. He never saw them again. He recalls the training place was at a “Gut” near a village “Phaldorf” or “Faldorf” several hours journey from where his Mother was in the Posen area.
1. Would anyone be able to confirm that the H 3H is what is being referred to - does it make sense? Is this consistent with NS practices with boys? Is the report below from T & TT a reliable description of what my Uncle was chosen to be involved in?
2. Would anyone be able to make an estimate as to which battalion or group he may have been part of?
3. Would anyone recognize any of the places that he trained, fought or worked to provide more detail?
Cheers,
Helen
Haftholladung 3H
Magnetic hollow antitank charge, issued in the Autumn of 42. The mine was placed on the turrets of tanks in close combat. Ignition was performed by pulling the ignitor on top of the mine. It penetrated armor up to 14cm thick, and made a hole 3-5 cm in diameter. With their explosive charge and shock effects it was deadly.
The following military report on German WWII tank hunting tactics is reproduced from Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 29, July 15, 1943.
The following information on the employment of magnetic mines by German infantry antitank squads has come from a credible German source. Six men are assigned as an antitank team, generally for night operations in positions offering possible avenues of tank approach. The team is deployed in the form of a U at intervals of approximately 50 yards, adapting itself to the terrain for observation and field of fire. All men are armed with machine pistols and antitank, magnetic hollow-charges. The team leader, No. 4, carries a pyrotechnic pistol. In addition, four Tellermines are carried for placing in the probable path of the tank and are controlled by a 50-yard length of wire by which they can be pulled under the approaching tank.
When a tank comes on, the team leader fires a pyrotechnic charge directly at the turret of the tank and momentarily blinds the crew. At the same time Nos. 3 and 5 pull Tellermines into its path, and No. 2 rushes forward to place the magnetic charge on the side armor plate of the tank. Meanwhile, No. 4 covers the turret-hatch to prevent the escape of the crew; Nos. 1 and 6 cover the ground behind the tank for possible infantry accompanying it. Each man is interchangeable with the others of the team and his duties are determined by the terrain.
