Heeres-Artillerie-Brigade 959

[bdtj1815]

I am looking for information about the Heeres-Artillerie-Brigade 959 in Hungary during late 1944 and early 1945. I am aware of the structure and history of the formation of the Brigade but can find no information on its equipment. I have also found differing information on which parts of the Brigade were encircled in Budapest, was it the I.Abt or only one battery?

Help appreciated.

[Kamen Nevenkin]

I.Abt = s.F.H./mot.
II.Abt = s.F.H./mot.
III.Abt = 21 cm Mörser (two batteries - 7. and 9.)

The brigade existed only on paper - its Abteilungen were subordinated to different corps, while the brigade's Stab operated as an auxiliary artillery HQ. The entire I./959 was destroyed in Budapest, but (probably) was later rebuilt in Slovakia.

[bdtj1815]

Kamen, thanks for that information and sorry for the delay in replying but I was away for a few days over the Easter weekend.

In "Drama between Budapest and Vienna" the Heeres-Artillerie-Brigade 959 is mentioned as being intended to support Operation Southwind. Are you aware if this actually was the case.

Again many thanks.

[[email protected]]

Hi, I am German and have recently received documents from the German Amt for Wehrmachtsauskunft. They keep old WWII documents. After a year of waiting and showing that I'm related to the person, in my case my great-uncle Helmut, they finally sent me the documents. The documents prove, he was part of the Battery Heavy Artillery Division 607 and 1944 October 7th. Battery Army Artillery Brigade 959, Location: Romania and Slovakia. He survived and became a prisoner of war in Berlin on 28.4.1945. He served 4 years as a Prisoner of war in a camp called Katowice-Welnowiec and in camp Myslowitz - Poland, probably as a miner which saved his life in cold winters. I was a child, and the adults did not speak before me, but I know that they all lived in Breslau, today Wrozlaw, and joined the military in former Silesia. Helmut's Borther Günther served in the 1SS Tank division "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" and 12th SS Armored Division "Hitler Jugend" as Scharfuehrer in the Battle of the Bulk. His remains were never found. It is shocking to read about the cruelty of this time. I also found the graveyards of two other family members, my grad father Rudi as a pilot and flight instructor (husband of my Grand Mom) and my grand-moms brother Karl-Heinz on the Russian front. He left two photo books from which I could reconstruct his WWII times and death. This is possible after the reunification of Germany (I come from the former GDR and it was not possible to search for WWII soldiers -not good in post communistic Germany) and the opening of the east block countries. The organization Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. https://www.volksbund.de/home.html is digging up soldiers and berry them in a nice new memorial graveyard all over Europe with the help of donations. For online search for missing WWI & II members go here: https://www.volksbund.de/graebersuche.html

I found an interesting book on the internet describing the battles of Dec. 1944
Days of Battle: Armoured Operations North of the River Danube, Hungary 1944-45
ISBN 978 1 907677 64 9
https://books.google.de/books?id=nNvZAw ... 59&f=false

Greetings from Germany
Andy

[John W. Howard]

Hello Andy:
Wow!! You had quite a few relatives who served in the war; thank you for sharing this information. I have been to two German cemeteries in Europe maintained by the Volksbund; both were very beautiful and peaceful places. Best wishes.